Muhammad was the youngest son of the first Rashidun caliph Abu Bakr (r. 632–634) and Asma bint Umays.

[1] Which is why many Hadiths are quoted through Muhammad and his son[citation needed] and thus were the source of much of the information of Islam and narrations available today.

When Abu Bakr died, Asma bint Umais married Ali ibn Abi Talib.

Ali is said to have instructed his foster son to hand the governorship over to his best general and childhood friend, Malik al-Ashtar, whom he judged better capable of resisting Amr ibn al-As.

A soldier named Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj is said to have quarreled with the prisoner and killed him out of hand.

[4] However, Shi'a accounts say that the Muawiyah I who later became the first Umayyad Caliph was the actual killer of Ibn Abu Bakr.

The Caliph promised to immediately dismiss the Egyptian governor and replace him with Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr.

On their way back, at three days' distance from Madinah, a messenger caught up with them with the news that he carried orders from Uthman ibn Affan to the governor of Egypt.

Sahih Al Bukhari Volume 6, Book 60, Number 352, Narrated by Yusuf bin Mahak: Marwan had been appointed as the governor of Hijaz by Mu'awiya.

Ibn Kathir wrote in his book the Al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah[8] that "in the year 56 AH Mu'awiya called on the people including those within the outlying territories to pledge allegiance to his son, Yazid, to be his heir to the Caliphate after him.

Because of this Mu'awiya passed through Medina on his way back from Mecca upon completion of his Umrah Pilgrimage where he summoned each one of the five aforementioned individuals and threatened them.

But when Ibn Ziyad arrived in Kufa, they rallied around him and killed Imam Husayn who was pious, observed the fast, read the Quran and deserved the caliphate in all respects.

Yazid tried to end Abd Allah's rebellion by invading the Hejaz, and he took Medina after the bloody Battle of al-Harra followed by the siege of Mecca.

But his sudden death ended the campaign and threw the Umayyads into disarray, with civil war eventually breaking out.

After the Umayyad civil war ended, Abd Allah lost Egypt and whatever he had of Syria to Marwan I.

The Shi'a highly praise Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr for his devotion to ‘Ali and his resistance to the other rulers who were usurpers.

And he was in Ali's army in the Battle of Jamal and later it was Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr who escorted Aisha back to Madina.

According to a Shi'a Muslim author: ‘Ali loved Muhammad Ibn Abi Bakr as his own son and his death was felt as another terrible shock.