YORUM | Dr. REŞİT HAYLAMAZ
Siyah tenli sahâbîlerden bahsederken Hazreti Bilâl’i (radıyallahu anh) atlamak olmazdı; hitâm-ı misk olsun diye bugün de O’ndan bahsedeceğim.
Anne-babası, nene ve dedeleri de köle olan bir ailenin çocuğu olarak Mekke’de dünyaya gelmişti. Dolayısıyla itilip kakılan, horlanıp hakir görülen bir atmosferde büyüdü.
Ten renginin siyah oluşu, başlı başına bir hakaret sebebiydi; güttüğü hayvanlarla eş tutulduğu anlar, adam yerine konulup lütufta bulunulduğu en kıymetli zamanlarıydı!
Ne gününde söz hakkı ne de geleceği ile ilgili planları vardı! Olamazdı; zira emsalleri gibi onun da hayatı, efendisinin lütfundan ibaretti!
Kölesi olarak bulunduğu evde bitip tükenme bilmeyen bir kin ve nefret vardı; Allah’a (celle celâlühû) ve Resûlullah’a (sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem) ateş püskürüyorlardı! Ebû Cehil’in kankası Ümeyye İbn-i Halef’in çirkef yüzüne muhatap olduğu anlar, hayatının en karanlık demleriydi.
Ne var ki akışı değiştirmeye ne gücü vardı ne de imkânı; günü gelip de elinden tutan bir Emîn (sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem) olmasaydı, ataları gibi o da unutulup gidecek, iki nesil sonraki kendi nesli bile adını hatırlamayacaktı!
Bir mağarada buluşturmuştu kader onu; Hazreti Ebû Bekir (radıyallahu anh) ile birlikte olduğu demlerde süt ikram etmiş ve bu vesileyle ayrılma bilmeyecek bir tanışıklık başlamıştı.
Bambaşka bir tanışıklıktı bu! İnsan yerine konuluyordu!
Öylesine bir değişiklikti ki bu, asırların cenderesine sıkıştırılmış bütün kullukları kaldırıyor ve insanları, “Allah’ın kulu” olma ufkuna yükseltiyordu.
Bunu da çok gördüler ve farklılığını fark ettikleri günden itibaren çile ve mihnet dolu günler başladı Hazreti Bilâl için.
Zira hissiyatına hâkim olamamış ve yaşadığı coşkuyu âşikâr etmişti; en çetin günlerde gürül gürül “imânını” haykıran yedi kişiden birisi de Hazreti Bilâl idi. Dün yüzüne bile bakılmayan siyâh tenli Bilâl, şirke de müşrikliğe de meydan okuyordu!
Kâbe’deki putlara söz sayıp hakaret ettiğini duymuşlardı; Ebû Cehiller, onu da amansız bir takibe aldılar; sahibini sıkıştırıyorlardı!
Ümeyye İbn-i Halef için o, kölelerinden bir köleydi ve hiç riske girmedi; “Alın, sizin olsun; ne yaparsanız yapın!” deyiverdi! Bundan böyle Hazreti Bilâl, Ümeyye İbn-i Halef’in ellerinde, Ebû Cehillerin insafına (!) kalmıştı!
Aldılar onu ve kızgın sahraya götürdüler; kumlar üzerine yatırıyor ve üzerine, takatinin üstünde taşlar koyup sistematik işkence yapıyorlardı!
Allah’ın “kulum”, Resûlü’nün de “Ümmetim” dediği Hazreti Bilâl’i, çoluk çocuğun oyuncağı haline getirmişlerdi; boynuna ipler bağlıyor ve onu, ayak takımının eline verip sokak sokak dolaştırıyor, bir vadiden diğerine sürüklüyorlardı!
İşkencenin en ağırı da inancını, yeni bulduğu kıymetini, Allah ve Resûlü’nü inkara zorlanmasıydı; işkence altında mecalsiz kalsa da “Muhammed’i inkâr et!” baskıları karşısında dudaklarından dökülen bir hakikat vardı: “Ehad.. Ehad!”
Zilletle yaşamaktansa izzetle ölümü göze almış bir yüreğin taşmasıydı bu. Bitip tükenme bilmeyen kin ve nefreti siyâhî bedeninde söndürürken öylesine mesafe alıyordu ki mücessem bir nur kesilmişti!
