Part of Pictures from the lives of the Companions (series completed)
· Lesson 21 of 93
Pictures from the lives of the Companions - Episode (36) - Bilal bin Rabah, may God be pleased with him
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
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The Mawaddah Association is pleased
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to present to you *Portraits from the Lives of the Companions*
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by 'Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
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may Allah have mercy on him.
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Bilal ibn Rabah, may Allah be pleased with him.
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For Bilal ibn Rabah, the caller to prayer (muezzin) of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him),
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had one of the most magnificent lives of struggle for the sake of the faith,
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and a story that time never tires of repeating,
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nor do ears ever tire of its enchanting melody.
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Bilal was born in al-Sarah about forty-three years before the Hijrah
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to a father named Rabah,
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while his mother was named Hamamah,
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an enslaved Black woman among the bondwomen of Makkah.
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For this reason, some people used to call him "the son of the Black woman."
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Bilal grew up in the Mother of Cities (Makkah),
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as a slave owned by orphans of the Banu 'Abd al-Dar,
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whose father had entrusted their guardianship to Umayyah ibn Khalaf,
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one of the chieftains of disbelief.
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When Makkah became illuminated by the lights of the new religion
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and the greatest Messenger (peace be upon him) proclaimed
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the word of Tawhid (monotheism),
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Bilal was among the foremost, earliest converts to Islam.
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He embraced Islam when there were no other Muslims upon the face of the earth
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except for him and a handful of the earliest pioneers,
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led by Khadijah bint Khuwaylid,
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Mother of the Believers,
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Abu Bakr al-Siddiq,
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'Ali ibn Abi Talib,
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'Ammar ibn Yasir,
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his mother Sumayyah,
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Suhayb al-Rumi,
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and al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad.
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Bilal endured such harm at the hands of the polytheists
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as none other had faced,
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and he suffered from their cruelty, brutality,
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and the hardness of their hearts
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what no one else suffered.
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He and those vulnerable believers alongside him bore with patience
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the trials endured for the sake of Allah
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as no one else ever did.
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For Abu Bakr al-Siddiq
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and 'Ali ibn Abi Talib
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had tribal protection to defend them
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and kinfolk to shield them.
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But as for those oppressed, enslaved men and women,
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Quraysh inflicted upon them the most severe torment.
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They wanted to make them an example—
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a deterrent to anyone who might contemplate
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renouncing their idols and following Muhammad.
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Those who took charge of torturing them were
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a faction among the most merciless of Quraysh's disbelievers
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and the hardest of heart.
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Abu Jahl—
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may Allah disgrace him—bore the sin of killing Sumayyah.
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He stood over her, hurling curses and vile obscenities,
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then struck her with his spear, a fatal thrust
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that entered her lower abdomen
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and pierced through her back;
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thus she became the first martyr in Islam.
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As for the others among her brethren in faith,
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foremost among them Bilal ibn Rabah,
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Quraysh prolonged their torture relentlessly.
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Whenever the sun reached the zenith of the sky
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and the sands of Makkah scorched with blazing heat,
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they would strip them of their clothes,
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dress them in iron armor,
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bake them under the searing rays of the sun,
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lash their backs with whips,
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and order them to revile Muhammad.
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Whenever the torture became unbearable
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and their endurance was completely exhausted,
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they would outwardly yield to what was demanded of them,
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while their hearts remained firmly attached to Allah and His Messenger—
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except for Bilal, may Allah be pleased with him.
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His own life was of little consequence to him for the sake of Allah, the Exalted and Glorious.
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The one who took upon himself the brunt of his torture
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was Umayyah ibn Khalaf and his henchmen.
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They would scourge his back with whips,
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and he would only utter: "Ahad, Ahad" (One, One).
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They would crush his chest with heavy boulders,
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and he would still call out: "Ahad, Ahad."
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They would intensify their agonizing torment,
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and he would only proclaim: "Ahad, Ahad."
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They tried to force him to mention al-Lat and al-'Uzza,
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yet he would mention only Allah and His Messenger.
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They would say to him, "Say what we say!"
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but he would reply, "My tongue cannot speak it."
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So they persisted in abusing him
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and went to extreme lengths in torturing him.
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Whenever that ruthless tyrant, Umayyah ibn Khalaf,
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grew weary of torturing him,
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he would place a rough rope around his neck,
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hand him over to the street ruffians and children,
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and order them to drag him through the mountain passes of Makkah
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and across its rocky valleys.
