3-minute preview · Hear the full audiobook in the app.
Adam is our opening voice — more natural narrators arriving in the app, insha'Allah.
What is Ibn Kathīr's Abu Bakr al-Siddiq?
When the Prophet ﷺ died on a Monday in the year eleven, the Friday prayer stood in two towns and nowhere else. Ibn Kathīr's account of the first caliphate opens there — with a man who begins by saying he is not the best of them, and who then refuses to recall an army the Prophet had sent, though every advisor urges it.
What follows is the Ridda: Musaylima and the walled Garden of Death, Sajah arriving from the Jazira, Khālid at Yamāma, and four hundred and fifty reciters of the Qurʾān dead in a single morning — which is why the Qurʾān was gathered from flat stones, palm stalks and the chests of men. Fifty-one chapters, ending where his caliphate does: two years and three months, and a man of sixty-three, the age at which the Prophet died.
On Joyful Muslims it is offered in English and Arabic, with Qurʾanic verses heard in the recitation of Shaykh Maḥmūd Khalīl al-Ḥuṣarī. The next Friday book in the same series is ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb — https://joyfulmuslims.com/library/umar-ibn-al-khattab/
Is there an English audiobook of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq by Ibn Kathīr?
Yes. Joyful Muslims publishes Ibn Kathīr's account of the first caliph as a complete English audiobook (about six hours ten minutes), translated in-house from the Arabic, with a word-synced bilingual transcript.
What comes after Abu Bakr in this series?
The next volume is ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb — the first Commander of the Faithful — also by Ibn Kathīr, on Joyful Muslims: https://joyfulmuslims.com/library/umar-ibn-al-khattab/
Is it free to listen?
The whole library is open to everyone. Every member gets five hours of listening free each month; Joyful+ removes the time limit.
Last updated 2026-09-16
Inside the book.
Chapters
Word-synced with the narrator.
The first three minutes are transcribed here. In the app, the Living Manuscript scrolls through the entire book in rhythm with the audio — Arabic alongside English.
Living Manuscript
Listen to the full book in the app for the complete Living Manuscript.
The full, word-synced transcript in Arabic and English is in the app.