Şüphesiz, onun yaşadıklarına en çok üzülen Allah Resûlü idi. Bunu fark eden başka bir firâset harekete geçecek ve bedelini ödemek suretiyle Hazreti Bilâl’i Ümeyye İbn-i Halef’ten satın alacaktı. Hazreti Ömer’in (radıyallahu anh) dediği gibi “Hazreti Ebû Bekir (radıyallahu anh), efendimiz idi; efendimizi hürriyetine kavuşturuyordu!”
İşte, aradaki fark bu idi; dünkü kıymet bilinmez Bilâl, bugün baş tâcı edilen bir “efendi” olmuştu!
O günden sonra hiç ayrılmadı Bilâl (radıyallahu anh); Resûlullah (sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem) neredeyse o da mutlaka yanındaydı.
Gün geldi, ekşiyen surat Mekkelilerden o da ayrıldı ve mukaddes bir göç ile Hazreti Bilâl de Medîne’ye hicret etti; artık ne Ümeyye vardı, başında ekşiyen ne de iki de bir horozlanıp duran şirret bir Ebû Cehil!
Mescid’in inşasıyla birlikte insanları namaza davet konuşulurken Nebevî gözün aradığı isimdi, Hazreti Bilâl; ilk ezanını okurken öylesine yürekten, öylesine içliydi ki “Ehad.. Ehad” sesleriyle inlettiği Fârân dağlarına duyururcasına coşkun duygular içindeydi.
Günler, onu da Bedir’e getirdi. Ortamın kızıştığı demlerde bir sürpriz bekliyordu onu; “küfrün başı Ümeyye”, karşısında duruyordu! O gün, hâlâ küçümseyen gözlerle tepeden bakıp ‘dünkü kölem’ muamelesi yaptığı Hazreti Bilâl (radıyallahu anh), çoktan işini bitirmiş, bulunduğu yerden gür bir tekbir sesi yükselmişti!
Her günü daha bir farklıydı Hazreti Bilâl’in; Efendimiz de (sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem) bunu görüyor ve zaman zaman ona, “Hangi amelin sebebiyle bu noktaya ulaştın?” diye soruyordu. Bir defasında Cennet’e girdiğini görmüş ve önünde bir ses işitmiş, sesin sahibini sormuş ve “Önünde yürüyen, Bilâl’dir!” cevabını almıştı. Resûlullah’ın (sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem) tasdikiyle bundan böyle O (radıyallahu anh), kendisini Cennet’in iştiyakla beklediği üç kişiden birisiydi!
Hakkında bunca iltifata rağmen O (radıyallahu anh), çok mütevazı idi; hayranlıkla bakan gözler, ihraz ettiği konumunu gıpta konusu yaptıklarında, “Olmaz öyle şey!” demişti. “Ben, bir Habeşliyim; daha dün bir köle idim!”
Kendisini Hazreti Ebû Bekir’den bile üstün tutanların olduğunu duymuştu bir gün. Beyninden vurulmuş gibiydi ve “Nasıl olur? dedi. “Ben, O’nun hasenatından sadece bir haseneyim!”
Çoğu garîb ü gurabâ gibi O’nu da Resûlullah (sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem) evlendirmişti. Ziyaretlerine geldiği günlerden birisinde, hanımının Hazreti Bilâl’i üzdüğünü öğrenince hemen devreye girmiş ve ona, “Sakın Bilâl’i gücendirme!” tembihinde bulunmuştu.
Aslen Mekkeli değildi ama Mekke tutkunu birisiydi, Hazreti Bilâl. Zira Mekke, çilesini çektiği bir şehirdi; taşında toprağında hatıraları vardı! Hastalığının şiddetlenip bayıldığı demlerden birisinde bu özlemini şöyle dile getirmişti:
“Bilmem ki Mekke vadisinde, etrafımı izhir ve celil otları sarmış olarak bir gece daha geçirebilecek miyim? Mecenne suyuna ulaşacağım bir gün daha gelecek mi? Şâme ve Tafîl dağları bana bir kere daha görünecek mi?”
