the early Muslim community. During this period he acted as an aide to the Prophet and kept a close eye on the income and expenditure of the first public treasury (bait al-mal) established by the Prophet. His role as an aide enabled him to work very closely with the Prophet and learn more about his personal habits and practices. Referring to the Prophet, Bilal once stated: ‘He never kept anything for the future. I arranged money for him. When a needy person came to him, he would send him over to me and I would then arrange for his needs by borrowing money from someone. This is what usually happened.’
As a prominent aide and supporter of the Prophet, Bilal discharged his duties scrupulously; he was widely respected for his honesty, integrity and tremendous sacrifices for Islam during its early days and so was well qualified for this role. Being also very reliable and competent, Bilal fulfilled his responsibilities with both efficiency and effectiveness, so that whenever anyone came to the Prophet for anything, he would direct them to Bilal who ensured their needs were fully met. His devotion and dedication to the Prophet thus won him the support and admiration of everyone. Moreover, after the building of the Prophet’s mosque was completed, he encouraged his companions to perform their five daily prayers (salat) in congregation (jama’ah) in the mosque, which the Prophet himself led. But when the Muslim community in Madinah began to expand rapidly, it was not always possible for everyone, especially those who worked in the farms and orchards, to know the precise time of each prayer. As the Muslims were aware that the Christians used bells to call their people to the church and the Jews blew a horn to summon their people to religious service, a number of companions suggested that they, too, should devise a method for calling the faithful to the five daily prayers. The Prophet thought this was a good idea, but he was keen to devise a system which would differentiate the Muslims from the Jewish and Christian practices. Some companions suggested they should kindle a fire before every prayer, while others said they could clap two pieces of wood to signal the start of the prayer time. However, none of these suggestions appealed to the Prophet.
Then, one day, a companion called Abdullah ibn Zaid appeared before the Prophet and said he saw in a dream where a person was calling all the Muslims to prayer from the roof of the mosque. Subsequently, Umar appeared and confirmed that he had had a similar dream. The Prophet and his companions liked this idea. The adhan (or ‘call to prayer’) was thus instituted by the order of the Prophet. It consisted of repeating the following formulas:
Allahu Akbar (God is great),
Ashadu Allah-ilaha illa Allah (I bear wintness that there is no god but God)
Ashadu anna Muhammadan Rasul Allah (I bear witness that Muhammad is God’s Messenger),
Haiya alas salah (Hasten to Prayer),
Haiya alal falah (Hasten to Success),
Allahu Akbar (God is great),
La ilaha illa Allah (There is no god but God).
Since Bilal had the most beautiful voice, the Prophet asked him to go into the masjid al-nabi and make the first historic call to prayer in his sweet and melodious voice. As soon as Bilal completed the first adhan, the Muslims of Madinah flocked to the Prophet’s mosque and performed their prayers in a congregation led by the Prophet himself. Thus Bilal became the first, and the most famous, mu’adhdhin (or ‘caller to prayer’) in Islamic history. From that day on, the adhan became associated with the name of Bilal. Indeed, following in his footsteps, Muslims have continued to implement the adhan in every corner of the earth in order to summon the faithful to five daily prayers. Today, every time an adhan is called out we are reminded of Bilal who first declared this beautiful announcement from the Prophet’s mosque in Madinah. Thanks to the adhan, the name and fame of Bilal continues to spread across the world to this day. By contrast, Umayyah, his chief tormentor, is today remembered as a cruel and pathetic man who was put to the sword by Bilal at the Battle of Badr for his unspeakable cruelty and inhumanity towards him.
If Bilal was very fond of the Prophet, the Prophet in turn admired him for his devotion, dedication, hardwork and sincerity. Such was Bilal’s greatness that the Prophet once asked him, ‘What shoes were those you wore last night? Verily, as I journeyed in Heaven and was mounting the stairs of God I heard your footsteps before me though I could not see them.’ Moved by these beautiful words, Bilal resolved to stay with the Prophet and serve him for the rest of his life. When the Prophet passed away in 632, Bilal was so devastated that he could no longer bear to live in Madinah, for his memories of happy times with the Prophet made him very sad and lonely. He eventually accompanied a Muslim army, led by Abu Ubaida ibn al-Jarrah, to Syria and settled in Damascus permanently. When he visited Madinah a few years later, the Prophet’s grandsons, Hasan and Hussain, pleaded with him to make the adhan. As soon as he called the adhan, the people of Madinah came out of their houses and sobbed, for it reminded them of the happier times when the Prophet was alive. During the Caliphate of Umar, Bilal served as governor of Damascus for a short period and died around the age of sixty. Although he was born into slavery and, therefore, had no real status in society, he found lasting peace, great honour and true liberation in the fold of Islam. He attained such a lofty position within the early Muslim community that the great Caliph Umar used to call him ‘our master’ for his tremendous services to Islam. Today his name and fame have spread far and wide; he has also become an important symbol of honour and dignity for millions of African-American Muslims.
THE LIFE AND teachings of the Prophet Muhammad are an important source of inspiration, guidance and instruction for more than a billion Muslims across the globe today. From how to conduct a multi-billion pound business transaction in the international market-place, to the finer details of how to drink a glass of water, a Muslim can draw direct guidance for all spheres of his life from the vast corpus of hadith literature. The Arabic word hadith refers to a ‘saying’ or ‘utterance’ of the Prophet. No other human being is followed as meticulously as the Prophet is followed and imitated by the Muslims. He is seen as the epitome of virtue, goodness and humanity. That is why Muslims scrupulously emulate his deeds and actions (sunnah) in every sphere of their lives. In Islamic history, one man stands over and above all others when it comes to collecting, editing, analysing and verifying the sayings and utterances of the Prophet. He is none other than Imam al-Bukhari.
Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ismail ibn Ibrahim ibn Mughirah ibn Bardizbah al-Bukhari was born in Bukhara, in Muslim Central Asia. Of Persian origin, al-Bukhari’s ancestors were farmers who were taken captives during the Muslim conquest of that region in the early days of Islam.
Al-Bukhari’s great grandfather, al-Mughirah, accepted Islam at the hands of Yaman al-Jufi, the then governor of Bukhara, and he had a son by the name of Ibrahim. Ibrahim’s son, Ismail, was the father of al-Bukhari. Ismail was a relatively wealthy merchant and an accomplished scholar of hadith who became well known in his locality for his meticulous habits and strict adherence to the normative practice of the Prophet. He had two sons, Ahmad and Muhammad. Muhammad was the younger son, and became well known as al-Bukhari. Ismail died when al-Bukhari was still a child, and the family fell into povery and hardship. But young al-Bukhari’s mother was a pious and determined lady who, in spite of her difficult economic circumstances, ensured her son received a good education.
Al-Bukhari was evidently a gifted student who possessed a photographic memory and great analytical skills. Of slim build and somewhat frail health, he nevertheless excelled in his studies. His ability to grasp complex arguments and reconcile often differing and contradictory views–thanks largely to his prodigious intellect and unusual memory power – elevated him to one of the highest positions ever to be attained by a scholar of hadith. Al-Bukhari’s love for Islamic learning, especially his undiminished quest for Prophetic traditions, became very evident
