He went in and found Bilāl standing just inside the door. He asked him, “Where did the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—pray?” (this is an authentic report). Bilāl pointed to the spot where he had prayed. ʿAbd Allāh said, “I forgot to ask him how many prostrations he performed.”

Imām Aḥmad likewise relates it (1) from Hushaym—who said, “several transmitters and Ibn ʿAwn narrated to us”—from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, entered the Kaʿbah accompanied by al-Faḍl ibn ʿAbbās, Usāmah ibn Zayd, ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah, and Bilāl. He instructed Bilāl to shut the door behind them; he remained inside for as long as Allah willed, then came out. Ibn ʿUmar continues: The first of them I met was Bilāl, so I asked, “Where did the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—pray?” He answered, “Here, between these two columns.”

I say: It is firmly established in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and elsewhere (2) that he—peace and blessings be upon him—prayed inside the Kaʿbah facing its entrance with his back to the door, placing two columns to his right, one column to his left, and three columns behind him. At that time the House stood upon six columns, and there were about three cubits between him and the western wall.

Ibn Hishām (3) said: A person of learning related to me that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—entered the Kaʿbah on the day of the Conquest with Bilāl and told him to give the call to prayer. Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb, ʿAttāb ibn Asīd, and al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām were sitting in the courtyard of the Kaʿbah. ʿAttāb remarked, “Allah has honored Asīd by not letting him hear this, lest it provoke him.” Al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām said, “By Allah, if I knew he was upon the truth I would follow him.” Abū Sufyān said, “I will say nothing; if I speak, even these pebbles will report it.” Then the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—came out to them and said, “I know what you have just said.” He repeated their words to them, whereupon al-Ḥārith and ʿAttāb declared, “We bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah; no one who was with us heard our conversation such that we could claim he informed you.”

Yūnus ibn Bukayr reports from Ibn Isḥāq, who said: My father related to me, from a member of the household of Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim, that when the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—entered Mecca he ordered Bilāl to climb onto the roof of the Kaʿbah and give the adhān from there. One of the Banū Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ exclaimed, “Allah has surely honored Saʿīd by taking him before he had to hear this black man atop the Kaʿbah.”

ʿAbd al-Razzāq (5) transmits—through Maʿmar, from Ayyūb—that Ibn Abī Mulaykah said: The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—commanded Bilāl to make the call to prayer on the day of the Conquest from the top of the Kaʿbah. A man of Quraysh said to al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām, “Do you not see where this slave has climbed?” He replied, “Leave him; if Allah dislikes it, He will replace it.”