Karıncanın duasına muttali olup ihtiyacını gideren Yüce Kudret, elbette Bilâl’in yakarışını da duyuyordu. O gün de gelecek ve bunlar da olacaktı; o gün Bilâl’in de hasreti dinecekti, ama zamanı vardı…
Derken, gün geldi bir fetihle kapılarını sonuna kadar araladı Mekke. Dört bir cihette o gün “Allahu Ekber!” sadâları yankılanırken Nebevî göz yine Hazreti Bilâl’in üzerindeydi. Öğlen vakti girmişti ve Mekke’deki ilk ezanı da O okuyacaktı! Aynı zamanda bu, hakikatin ayân olduğu yerde butlanın bitişinin ilanıydı!
Son ezanını da bir Pazartesi sabahında okumuştu. O günün kuşluk vaktinde gurûb eden Güneş’in ardından bir daha ezan okuyamaz oldu. Bağrına taş basıp yüreğindeki ateşi söndürmeyi defalarca denedi ama buna imkân yoktu; nutku tutulmuştu!
O’nun (sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem) olmadığı bir dünyanın ne tadı vardı ne de tuzu. Halife Hazreti Ebû Bekir’in (radıyallahu anh) yanına geldi bir gün ve Resûlullah’ın (sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem) kendisine söylediği bir hadisi nakletti O’na; “Ey Bilâl!” demişti, bir gün. “Allah yolunda cihâddan daha faziletli bir başka amel yoktur!”
Anlamıştı, maksadını Hazreti Ebû Bekir (radıyallahu anh) ama yine de sordu:
“Ne demek istiyorsun, ey Bilâl?”
“Ölünceye kadar kendimi Allah için vakfetmek!” dedi.
Aynı hicranla kıvranan Hazreti Ebû Bekir (radıyallahu anh), “Peki” dedi. “Ezanımızı kim okuyacak?”
Yüreği yangın yeri Hazreti Bilâl’in mukabelesi, “Resûlullah’tan sonra ben ezan okuyamam!” şeklindeydi.
Halife’nin bundan hoşnut olmadığını görünce bir adım daha attı ve “Sen” dedi. “Beni, Allah için mi yoksa kendin için mi satın alıp hürriyete kavuşturdun?”
Cevabı belliydi:
“Tabii ki Allah için!”
İstediği cevap gelmişti ve bunun üzerine şunları söyledi:
“Şayet beni kendin için satın alıp hürriyete kavuşturmuşsan, yanında tutabilirsin. Hakkın var buna; o zaman dediğini yaparım. Ancak bunu, Allah için yapmışsan bırak da bugün ben, Allah için cihâd edeyim.”
Böylesine bir kararlılığa ne denilebilirdi ki!
Bundan böyle Hazreti Bilâl için Medîne, uzaktan bakılıp hasreti çekilen bir şehirdi. Zira, Şâm cihetine giden bir seriyyeye dahil olmuş ve yüreğini orada bırakarak ayrılmıştı Medîne’den.
Günler aktı geçti. Arkadan gelen Hazreti Ömer de (radıyallahu anh) özlemişti O’nu. Aynı zamanda ezanına hasret kulaklar vardı Medîne’de ve değişik mahfillerin konusu oluyordu Hazreti Bilâl.
Ve bir gün Şâm’a, Hazreti Bilâl’i ziyarete geldi Hazreti Ömer (radıyallahu anh). Oturdu ve hasret giderdiler, uzun uzadıya. Derken sözü, ezana getirdi ve “Medîneliler seni, ezanını bekliyor, ey Bilâl!” dedi Hazreti Ömer (radıyallahu anh).
O günlerde bir de rüya görmüştü. Yıllarca hasretiyle yanıp tutuştuğu Efendisi gecesine teşrif etmiş ve “Bu kadar ayrılık da niye; bizi ziyaret vakti gelmedi mi ey Bilâl?” demişti O’na.
Ortada bir iktiran vardı ve Halîfe ile birlikte Medîne’ye geldi.
O gün bayramdı, Medîneliler için… Hazreti Hasan ve Hazreti Hüseyin etrafına almış öpüp öpüp sarılıyor, hıçkıra hıçkıra ağlıyorlardı. Tabii ağlayan sadece onlar değildi; Cennet gülü bedenlerinde dedelerinin kokusunu alan Hazreti Bilâl de bırakmıştı kendini; tarifi imkânsız bir duygu seliydi yaşanan!
