It was also transmitted by Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ, from al-Awzāʿī, with a broken chain (muʿḍal) (1).

Hishām ibn ʿUrwah narrated—on the authority of his father—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ instructed Bilāl, at the time of the Conquest, to give the call to prayer from the roof of the Kaʿbah (2).

Ibn Saʿd said: Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Uways related to us; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿd ibn ʿAmmār, the muʿadhdhin, related to us; my cousin ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad, ʿAmmār ibn Ḥafṣ, and his brother ʿUmar narrated to me—from their fathers, from their grandfathers:

The Negus sent three short spears to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He gave ʿAli one, ʿUmar one, and kept one for himself. Bilāl would walk in front of him with it on the two ʿĪd festivals until he reached the prayer-ground, where he would plant it before the Prophet, who would then pray toward it. Afterwards Bilāl carried it in front of Abū Bakr; later Saʿd al-Qaraẓ carried it in front of ʿUmar and ʿUthmān.

They said: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away, Bilāl came to Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, intending to set out for jihad (4), and said, “O Successor of the Messenger of Allah! I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘The best deed of a believer is striving in the path of Allah.’”

Abū Bakr asked, “What do you wish, Bilāl?”

He replied, “I want to remain stationed on the frontier in Allah’s cause until I die.”

Abū Bakr said, “I adjure you by Allah, Bilāl—by the bond and right I have over you. I have grown old and weak, and my end is near.”

So Bilāl stayed with him until Abū Bakr died.

He then went to ʿUmar, who tried to keep him back, but Bilāl refused.