138 - Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Hāsib narrated to us in the year 299 AH: Abū ‘Imrān al-Warkānī narrated to us: Al-Mu‘āfā ibn ‘Imrān narrated to us, from Ibrāhīm ibn Muhammad, who said: Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir narrated to us that he heard Jābir ibn ‘Abd Allāh say:

Abū Bakr passed by Abū Jahl as he was torturing Bilāl and telling him, “Renounce your faith!” Bilāl kept saying, “There is none but Him.” Abū Jahl said to Abū Bakr, “Will you not buy your brother from me?”

“For how much?” he asked.

“For such-and-such an amount,” he replied.

Abū Bakr said, “If I say yes, will he then be mine?”

“Yes,” he replied.

Abū Bakr said, “I have bought him.” Then he told Bilāl, “Go, for you belong to the One to whom you have submitted.”

Later, word reached Abū Bakr that Bilāl was saying, “By Allah, I will not give the call to prayer for anyone after the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).” Abū Bakr said, “Bilāl should not have said that.”

Bilāl then came to Abū Bakr and said, “If you freed me so that I would remain with you, I will stay with you. But if you freed me for Allah’s sake, then leave me to the One for whose sake you freed me.”

Abū Bakr replied, “Rather, I freed you for the sake of Allah, Mighty and Majestic.”