Bilal ibn Rabah, The first muezzin

Companion

CompanionThe first muezzin

Bilal ibn Rabahبلال بن رباح

Approximate dateDamascus

An Abyssinian slave tortured for his faith, who became the first caller to prayer.

His master Umayyah ibn Khalaf laid him on burning sand with a rock on his chest, but Bilal only repeated, 'One, One.' Abu Bakr bought and freed him. In Madinah his voice called the first adhan, and on the day Makkah opened he gave the call from the roof of the Kaaba. He later moved to Syria and died in Damascus.

What does the hadith say?

The lesson

In Islam, rank comes from faith, not colour or birth.

Where do they appear in the story?

Source: history · Wikipedia

Everyone and everything in the timeline

People named in the Quran and the hadith, the Prophet's ﷺ family and Companions, scholars, rulers, the nations of the Quran, the world's empires and the places where it all happened. Where scholars differ, each entry says so.

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