as though the whole expanse of the sandy flats were in motion—companies surging against companies.
ʿUmar confirmed his account and, on the strength of the Messenger of Allah’s supplication for Bukayr cited earlier, dismissed the case and cancelled any claim to the Jew’s blood.
Among those who served him was Bilāl ibn Rabāḥ al-Ḥabashī.
He was born in Mecca and was at first the client of Umayyah ibn Khalaf. Abū Bakr bought him from Umayyah for a large sum, for Umayyah had been subjecting him to brutal torture in an attempt to make him apostasize, yet Bilāl would accept nothing but Islam. Once Abū Bakr had purchased him, he set him free solely for the sake of Allah. Bilāl emigrated with the rest of the believers and witnessed Badr, Uḥud, and all the subsequent campaigns.
He was also known as Bilāl ibn Ḥamāmah—Ḥamāmah being his mother—and he was among the most eloquent of people, contrary to the notion held by some that he mispronounced the letter sīn as shīn. (Indeed, some even circulate a baseless ḥadīth attributing to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ the words, “Bilāl’s sīn is a shīn with Allah.”)
He was one of the four official callers to prayer, and—as noted earlier—the very first to give the adhān. In addition, he oversaw the household expenditures and kept whatever funds were on hand.
After the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away, he is reported to have set out for the Syrian front with the forces of jihad; another report states that he remained in Medina and gave the adhān for Abū Bakr during the latter’s caliphate, but the first report is sounder and more widely accepted.
Al-Wāqidī said: “He died in Damascus in the year 20 AH, a little over sixty years of age.” Al-Fallās added: “His grave is in Damascus”—some say in Dāriyā—“while others claim he died in Aleppo; the sound view is that it was his brother Khālid who died in Aleppo.”
Makḥūl said: “A man who had seen Bilāl told me that he was very dark-skinned, thin, and slightly stooped, with abundant hair, and he never dyed his grey hairs.”
Among those who served him as well were Ḥabbah and Sawāʾ, the two sons of Khālid.
Imām Aḥmad related: Abū Muʿāwiyah narrated to us—and Wakīʿ likewise—from al-Aʿmash, from Sallām ibn Sharḥabīl, from Ḥabbah and Sawāʾ the sons of Khālid, who said, “We entered upon the Prophet ﷺ while he was repairing something, so we assisted him. He then said, ‘Do not despair of …’”