Expert in Genealogy

Jubair bin Mut‘im, who was an expert in genealogy, states, “I learned genealogy from Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra), especially regarding the genealogy of the Quraish, because Abu Bakr (ra) possessed the most knowledge about the lineage of the Quraish and knew the most about the positive and negative traits related to it. However, Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) would not mention the negative aspects. For this reason, Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) was more popular than Hazrat Aqil bin Abi Talib.

“After Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra), Hazrat Aqil had the most knowledge about the genealogy and ancestors of the Quraish, as well as their positive and negative traits. But Hazrat Aqil was disliked by the Quraish because he would recount those negative aspects to the Quraish. Hazrat Aqil would sit in Masjid Nabawi with Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) to learn genealogy and about the [historical] incidents and events of the Quraish. In the eyes of the people of Mecca, Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) was among their most excellent people and so whenever the Meccans faced difficulty, they would come and seek help from him.

(Ali bin Burhan al-Din al-Halabi, Al-Sirah al-Halabiyyah, Vol. 1, Bab Istikhfa‘ihi wa Ashabihi fin Dar al-Arqam [Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, 2002], p. 390)