191 - ‘Abdullāh narrated to us, saying: My father narrated to me, saying: Yahyā ibn Abī Bukayr narrated to us, saying: Zā’idah narrated to us, from ‘Āsim ibn Abī al-Najūd, from Zirr, from ‘Abdullāh, who said:

The first to profess Islam openly were seven: the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, Abū Bakr, ‘Ammār, his mother Sumayyah, Suhayb, Bilāl, and al-Miqdād.

As for the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, Allah protected him through his uncle Abū Tālib. As for Abū Bakr, Allah protected him through his people. The others, however, were seized by the polytheists, who clad them in iron armour and left them to scorch in the sun. Every one of them complied with what their captors wanted, except Bilāl. He held his own life of little account for Allah’s sake, while his people held him in contempt. They handed him over to the children, who took him around the ravines of Mecca as he kept saying: “One! One!”