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Yet Bilal, may Allah be pleased with him,
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found that torment sweet for the sake of Allah and His Messenger,
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continually chanting his sublime refrain:
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"Ahad, Ahad! Ahad, Ahad!"
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never tiring of its repetition,
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nor having his fill of its recitation.
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Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, offered
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to buy him from Umayyah ibn Khalaf.
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Umayyah demanded an exorbitant price,
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assuming that Abu Bakr would never take him.
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Yet Abu Bakr purchased him for nine ounces of gold.
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After the transaction was completed, Umayyah said to him,
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"Even if you had insisted on paying no more than a single ounce, I would still have sold him to you."
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Al-Siddiq replied:
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"Even if you had refused to sell him for less than a hundred ounces, I would still have bought him."
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When al-Siddiq informed the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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of his purchase of Bilal
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and his rescue from the hands of his torturers,
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the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to him:
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"Let me share him with you, O Abu Bakr!"—
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meaning: let me share in the cost of his emancipation.
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Al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, replied:
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"I have already freed him for the sake of Allah, O Messenger of Allah."
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When Allah granted permission to His Prophet (peace be upon him)
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to migrate to Madinah,
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Bilal, may Allah be pleased with him, emigrated
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among those who made the Hijrah.
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He, al-Siddiq, and 'Amir ibn Fuhayrah stayed
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in the same house,
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and they were all struck down with severe fever.
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Whenever the fever subsided from Bilal,
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he would raise his voice
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and begin chanting in his sweet melody, saying:
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"Ah, would that I knew: shall I ever spend another night
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in the valley of Fakhkh, surrounded by idhkhir and jalil grass?
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And shall I ever go down one day to the waters of Majannah,
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and will the peaks of Shamah and Tafil ever appear to me again?"
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It was no wonder that Bilal yearned for Makkah and its mountain paths,
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longing for its valleys and mountains;
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for it was there that he had tasted the sweetness of faith,
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there that he found suffering sweet for the sake of Allah,
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and there that he triumphed over his own self and over Satan.
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Bilal settled in Yathrib, far from the harm of Quraysh,
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devoting himself entirely to his Prophet and beloved, Muhammad (peace be upon him).
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He would set out with him whenever he set out,
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return with him whenever he returned,
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pray with him whenever he prayed,
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and fight alongside him in every expedition he led,
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until he became more constant a companion to him than his own shadow.
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When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) built his mosque in Madinah
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and the adhan was instituted, Bilal became the first caller to prayer in Islam.
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Whenever he finished calling the adhan,
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he would stand at the door of the Prophet's house
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and call out: "Come to prayer! Come to success!"
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And when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) stepped out of his chamber
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and Bilal saw him approaching, he would begin the iqamah.
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The Negus, King of Abyssinia, had gifted the greatest Messenger (peace be upon him)
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three short spears (harbah)
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of the finest treasures possessed by kings.
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The Prophet kept one for himself,
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gave one to 'Ali ibn Abi Talib,
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gave one to 'Umar ibn al-Khattab,
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and assigned the third spear exclusively to Bilal.
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Bilal carried it before the Prophet throughout his entire life;
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he would carry it on the two Eid celebrations and during the prayers for rain (Istisqa'),
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planting it before him as a sutrah whenever prayer was performed outside the mosque.
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Bilal fought alongside his Prophet at Badr,
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seeing with his own eyes how Allah fulfilled His promise
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and gave victory to His troops.
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He witnessed the downfall of the tyrants who used to inflict upon him the most terrible torment,
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beholding Abu Jahl and Umayyah ibn Khalaf
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lying slain, struck down by the swords of the Muslims,
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while the spears of those once tortured drew streams of their blood.
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When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) entered Makkah as a conqueror
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at the head of his grand battalion,
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alongside him was the caller of the heavens, Bilal ibn Rabah.
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When the Prophet entered the Sacred Ka'bah,
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only three men were in his company:
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'Uthman ibn Talhah,
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the keeper of the keys of the Noble Ka'bah,
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Usamah ibn Zayd,
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the beloved of the Messenger of Allah and the son of his beloved,
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and Bilal ibn Rabah,
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the muezzin of the Messenger of Allah.
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When the time for the Zuhr prayer arrived,
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countless thousands surrounded the greatest Messenger (peace be upon him),
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while those among the disbelievers of Quraysh who had embraced Islam, willingly or reluctantly,
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looked on at that monumental scene.