Fırsatı kaçırmadı ve eski günlerde olduğu gibi ezan okumasını istediler, Hazreti Bilâl’den (radıyallahu anh). Üzerine kilitlenen her gözün talebi olan bu isteği kabul etmek zorunda kaldı o gün ve tan yeri ağarırken Medîne’de, âşinâ oldukları bir ses yükselmeye başladı:
“Allahu Ekber.. Allahu Ekber!”
Duyanı kendine çeken bir sesti, Bilâl’in sesiydi bu! Düne kadar Resûlullah’ın bulunduğu her yerde ezanı O okumuştu; ezana “alem” olmuştu, Hazreti Bilâl! öylesine farklı bir hava oluşmuştu ki Bilâl’in sesini duyan herkes, Mescid’e Resûlullah’ın geldiğini düşünür olmuştu; “Müezzini gelmiş ise İmâm da gelmiştir!” diyorlardı!
Ancak, bir türlü “Eşhedü Enne Muhammeden Resûlullah!” diyemedi o gün Hazreti Bilâl; hıçkırıkları gırtlağında düğümlenmiş, yanı başında olup bitenlerin şahidi Resûlullah’ın (sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem) şehadetini bir türlü haykıramamıştı.
Hazreti Bilâl’in ezanı yarım kaldı o gün.
Ancak, insanlar bir sel gibi Mescid’e aktı o sabah; mealiyata ait duyguların zirve yaptığı bir bayram yeriydi, o gün Medîne. Kaynayan bir kazan gibiydi Mescid-i Nebevî ve şüphesiz en çok ağlayanlardan birisi de böylesine bir işe vesile olan Hazreti Ömer idi (radıyallahu anh).
Dünün kıymet vermediği siyâhî bir köle bugün, herkesin sarılıp hasret giderdiği bir baş yüce konumundaydı.
Ne var ki Hazreti Bilâl’in yüreği dayanamadı bu coşkuya ve herkes ile helalleşerek yeniden Şâm’ın yolunu tuttu. Hayata veda zamanı geldiği gün, “Yarın dostlara kavuşacağız; Muhammed ve yanındakilere!” deyince hanımı müdahil oldu:
“Bir vuslat bu; ne mutlu bize!”
O gün bugün, milyonların adı hep “Bilâl” oldu, O’na olan sevginin bir tezahürü olarak. Üstelik, yüz binin üzerindeki Sahâbe’nin yüzde doksanının adını bile bilemezken bugün “Bilâl” ismini duyanların zihninde canlanan adres hep aynı.
İşte, iki nesil sonra unutulup gidecek siyâhî köleyi, Kıyâmet’e kadar gönüllere nakşeden bir inancın adıdır İslâm ve bugün biz, bu İslâm’a ne kadar muhtacız!
A Long-awaited “Ensign”
It was impossible to leave his Holiness Bilal (May Allah be pleased with him) out when talking about the black skinned companions; i will tell of him too today to let it be the musk of finis.
He had been born in Mecca as the child of a family that his parents and grandparents were also slave. So he grew up in an atmosphere of jostle and undermining.
It was all by itself a reason of insult that his skin color was black; the moments at which he was considered equal with the animals he herded were his most precious times that he was seen as a human being by favor.
Neither had he right of speech at his day nor he had plans for his future! He couldn’t; because his life was either, like his similars, nothing more than his holder’s favor.
There was a never-ending grudge and hatred in the house whose slave he was ; they were spitting fire on Allah (Her Majesty High O Sophia) and the Messenger of Allah (May the Blessings of Allah and The Peace be upon Him)!
The moments at which he dealt with disgusting face of Ümeyye İbn-i Halef the buddy of Ebû Cehil were the darkest breaths of his life.
To be continued…
However, he had neither power nor possibility to change the flow; if an Emîn (May the Blessings of Allah and the Peace be upon Him) hadn’t been there who took him by the hand in due date, he would have faded away like his ancestors,
even the second next generation of his own wouldn’t have remembered his name!
In a cave the destiny had brought him together; on the breaths he was together with his Holiness Ebû Bekir (May Allah be pleased with him) he had offered milk and hereby an inseparable acquaintance started.
A quite different acquaintanceship that one was! He was being treated as a human.
Such a difference it was that’d do away with the whole slavery and uplift the people to the horizon of being “The slave of Allah”.
