In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The Mawaddah Association is pleased
to present to you *Portraits from the Lives of the Companions*
by 'Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
may Allah have mercy on him.
Bilal ibn Rabah, may Allah be pleased with him.
For Bilal ibn Rabah, the caller to prayer (muezzin) of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him),
had one of the most magnificent lives of struggle for the sake of the faith,
and a story that time never tires of repeating,
nor do ears ever tire of its enchanting melody.
Bilal was born in al-Sarah about forty-three years before the Hijrah
to a father named Rabah,
while his mother was named Hamamah,
an enslaved Black woman among the bondwomen of Makkah.
For this reason, some people used to call him "the son of the Black woman."
Bilal grew up in the Mother of Cities (Makkah),
as a slave owned by orphans of the Banu 'Abd al-Dar,
whose father had entrusted their guardianship to Umayyah ibn Khalaf,
one of the chieftains of disbelief.
When Makkah became illuminated by the lights of the new religion
and the greatest Messenger (peace be upon him) proclaimed
the word of Tawhid (monotheism),
Bilal was among the foremost, earliest converts to Islam.
He embraced Islam when there were no other Muslims upon the face of the earth
except for him and a handful of the earliest pioneers,
led by Khadijah bint Khuwaylid,
Mother of the Believers,
Abu Bakr al-Siddiq,
'Ali ibn Abi Talib,
'Ammar ibn Yasir,
his mother Sumayyah,
Suhayb al-Rumi,
and al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad.
Bilal endured such harm at the hands of the polytheists
as none other had faced,
and he suffered from their cruelty, brutality,
and the hardness of their hearts
what no one else suffered.
He and those vulnerable believers alongside him bore with patience
the trials endured for the sake of Allah
as no one else ever did.
For Abu Bakr al-Siddiq
and 'Ali ibn Abi Talib
had tribal protection to defend them
and kinfolk to shield them.
But as for those oppressed, enslaved men and women,
Quraysh inflicted upon them the most severe torment.
They wanted to make them an example—
a deterrent to anyone who might contemplate
renouncing their idols and following Muhammad.
Those who took charge of torturing them were
a faction among the most merciless of Quraysh's disbelievers
and the hardest of heart.
Abu Jahl—
may Allah disgrace him—bore the sin of killing Sumayyah.
He stood over her, hurling curses and vile obscenities,
then struck her with his spear, a fatal thrust
that entered her lower abdomen
and pierced through her back;
thus she became the first martyr in Islam.
As for the others among her brethren in faith,
foremost among them Bilal ibn Rabah,
Quraysh prolonged their torture relentlessly.
Whenever the sun reached the zenith of the sky
and the sands of Makkah scorched with blazing heat,
they would strip them of their clothes,
dress them in iron armor,
bake them under the searing rays of the sun,
lash their backs with whips,
and order them to revile Muhammad.
Whenever the torture became unbearable
and their endurance was completely exhausted,
they would outwardly yield to what was demanded of them,
while their hearts remained firmly attached to Allah and His Messenger—
except for Bilal, may Allah be pleased with him.
His own life was of little consequence to him for the sake of Allah, the Exalted and Glorious.
The one who took upon himself the brunt of his torture
was Umayyah ibn Khalaf and his henchmen.
They would scourge his back with whips,
and he would only utter: "Ahad, Ahad" (One, One).
They would crush his chest with heavy boulders,
and he would still call out: "Ahad, Ahad."
They would intensify their agonizing torment,
and he would only proclaim: "Ahad, Ahad."
They tried to force him to mention al-Lat and al-'Uzza,
yet he would mention only Allah and His Messenger.
They would say to him, "Say what we say!"
but he would reply, "My tongue cannot speak it."
So they persisted in abusing him
and went to extreme lengths in torturing him.
Whenever that ruthless tyrant, Umayyah ibn Khalaf,
grew weary of torturing him,
he would place a rough rope around his neck,
hand him over to the street ruffians and children,
and order them to drag him through the mountain passes of Makkah
and across its rocky valleys.
Yet Bilal, may Allah be pleased with him,
found that torment sweet for the sake of Allah and His Messenger,
continually chanting his sublime refrain:
"Ahad, Ahad! Ahad, Ahad!"
never tiring of its repetition,
nor having his fill of its recitation.
Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, offered
to buy him from Umayyah ibn Khalaf.
Umayyah demanded an exorbitant price,
assuming that Abu Bakr would never take him.
Yet Abu Bakr purchased him for nine ounces of gold.
After the transaction was completed, Umayyah said to him,
"Even if you had insisted on paying no more than a single ounce, I would still have sold him to you."
Al-Siddiq replied:
"Even if you had refused to sell him for less than a hundred ounces, I would still have bought him."
When al-Siddiq informed the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
of his purchase of Bilal
and his rescue from the hands of his torturers,
the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to him:
"Let me share him with you, O Abu Bakr!"—
meaning: let me share in the cost of his emancipation.
Al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, replied:
"I have already freed him for the sake of Allah, O Messenger of Allah."
When Allah granted permission to His Prophet (peace be upon him)
to migrate to Madinah,
Bilal, may Allah be pleased with him, emigrated
among those who made the Hijrah.
He, al-Siddiq, and 'Amir ibn Fuhayrah stayed
in the same house,
and they were all struck down with severe fever.
Whenever the fever subsided from Bilal,
he would raise his voice
and begin chanting in his sweet melody, saying:
"Ah, would that I knew: shall I ever spend another night
in the valley of Fakhkh, surrounded by idhkhir and jalil grass?
And shall I ever go down one day to the waters of Majannah,
and will the peaks of Shamah and Tafil ever appear to me again?"
It was no wonder that Bilal yearned for Makkah and its mountain paths,
longing for its valleys and mountains;
for it was there that he had tasted the sweetness of faith,
there that he found suffering sweet for the sake of Allah,
and there that he triumphed over his own self and over Satan.
Bilal settled in Yathrib, far from the harm of Quraysh,
devoting himself entirely to his Prophet and beloved, Muhammad (peace be upon him).
He would set out with him whenever he set out,
return with him whenever he returned,
pray with him whenever he prayed,
and fight alongside him in every expedition he led,
until he became more constant a companion to him than his own shadow.
When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) built his mosque in Madinah
and the adhan was instituted, Bilal became the first caller to prayer in Islam.
Whenever he finished calling the adhan,
he would stand at the door of the Prophet's house
and call out: "Come to prayer! Come to success!"
And when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) stepped out of his chamber
and Bilal saw him approaching, he would begin the iqamah.
The Negus, King of Abyssinia, had gifted the greatest Messenger (peace be upon him)
three short spears (harbah)
of the finest treasures possessed by kings.
The Prophet kept one for himself,
gave one to 'Ali ibn Abi Talib,
gave one to 'Umar ibn al-Khattab,
and assigned the third spear exclusively to Bilal.
Bilal carried it before the Prophet throughout his entire life;
he would carry it on the two Eid celebrations and during the prayers for rain (Istisqa'),
planting it before him as a sutrah whenever prayer was performed outside the mosque.
Bilal fought alongside his Prophet at Badr,
seeing with his own eyes how Allah fulfilled His promise
and gave victory to His troops.
He witnessed the downfall of the tyrants who used to inflict upon him the most terrible torment,
beholding Abu Jahl and Umayyah ibn Khalaf
lying slain, struck down by the swords of the Muslims,
while the spears of those once tortured drew streams of their blood.
When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) entered Makkah as a conqueror
at the head of his grand battalion,
alongside him was the caller of the heavens, Bilal ibn Rabah.
When the Prophet entered the Sacred Ka'bah,
only three men were in his company:
'Uthman ibn Talhah,
the keeper of the keys of the Noble Ka'bah,
Usamah ibn Zayd,
the beloved of the Messenger of Allah and the son of his beloved,
and Bilal ibn Rabah,
the muezzin of the Messenger of Allah.
When the time for the Zuhr prayer arrived,
countless thousands surrounded the greatest Messenger (peace be upon him),
while those among the disbelievers of Quraysh who had embraced Islam, willingly or reluctantly,
looked on at that monumental scene.
Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) called for Bilal ibn Rabah
and commanded him to climb atop the Ka'bah
and proclaim the word of Tawhid from above it.