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Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) called for Bilal ibn Rabah
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and commanded him to climb atop the Ka'bah
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and proclaim the word of Tawhid from above it.
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Bilal carried out the command,
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raising his resonant voice with the adhan;
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thousands of necks craned up toward him, watching,
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and thousands of tongues began repeating after him in humble awe.
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“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)
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Envy began to consume the hearts of the unrepentant,
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and rancor tore bitterly at their chests.
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No sooner had Bilal reached in his adhan the words:
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"I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,"
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than Juwayriyah bint Abi Jahl said:
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"By my life, Allah has truly elevated your renown!
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As for the prayer, we shall pray it,
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"Yet, by Allah, we do not love those who killed our loved ones."
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Her father had been killed at the Battle of Badr.
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And Khalid Ibn Usaid said:
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"Praise be to Allah who honored my father,
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such that he did not live to see this day!"
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His father had died just one day before the Conquest of Makkah.
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Al-Harith Ibn Hisham remarked:
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"Woe and grief!
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Would that I had died before seeing Bilal standing atop the Ka'bah!"
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Al-Hakam Ibn Abi al-'As exclaimed:
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"By Allah, this is indeed a monumental calamity—
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that a slave of the Banu Jumah should bray atop this Sacred House!"
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Abu Sufyan Ibn Harb was standing with them,
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and he said: "As for me, I shall say nothing.
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For if I were to utter a single word,
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these pebbles would surely inform Muhammad Ibn 'Abdullah."
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Bilal continued to make the call to prayer for the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, throughout his life.
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The noble Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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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).
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When the Supreme Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, passed away to the Highest Companion,
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and the time for prayer arrived,
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Bilal stood up to give the call to prayer to the people,
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while the noble Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, lay shrouded, not yet buried.
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But as soon as he reached his words:
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"I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,"
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choked with tears,
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his voice caught in his throat,
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and the Muslims burst into tears
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and wept profusely.
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After that, he gave the call to prayer for only three days,
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and whenever he reached the words, "I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah," he wept and moved everyone else to tears.
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Thereupon, he requested Abu Bakr, the successor of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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to relieve him from giving the call to prayer,
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as he could no longer bear it.
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He asked his permission to leave for jihad in the cause of Allah
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and to station himself on the frontlines in the Levant.
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As-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, hesitated to grant his request
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and give him leave to depart from Madinah.
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So Bilal said to him:
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"If you bought me for yourself, then keep me;
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but if you freed me for the sake of Allah,
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then leave me to Him for Whom you freed me."
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Abu Bakr replied:
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"By Allah, I bought you only for Allah,
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and I freed you only for His sake."
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Bilal then said:
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"Indeed, I shall not give the call to prayer for anyone after the Messenger of Allah."
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Abu Bakr said:
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"Then so be it."
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Thus, Bilal departed from Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah with the very first expedition of the Muslims,
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and settled in Darayya, near Damascus.
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He refrained from giving the call to prayer
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until 'Umar Ibn al-Khattab visited the Levant.
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There he met Bilal, may Allah be pleased with him, after a long separation.
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'Umar longed for him intensely
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and held him in profound veneration,
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to the extent that whenever As-Siddiq was mentioned in his presence, he would say:
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"Abu Bakr is our master,
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and he freed our master"—
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referring to Bilal, may Allah be pleased with him.
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While there, the Companions urged Bilal to perform the call to prayer in the presence of Al-Faruq.
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No sooner did his voice rise with the call to prayer
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than 'Umar wept,
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and the Companions wept with him,
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until their beards were soaked with tears;
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for Bilal had stirred their deep longing for the cherished days of Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah—
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oh, how blessed were those days!
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The caller of the heavens continued
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to reside in the region of Damascus
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until his appointed time of death arrived.
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As he lay on his deathbed, his wife was wailing by his side,
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crying out:
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"Oh, what sorrow!"
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But he opened his eyes each time
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and replied to her, saying:
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"Oh, what joy!
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Then he breathed his last breath, repeating:
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"Tomorrow we shall meet our loved ones—
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Muhammad and his companions!
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Tomorrow we shall meet our loved ones—
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Muhammad and his companions!"
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"Abu Bakr is our master,
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and he freed our master"—
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meaning Bilal—
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said 'Umar al-Faruq, may Allah be pleased with him.