They grudged him that too and since the day they realized his differentness the days filled with ordeal and suffering started for his Holiness Bilâl.
Because he had not been able to take over his feelings and he had given away the ecstasy that he was experiencing; One of the seven who shouted out their “faith” was his Holiness Bilâl. Black-skinned Bilal who was sent to coventry yesterday, was challenging the polytheism and polytheistic acts too!
They heard that he had sworn at the fetishes in Kaaba and insulted them; Those who are same as Ebû Cehil, came after him mercilessly; they were coming down on his slave-holder!
For Ümeyye İbn-i Halef he was just a slave among his slaves and he didn’t take the risk at all; “Take, take him as he is yours; do what the hell ever you want!” he just said! From now onward, his Holiness Bilâl was left, in the hands of Ümeyye İbn-i Halef, to the mercy(!) of those Ebû Cehil!
They got him and took him to the burning hot sahara; by laying him down on the sands and putting stone blocks on him that left no strength , they were committing systematic torture!
They turned his Holiness Bilâl who is called by Allah as “My Servant” and by Her Messenger as “My People” in a toy of the small fry; they were tiding his neck with ropes and by leaving him on the hand of rubble they were walking him the streets, dragging him from a valley to the next!
And he suffered the most from the torture when being forced to deny Allah and Her Messenger, his new found dignity, his belief; Even though he had no strength left under torture he did have the truth out of his mouth against the pressures of “deny Muhammed!”: “One..One!”
It was the overflowing of a heart which had faced up to death in dignity rather than living disgracefully. Such a distance he’d gone when cooling the never-ending venom and the hate on his black-colored body that he turned into an incarnate light of God!
No doubt that the Messenger of Allah was the one who felt sorry the most for what he lived. Another acumen who realized that, would take a move and get his Holiness Bilal from Ümeyye İbn-i Halef by paying the price for him. As his Holiness Ömer (May Allah be pleased with Him) said “His Holiness Ebû Bekir (May Allah be pleased with Him), was our master; he was setting our master free!)
Here that was the difference between; Bilâl of yesterday whose value had not been known became a highly regarded master today!
From that day on, his Holiness Bilâl (May Allah be pleased with Him) never left him; wherever was the Messenger of Allah (May the Blessings of Allah and the Peace be upon Him) he was also there surely beside.
The day came, he also left the sour-faced Meccans and with a holy exodus his Holiness Bilâl immigrated to Medîna too;
There was no longer Ümeyye coming down on him, nor a bad-tempered Ebû Cehil bullying him again and again!
Following the construction of the Mosque while it was being discussed about calling people to prayer, the name that the Prophet Eye looked for was his Holiness Bilâl; when singing the first Call to prayer, so emotional he was, so much touching the hearts that he was in an ecstatic mood as if letting it be heard by the mountains of Fâran resounded with the voices “One..One!”
Days, brought him to Bedir too. A surprise was waiting for him in the breaths when it came to boil; “Ümeyye the head of blasphemy” was standing in front of him! That day, his Holiness Bilâl (May Allah be pleased with Him), who was still treated as “my slave of yesterday” by looking from the top with belittling eyes, had already finished him off and there rose a voice out from where he was, saying sonorously “Allahu Akbar!”.
Each following day of his Holiness Bilâl was a more different day than the previous; Our Master (May the Blessings of Allah and the Peace be upon Him) saw that too and asked him time to time that “Which deed you did to get here with?”. Once he had seen him walking in the Heaven and he heard a voice in front, then he had asked whose voice it was and he got the answer “That’s Bilâl, getting ahead of you!”.
By the confirmation of the Messenger of Allah (May the Blessings of Allah and the Peace be upon Him), from that day forth He (May Allah be pleased with him) was one of the three persons to whom the Paradise’s looking forward!
In face of so much compliment so much modest was he (May Allah be pleased with him); when the eyes looking admiringly had made the position he had a subject for envy, “No way!” he just said. “Me, i am an Habeshi; i used to be a slave just yesterday!”
