Prophet’s Companion Bilal ibn Rabah: Short Biography

Bilal bin Rabah (who died in the year 20 AH) was a companion and muezzin (Prayer Speaker)of the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, and the freed slave of Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq.

The Azan (Adhan in Arabic) is an Islamic call delivered by a muezzin (the person who recites the Azan) from the mosque five times a day. The purpose of the Azan is to invite Muslims for obligatory prayers, the salat.

Bilal was one of the foremost converts to Islam and one of the weak people who were tortured to leave Islam, as he was a slave to Banu Jamah from the Quraish. His master, Umayya bin Khalaf, tortured him after he declared his conversion to Islam.

Bilal was famous for his patience with torture, and his famous saying under torture, “Allah is one, one.” When the call to prayer was prescribed, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, chose Bilal to be his first muezzin.

Biography

Bilal was one of the first forerunners of Islam. He was weak in the body because he was a slave to the Banu Jumah, so Bilal was tortured to leave the religion of Islam. His master clothed him in iron armor, then melted them in the heated sun until his effort reached every amount.

His master put a rope around his neck, then they ordered their boys to force him between the two blocks of wood of Mecca, so Bilal made him say: One, one.

Aamir al-Sha’bi narrated that Bilal’s freedmen from Banu Jamah used to lay him on his stomach, squeeze him, and say to him, “Say your religion is al-Lat and al-Uzza”… al-Lat and al-Uzza are (fetish, idol). The one who tortured him was called Umayyah ibn Khalaf. Then he says: “He will continue to do so until he dies or declares unbelief in Muhammad.”

Bilal refused and said: “My Lord is God, one and only, and if I knew a word that I would save for you from it, I would have said it.” With five, and it was said with nine ounces. Then he was freed, and it was said that he was bought from his master, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, with a black, idolatrous slave.

Bilal Migration to Madina Minawara

Bilal migrated to Yathrib (500 KM away north from Makkah) .He stayed with Saad bin Khaithama and Ubaidah bin Al-Harith bin Al-Muttalib.

He also participated with the Prophet Muhammad in all the rest of his conquests to spread the Islamic call. The Prophet Muhammad took him as a muezzin when the call to prayer was prescribed, so Bilal was the first to call.

He was one of the three muezzins of the Prophet Muhammad with Abu Mahdora Al-Jamahi and Amr bin Umm Maktoum, so if Bilal was absent, Abu Mahdora called for prayer, and if Abu Mahdora was absent Amr bin Umm Maktoum gave permission. On the day of the conquest of Mecca, the Prophet Muhammad ordered Bilal to mount the Kaaba and give the call to prayer above it, so he did.

When the Prophet Muhammad died, Bilal refused to give the call to prayer for anyone after the Prophet Muhammad because he felt the sadness of the death of Prophet Muhammad.

Bilal came to Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, asking him to allow him to participate in the conquests to spread Islam, but Abu Bakr refused, and said to him: “I adjure you by God, O Bilal, and my sanctity and my right, for I have grown old and weak, and my death is approaching.” So he stayed with him until the death of Abu Bakr.

When Omar Ibn Al-Khattab was Khalifa, Bilal came to ask his permission to participate in the conquests, but he refused, then Bilal insisted, so he gave him permission, so he went out to Al-Sham.

He addressed the people and said: “We have come to you as suitors, and we were unbelievers, and slaves so God guided us, so God set us free, we were poor, so God enriched us.

The grave of Bilal Ibn Rabah in Bab al-Saghir, Damascus.

Bilal died north of Syria, but the place and time of his death are mostly unknown, so it was said that he died in the year 20 AH in Damascus and was buried in Bab Al-Saghir, at the age of sixty-few years, and was said that he died in the year 21 AH, and it was said that he died in the plague of Emmaus in the year 17 AH or 18 AH. It was said also that he died in Darayya, and it was said that he died in Aleppo, when he was seventy years old.

It is narrated that when death approached him, he said: “Tomorrow we will meet the beloved Muhammad and his party.” His wife said: “Woe to him!” He said: “And make him happy!” As for his character, he was a man of very dark skin, thin, and tall, with a hunched back, with a lot of hair, light shoulders, and a lot of hair, and he did not change the color of his gray hair. Bilal bin Rabah died without being followed.