الرحلةThe Journey

بلال بن رباح

Bilal (RA)

Bilal ibn Rabah

Also known as: Bilal al-Habashi

c. 43 BH – c. 20 AH · c. 580–c. 640 CE

Companions

The first muezzin of Islam, who endured torture repeating 'Ahad, Ahad'.

Bilal was an enslaved man of Abyssinian descent in Makkah and one of the first to accept Islam. His master Umayyah ibn Khalaf tortured him under the desert sun with a rock on his chest, but he only repeated 'Ahad, Ahad' (One, One). Abu Bakr bought his freedom.

In Madinah the Prophet ﷺ chose him, for his beautiful voice, to give the first call to prayer, and he became the muezzin of the Prophet's Mosque. After the Prophet ﷺ passed away he could not bear to give the adhan in Madinah, and he left to join the armies in Syria. The Prophet ﷺ told him he had heard his footsteps ahead of him in Paradise.

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Life journey

  1. c. 580 CE Makkah مكة
    Born into slavery in Makkah, of Abyssinian descent.
  2. 622 CE Madinah المدينة
  3. 634 CE Damascus دمشق
    Died c. 640 CE · c. 20 AH
    Went to Syria after the Prophet ﷺ passed away. Buried in Damascus.

Places in their life

The Ka'bah in al-Masjid al-Haram, Makkah
The Ka'bah in al-Masjid al-Haram, Makkah
Photo: Adli Wahid (minor modifications by Basile Morin), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
al-Masjid al-Nabawi, the Prophet's Mosque, Madinah
al-Masjid al-Nabawi, the Prophet's Mosque, Madinah
Photo: TheHadiRahim, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
The courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus
The courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

  • Ibn Hisham, al-Sira al-Nabawiyya
  • Sahih al-Bukhari (Book of Tahajjud, on Bilal's footsteps in Paradise)
  • Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, al-Isaba fi Tamyiz al-Sahaba
Draft, awaiting scholarly review.
Death year reported between 17 and 21 AH; burial place also reported as Aleppo.