One day he heard that there had been those who put him ahead of even Ebû Bekir. He got shocked and said “How on Earth!”. “Me, i am just a favour among his favours”
Like most of those who were helpless and poor, his Holiness Bilâl got also married thanks to the Messenger of Allah (May the Blessings of Allah and the Peace be upon Him), when he found out at one of the days he came to visit them that the wife of his Holiness Bilâl distressed him,
he just got involved in and advised her “Don’t ever hurt the feelings of Bilâl!”
He was not originally from Mecca but he was someone in love with Mecca. Because the Mecca was a vill which he suffered under her agony; on the rocks and the dusts of hers where he had his memories! In one of the breaths that his sickness turned violent and he fainted, he gave voice to his yearning like that:
“Wonder if i can spend another night
in the valley of Mecca there i’m surrounded with ezheer and djalil herba!
Wonder if there will come another day
that i will reach the stream of Mejanna!
Wonder if i will see once again
the mountains of Thafeel and Shaama!”
The Paramount Might who acquainted Herself with an ant’s prayer and satisfied its need, was surely aware of Bilâl’s invocation too. That day would also come and those would happen too; that day Bilal’s longing would be satisfied too, but it wasn’t time yet.
Then the day arrived and by a conquest Mecca opened her doors wide. The Prophet Eye was on the look-out for his Holiness Bilâl again when it rebounded with the voices “Allahu Akbar!” here there and everywhere. It was noon time to pray and that was Him who would sing the first Call to Prayer in Mecca too! At the same time that was the announcement of ending nullity in where the truth became clear!
And he sang his last call to prayer on a monday morning. He wasn’t able to sing anymore after the Sun setting down in the mid-morning of that day. He tried again and again to petrify his bosom and blow out the fire in his heart but it wasn’t possible; he got tongue-tied!
There was neither savor nor flavor in a world without Him (May the Blessings of Allah and the Peace be upon Him). One day he went to his Holiness Ebû Bekir the Caliph and to Him, he narrated an hadith that he was told by the Messenger of Allah (May the Blessings of Allah and the Peace be upon Him); once he said “Hey Bilâl!” upon a time. “There’s not a deed better than Jihad on the Road to Allah!”
His Holiness Ebû Bekir (May Allah be pleased with him) did see what he meant but he asked anyway:
“O Bilâl, what do you mean?”
“Devoting myself to Allah untill i die!”
His Holiness Ebû Bekir (May Allah be pleased with him) who was suffering the same sorrow, said “Alright”. “Who will sing our Call to Prayer?”
That was the answer of his Holiness Bilâl whose heart a fire ground, “I can’t sing the Call to Prayer after the Messenger of Allah!”
As he saw that the caliph didn’t like that he took a step forward and said “You”.
“For Allah or for yourself did you buy me to set free?”
His answer was crystal clear:
“Of course for Allah!”
He got the answer he wanted to hear and then he said that:
“If you bought me for yourself and set free then you can hold me in. It’s your right; then i’ll do what you say. But if you did that for Allah then let me go today to Jihad for Allah.”
What could be said for such a resoluteness!
So, Medîna was a city now, far and long-awaited, for his Holiness Bilâl. Because he just joined the army and left to Damascus side by leaving Madîna behind with his heart.
Days passed away. As his follower, His Holiness Ömer (May Allah be pleased with him) missed him too. Meanwhile the ears in Madîna were longing for his Call to prayer and he was the topic on various discussion tables of Singers, his Holiness Bilâl.
And one day his Holiness Ömer (May Allah be pleased with him) came to Damascus for visiting his Holiness Bilâl.
He took a seat and they fulfilled their longings for a long time that’s getting longer and longer. Finally his Holiness Ömer (May Allah be pleased with him) led up to the Call for prayer and said “Madîna people is waiting for you, your Call to Prayer, o Bilâl!”
Those days he just got a dream about. His room was honored with the visit of His Master for whom he pined away in burning and flame up year in on year out
then he said “What is so much separation for; is it not time to visit us ô Bilâl?”
There was an obvious rapprochement and he came to Madîna with the Caliph.
It was a celebration for the people of Madîna… Their Holiness Hasan and Hüseyin surrounded him by kissing and hugging, their were crying their hearts out. They were surely not the only ones crying. His Holiness Bilâl also let it go who got the smell of their Grandfather on their Heaven-rose bodies; it was an unnameable flood of emotions what’s being lived there!
