Muhammad Vandestra
Whenever Umar lbn Al khattaab mentioned Abu Bakr he would say, 'Abu Bakr is our master and the emancipator of our master.' That is to say, Bilaal.Indeed, the man to whom `Umar would give the agnomen 'Our Master' must be a great and fortunate man. However, this man - who was very dark in complexion, slender, very tall, thick- haired and with a sparse beard, as described by the narrators - would hardly hear words of praise and commendation directed at him and bestowed bountifully upon him without bending his head, loweringhis eyelids and saying with tears flowing down his two cheeks, 'Indeed, I am an Abyssinian. Yesterday, I was only a slave!'So who is this Abyssinian who was yesterday only a slave? He is Bilaal Ibn Rabaah the announcer of the time of Muslim prayer and the troublemaker to the idols. He was one of the miracles of faith and truthfulness, one of Islam’s great miracles. For out of every ten Muslims, from the beginning of Islam until today and until Allah wills, we will meet seven, at least, who know Bilaal. That is, there are hundreds of millions of people throughout the centuries and generations who know Bilaal, remember his name, and know his role just as they know the two greatest Caliphs in Islam, Abu Bakr and `Umar!Even if you ask a child who is still in his first years of primary school in Egypt, Pakistan, Malaysia, or China, in the two Americas, Europe, or Russia, in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Iran, or Sudan, in Tunis, Algeria, or Morocco, in the depth of Africa and in the mountains of Asia, in every place on the earth where Muslims reside, you can ask any Muslim child, 'Who is Bilaal, child?' He will answer you, 'He was the muezzin of the Messenger (PBUH) and he was the slave whose master used to torture him with hot burning stones to make him apostatize. But instead he said, 'One, One.'