Bilal carried out the command,
raising his resonant voice with the adhan;
thousands of necks craned up toward him, watching,
and thousands of tongues began repeating after him in humble awe.
“But as for those in whose hearts is disease, it only addeth wickedness to their wickedness, and they die while they are disbelievers.” (9:125)
Envy began to consume the hearts of the unrepentant,
and rancor tore bitterly at their chests.
No sooner had Bilal reached in his adhan the words:
"I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,"
than Juwayriyah bint Abi Jahl said:
"By my life, Allah has truly elevated your renown!
As for the prayer, we shall pray it,
"Yet, by Allah, we do not love those who killed our loved ones."
Her father had been killed at the Battle of Badr.
And Khalid Ibn Usaid said:
"Praise be to Allah who honored my father,
such that he did not live to see this day!"
His father had died just one day before the Conquest of Makkah.
Al-Harith Ibn Hisham remarked:
"Woe and grief!
Would that I had died before seeing Bilal standing atop the Ka'bah!"
Al-Hakam Ibn Abi al-'As exclaimed:
"By Allah, this is indeed a monumental calamity—
that a slave of the Banu Jumah should bray atop this Sacred House!"
Abu Sufyan Ibn Harb was standing with them,
and he said: "As for me, I shall say nothing.
For if I were to utter a single word,
these pebbles would surely inform Muhammad Ibn 'Abdullah."
Bilal continued to make the call to prayer for the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, throughout his life.
The noble Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
continuously found solace in this voice—the very voice that had been severely tortured for the sake of Allah while repeating, "Ahad, Ahad" (Allah is One, Allah is One).
When the Supreme Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, passed away to the Highest Companion,
and the time for prayer arrived,
Bilal stood up to give the call to prayer to the people,
while the noble Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, lay shrouded, not yet buried.
But as soon as he reached his words:
"I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,"
choked with tears,
his voice caught in his throat,
and the Muslims burst into tears
and wept profusely.
After that, he gave the call to prayer for only three days,
and whenever he reached the words, "I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah," he wept and moved everyone else to tears.
Thereupon, he requested Abu Bakr, the successor of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
to relieve him from giving the call to prayer,
as he could no longer bear it.
He asked his permission to leave for jihad in the cause of Allah
and to station himself on the frontlines in the Levant.
As-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, hesitated to grant his request
and give him leave to depart from Madinah.
So Bilal said to him:
"If you bought me for yourself, then keep me;
but if you freed me for the sake of Allah,
then leave me to Him for Whom you freed me."
Abu Bakr replied:
"By Allah, I bought you only for Allah,
and I freed you only for His sake."
Bilal then said:
"Indeed, I shall not give the call to prayer for anyone after the Messenger of Allah."
Abu Bakr said:
"Then so be it."
Thus, Bilal departed from Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah with the very first expedition of the Muslims,
and settled in Darayya, near Damascus.
He refrained from giving the call to prayer
until 'Umar Ibn al-Khattab visited the Levant.
There he met Bilal, may Allah be pleased with him, after a long separation.
'Umar longed for him intensely
and held him in profound veneration,
to the extent that whenever As-Siddiq was mentioned in his presence, he would say:
"Abu Bakr is our master,
and he freed our master"—
referring to Bilal, may Allah be pleased with him.
While there, the Companions urged Bilal to perform the call to prayer in the presence of Al-Faruq.
No sooner did his voice rise with the call to prayer
than 'Umar wept,
and the Companions wept with him,
until their beards were soaked with tears;
for Bilal had stirred their deep longing for the cherished days of Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah—
oh, how blessed were those days!
The caller of the heavens continued
to reside in the region of Damascus
until his appointed time of death arrived.
As he lay on his deathbed, his wife was wailing by his side,
crying out:
"Oh, what sorrow!"
But he opened his eyes each time
and replied to her, saying:
"Oh, what joy!
Then he breathed his last breath, repeating:
"Tomorrow we shall meet our loved ones—
Muhammad and his companions!
Tomorrow we shall meet our loved ones—
Muhammad and his companions!"
"Abu Bakr is our master,
and he freed our master"—
meaning Bilal—
said 'Umar al-Faruq, may Allah be pleased with him.