They got the opportunity and asked his Holiness Bilâl to sing the Call to Prayer as how he used to. He was to accept that request made by the each eye locked on him and there rose a familiar voice in Madîna at dawn:
“Allahu Akbar.. God is the Unique Great!”
It was a voice pulling the audience toward itself, it was the voice of Bilâl! Where the Messenger of Allah was until yesterday there he sang the Call to Prayer; he just became “the ensign” of the Azan, his Holiness Bilâl! Such a different ambiance became real that whoever heard the voice of Bilâl just thought that the Messenger of Allah came to the Mosque; “If his Singer is here, so is Imam!” they said!
But, no way that day he could say “I testify Muhammad as the Messenger of Allah!” his Holiness Bilâl; no way he could shout out the testification of the Messenger of Allah who was the witness of what happened just beside, as his throat was in knots by sobs.
The Call to Prayer of his Holiness Bilâl was left half finished that day.
But, people flowed like the flood to the Mosque on the same morning; Madîne was then, a fairground where the feelings of the unreachable wisdom hit the top. The Prophet’s Mosque was like a boiling pot and the one of those who cried the most was surely his Holiness Ömer (May Allah be pleased with him) who organized that celebration.
A black coloured slave not appreciated by yesterday, took the position of a great head hugged by everyone to fulfill their longings today.
However, the heart of his Holiness Bilâl couldn’t take that ecstasy and by saying goodbye to everyone he took the road back to Damascus. At the day in that it was time to say goodbye to the life, when he said “We’ll meet the friends tomorrow; Muhammed and all those with him”
then his wife just joined in:
“That’s an ultimate union; what a joy for us!”
Since that day till now, the millions have ever been named as “Bilâl”, as an appearance of the love belongs to him. Moreover, it’s always the same adress that’s recalled by the mind of those who have heard about the name “Bilâl” while they cannot recognize even the names of ninety per hundred of the Companions who are more than one hundred thousand.
Here it is, Islam is the name of a faith that inlaced a black coloured slave to the hearts till the Apocalypse who was about to fade away two generations later and today, we need ever so much that Islam!
A Long-awaited “Ensign”
It was impossible to leave his Holiness Bilal (May Allah be pleased with him) out when talking about the black skinned companions; i will tell of him too today to let it be the musk of finis.
He had been born in Mecca as the child of a family that his parents and grandparents were also slave. So he grew up in an atmosphere of jostle and undermining.
It was all by itself a reason of insult that his skin color was black; the moments at which he was considered equal with the animals he herded were his most precious times that he was seen as a human being by favor.
Neither had he right of speech at his day nor he had plans for his future! He couldn’t; because his life was either, like his similars, nothing more than his holder’s favor.
There was a never-ending grudge and hatred in the house whose slave he was ; they were spitting fire on Allah (Her Majesty High O Sophia) and the Messenger of Allah (May the Blessings of Allah and The Peace be upon Him)!
The moments at which he dealt with disgusting face of Ümeyye İbn-i Halef the buddy of Ebû Cehil were the darkest breaths of his life.
However, he had neither power nor possibility to change the flow; if an Emîn (May the Blessings of Allah and the Peace be upon Him) hadn’t been there who took him by the hand in due date, he would have faded away like his ancestors,
even the second next generation of his own wouldn’t have remembered his name!
In a cave the destiny had brought him together; on the breaths he was together with his Holiness Ebû Bekir (May Allah be pleased with him) he had offered milk and hereby an inseparable acquaintance started.
A quite different acquaintanceship that one was! He was being treated as a human.
Such a difference it was that’d do away with the whole slavery and uplift the people to the horizon of being “The slave of Allah”.
They grudged him that too and since the day they realized his differentness the days filled with ordeal and suffering started for his Holiness Bilâl.
Because he had not been able to take over his feelings and he had given away the ecstasy that he was experiencing; One of the seven who shouted out their “faith” was his Holiness Bilâl. Black-skinned Bilal who was sent to coventry yesterday, was challenging the polytheism and polytheistic acts too!
They heard that he had sworn at the fetishes in Kaaba and insulted them; Those who are same as Ebû Cehil, came after him mercilessly; they were coming down on his slave-holder!
For Ümeyye İbn-i Halef he was just a slave among his slaves and he didn’t take the risk at all; “Take, take him as he is yours; do what the hell ever you want!” he just said! From now onward, his Holiness Bilâl was left, in the hands of Ümeyye İbn-i Halef, to the mercy(!) of those Ebû Cehil!
