Abu Quhafa (ra)

The aged father of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq — perhaps the oldest man in Makkah — who resisted Islam throughout the da’wah and finally converted on the day of the Conquest.

Identity & lineage

Uthman ibn Amir, of the Banu Taym of Quraysh; father of Abu Bakr. By the Conquest he was blind and frail, and had long opposed the teachings of Islam and his son’s spending on it (see Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (ra)).

Role in the Seerah

While the Prophet ﷺ took the pledge at Mount Safa, Asma bint Abi Bakr led her grandfather by the hand to give the bay’ah. The Prophet ﷺ, in humility, said, “Why did you not leave the old man? We would have come to him.” His pigeon-white hair prompted the ruling: “Change this whiteness, but avoid black” — the primary basis for the sunnah of dyeing pure-white hair with something other than black.

Character & lessons

His conversion moved Abu Bakr to tears — not of joy alone, but of longing: “Ya Rasulullah, how I wish the hand I now see were the hand of your uncle Abu Talib rather than my own father’s,” knowing how it would have gladdened the Prophet ﷺ — a portrait of Abu Bakr’s love for the Prophet ﷺ above even his own kin. The episode also teaches honouring people by rank (Abu Quhafa was so honoured because of his son’s service to the dīn).

Death

Died 14 AH, outliving his son Abu Bakr.

Cross-references

The Conquest of Makkah · Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (ra) · Abu Talib · Muhammad ﷺ · Seerah Timeline

Sources

• S010 — Yasir Qadhi Seerah EP 080. The hair-dye ruling is in the hadith collections (Muslim); the Abu Bakr–Abu Talib narration via Abu Ishaq al-Heweny.