Bilal

The Abyssinian slave whose voice became the first call to prayer in Islam.

Born in Abyssinia and enslaved in Mecca, Bilal was among the very first to embrace Islam. His master had him tortured in the sun to make him renounce his faith; he responded with a single word: 'Ahad, Ahad' — One, One.

Abu Bakr bought and freed him. The Prophet ﷺ chose him to give the call to prayer: a formerly enslaved Black man thus became the voice that gathered the first community, from a rooftop in Medina.

His dignity has become a symbol: in Islam, the worth of a person lies neither in colour nor in condition, but in faith and in the heart. After the death of the Prophet ﷺ, it is said, his voice would break when he called. He went to live in Syria, where he died.

Faith under trial · Dignity · Equality of all people