The precedence of conversion is an important topic in early Islamic historiography. The identity of the first Muslim often became a matter of controversy among the various factions. Prominent members of the early Islamic community, such as the Prophet’s wife Khadīja and his stepson Zayd, as well as ʿAlī and Abū Bakr, are all claimed to be the first to accept Islam according to different narrative traditions. In particular, the question of whether ʿAlī or Abū Bakr were the first to convert to Islam marked the contours of sectarian polemical disputes as early as the 2nd/8th century. This paper offers an analysis of four major narrative sets which articulate Abū Bakr’s primacy in converting to Islam. A combined method of transmission and narrative analyses will show that the different narratives on Abū Bakr’s primacy came into circulation in Kufa in the early Abbasid period (between 750-800 AD). While fuelling the sectarian divides of the time, these narratives also furnished exemplary literary models for conversion accounts.