ʿAtāʾ al-Khurasānī said: “I was with Ibn al-Musayyib when Bilāl was mentioned. He remarked, ‘He held fast to his faith and was tortured for Allah’s sake. He met the Prophet ﷺ, who said, “If we had anything to hand we would buy Bilāl.”’

Abū Bakr then met al-ʿAbbās and said, ‘Purchase Bilāl for me.’ Al-ʿAbbās bought him and sent him to Abū Bakr, who set him free. (1)

Muḥammad ibn Khālid al-Ṭaḥḥān related: my father narrated to us, from Dāwūd, from al-Shaʿbī, who said:

‘Bilāl’s masters would lay him face-down, press on him, and say, “Your religion is al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā.” He would reply, “Rabbī Allāh, aḥad, aḥad (My Lord is Allah—One, One). If I knew any word that would anger you more, I would say it.”

Abū Bakr passed by them and they said, “Buy your brother in faith.” He bought him for forty awqiyahs and set him free. They said, “Had you refused to pay more than a single awqiyah, we would still have sold him.” He answered, “By Allah, had you demanded such-and-such—an enormous amount—I would still have bought him.” (2)

According to the Sīrah, Abū Bakr obtained him in exchange for a black idolatrous slave belonging to Umayyah ibn Khalaf. (3)

Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, said:

‘Waraqah ibn Nawfal once passed by Bilāl while he was being tortured for professing Islam—his back pressed against the scorching ground—repeating, “Aḥad, aḥad (One, One).” Waraqah said, “Be patient, Bilāl! By Him in whose hand is my soul, if you kill him I shall make his death a source of mercy.” (4)’

This report is mursal, and Waraqah did not live until that time.

Hishām, from Ibn Sīrīn, said: When Bilāl’s masters realized that he had embraced Islam, they stretched him out in—