Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi

The Companion who was the first muezzin of the Prophet. His full name is Abu Abd Allah Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi; he is also known by the kunyas Abu Abd al-Karim or Abu Amr, and as Ibn Hamama after his mother.

He was born a slave of Abyssinian origin some forty years before the Hijra (c. 581). His father Rabah and his mother Hamama — who suffered various tortures for becoming a Muslim — were slaves as well. He accepted Islam through Abu Bakr, and was one of the first seven people in Mecca to declare their Islam openly.

For this his master would lay him on his back under the burning noonday sun, have a great rock placed on his chest, and try to force him to abandon Islam and worship al-Lat and al-Uzza. Each time he would answer "My Lord is God; He is One", enduring the torment with his faith; the Prophet was deeply grieved at his plight. Abu Bakr rescued him from his master and set him free. Alluding to this, Umar used to say: "Abu Bakr is our master, and he freed our master" — meaning Bilal. The Prophet made him a brother of Ubayda ibn al-Harith in Mecca, and after the Hijra, in Medina, of Abu Ruwayha Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Khath'ami. Like some Companions who could not get used to the climate of Medina he fell ill, and composed verses out of his deep longing for Mecca.

He became famous as the first to call the adhan, taught by the Prophet and at his command, in year 1 (622) or 2 (623) of the Hijra, and throughout his life he served as the Prophet's muezzin at home and on campaign. Bilal, who called the dawn adhan very early, added to it the words "al-salatu khayrun min al-nawm" (prayer is better than sleep); this pleased the Prophet, who allowed him to repeat it in every dawn call. He took part in all the campaigns, Badr first among them. On the day Mecca was conquered he entered the Ka'ba with the Prophet and, at his command, climbed onto its roof and called the adhan of the conquest; it is he who reported that the Prophet prayed two rak'as inside the Ka'ba between the two pillars on the left.

He never left the Prophet's side throughout his life, and was present at the Farewell Pilgrimage. He was charged with tasks such as bringing the water for his ablutions, carrying the short spear he used as a prayer screen, guarding him at night and shading him by day on campaign, preparing food, managing the treasury, making certain payments at his command, hosting envoys, handing banners to the commanders of expeditions and announcing his orders to the people.

According to the widespread reports he did not call the adhan after the Prophet's death. Recalling the Prophet's words "O Bilal! There is no deed more excellent than striving in the path of God", he asked Abu Bakr's leave to go to Syria for jihad; at the caliph's insistence he stayed in Medina, but when Umar became caliph he left Medina and took part in the conquest of many cities and districts of Syria. When Umar drew up the register (diwan) of Syria, at Bilal's request he entered him and the other Abyssinians in the same register as the Khath'am, Abu Ruwayha's tribe. At the petition of some Muslims and the caliph's wish he called the adhan once in Syria, and moved his hearers to tears.

He was tall, thin and lean-faced, somewhat stooped, with thick grizzled hair and dark skin. Once the Prophet told him: "Last night in Paradise I heard the tapping of your sandals ahead of me", giving him the glad tidings of Paradise, and asked him by what deed he had reached this rank; he spoke of his habit of praying, after every ablution, as many voluntary prayers as God granted him.

He died in the year 20 (641), in his sixties, in Damascus (or in Aleppo or Darayya), and was buried in the cemetery at Bab al-Saghir. He left no descendants; the sources give no information about a wife or children, mentioning only a brother named Khalid and a sister named Ghufra (Ghufayra).

His Circle of Influence — Among those who transmitted hadith from him are famous Companions such as Abu Bakr, Umar, Usama ibn Zayd, Abd Allah ibn Umar and al-Bara' ibn Azib, and Successors such as Abu Idris al-Khawlani, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab and Ibn Abi Layla. Of the forty-four hadiths he transmitted, two are in al-Bukhari, one in Muslim, and one in both. Abu Ali al-Za'farani collected some of the hadiths he transmitted with a chain reaching the Prophet in his treatise Musnad Bilal ibn Abi Rabah. In Cambodia and some parts of Indonesia muezzins are called "Bilal" or "Bilal-i gayr-i Habeşi" (a non-Abyssinian Bilal); some Black Muslims in America call themselves The Bilalians and publish a newspaper under that name.