fear, and that the Emigrants were subjected to severe persecution by the unbelievers, so that a group of them was compelled to emigrate to Abyssinia under the protection of the Negus; that the Negus himself embraced faith in him; that when the Negus died, the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—announced his death on the very day he passed away and, together with his Companions, performed the funeral prayer for him in the open-air place of prayer, exactly as one prays over a deceased person who is physically present.

He used to deliver the Friday sermon before the prayer, and on the days of Eid he would preach after the prayer. The call to prayer (adhan) was made for Friday and for the five daily prayers, but it was not made for the two Eids or for anything other than the five prescribed prayers. Bilal and the blind Companion Ibn Umm Maktum called the adhan for him in Madinah; Saʿd al-Qaraẓ called it for the people of Qubaʾ, and Abu Mahdhurah for the people of Mecca. And through multiple concurrent reports from him and from his successors it is established that they