and he went on to list Abu Bakr’s virtues (1). Then he said, “And this man—our master Bilal—is but one single good deed among his.”

Abu Hisham al-Rifaʿi reported: Ibn Fudayl narrated to us, Ismaʿil narrated to us, from Qays, who said:
“When Bilal learned that some people were ranking him above Abu Bakr, he remarked, ‘How can they prefer me to him when I am merely one of his good deeds?!’ ”

Al-Waqidi said: Saʿid ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz narrated to us, from Mak-hul, who said:
“Someone who had seen Bilal described him to me: a dark-skinned man, very dark, slender, tall, slightly stooped (2), with abundant hair but sparse on the cheeks, streaked with much grey, and he never used dye (3).”

It was also said: Bilal was the same age as Abu Bakr.

Saʿid ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz said: “When Bilal was breathing his last he said:
‘Tomorrow we shall meet the loved ones—
Muhammad and his company.’
His wife cried, ‘Alas, what a calamity!’
But he replied, ‘Rather, what a joy!’ ”

Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Taymi (4), Ibn Ishaq, Abu ʿUmar al-Darir, and a group of others said: Bilal died in the year 20 AH in Damascus.

Al-Waqidi said: He was buried at Bab al-Saghir and was a little over sixty years old.

ʿAli ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Tamimi said: He was buried at Bab Kaysan (5).

Ibn Zayd said: He was carried from Darayya and interred at Bab Kaysan.

And it was also said: He died in the year