They got him and took him to the burning hot sahara; by laying him down on the sands and putting stone blocks on him that left no strength , they were committing systematic torture!
They turned his Holiness Bilâl who is called by Allah as “My Servant” and by Her Messenger as “My People” in a toy of the small fry; they were tiding his neck with ropes and by leaving him on the hand of rubble they were walking him the streets, dragging him from a valley to the next!
And he suffered the most from the torture when being forced to deny Allah and Her Messenger, his new found dignity, his belief; Even though he had no strength left under torture he did have the truth out of his mouth against the pressures of “deny Muhammed!”: “One..One!”
It was the overflowing of a heart which had faced up to death in dignity rather than living disgracefully. Such a distance he’d gone when cooling the never-ending venom and the hate on his black-colored body that he turned into an incarnate light of God!
No doubt that the Messenger of Allah was the one who felt sorry the most for what he lived. Another acumen who realized that, would take a move and get his Holiness Bilal from Ümeyye İbn-i Halef by paying the price for him. As his Holiness Ömer (May Allah be pleased with Him) said “His Holiness Ebû Bekir (May Allah be pleased with Him), was our master; he was setting our master free!)
Here that was the difference between; Bilâl of yesterday whose value had not been known became a highly regarded master today!
From that day on, his Holiness Bilâl (May Allah be pleased with Him) never left him; wherever was the Messenger of Allah (May the Blessings of Allah and the Peace be upon Him) he was also there surely beside.
The day came, he also left the sour-faced Meccans and with a holy exodus his Holiness Bilâl immigrated to Medîna too;
There was no longer Ümeyye coming down on him, nor a bad-tempered Ebû Cehil bullying him again and again!
Following the construction of the Mosque while it was being discussed about calling people to prayer, the name that the Prophet Eye looked for was his Holiness Bilâl; when singing the first Call to prayer, so emotional he was, so much touching the hearts that he was in an ecstatic mood as if letting it be heard by the mountains of Fâran resounded with the voices “One..One!”
Days, brought him to Bedir too. A surprise was waiting for him in the breaths when it came to boil; “Ümeyye the head of blasphemy” was standing in front of him! That day, his Holiness Bilâl (May Allah be pleased with Him), who was still treated as “my slave of yesterday” by looking from the top with belittling eyes, had already finished him off and there rose a voice out from where he was, saying sonorously “Allahu Akbar!”.
Each following day of his Holiness Bilâl was a more different day than the previous; Our Master (May the Blessings of Allah and the Peace be upon Him) saw that too and asked him time to time that “Which deed you did to get here with?”. Once he had seen him walking in the Heaven and he heard a voice in front, then he had asked whose voice it was and he got the answer “That’s Bilâl, getting ahead of you!”.
By the confirmation of the Messenger of Allah (May the Blessings of Allah and the Peace be upon Him), from that day forth He (May Allah be pleased with him) was one of the three persons to whom the Paradise’s looking forward!
In face of so much compliment so much modest was he (May Allah be pleased with him); when the eyes looking admiringly had made the position he had a subject for envy, “No way!” he just said. “Me, i am an Habeshi; i used to be a slave just yesterday!”
One day he heard that there had been those who put him ahead of even Ebû Bekir. He got shocked and said “How on Earth!”. “Me, i am just a favour among his favours”
Like most of those who were helpless and poor, his Holiness Bilâl got also married thanks to the Messenger of Allah (May the Blessings of Allah and the Peace be upon Him), when he found out at one of the days he came to visit them that the wife of his Holiness Bilâl distressed him,
he just got involved in and advised her “Don’t ever hurt the feelings of Bilâl!”
He was not originally from Mecca but he was someone in love with Mecca. Because the Mecca was a vill which he suffered under her agony; on the rocks and the dusts of hers where he had his memories! In one of the breaths that his sickness turned violent and he fainted, he gave voice to his yearning like that:
“Wonder if i can spend another night
in the valley of Mecca there i’m surrounded with ezheer and djalil herba!
Wonder if there will come another day
that i will reach the stream of Mejanna!
Wonder if i will see once again
the mountains of Thafeel and Shaama!”
The Paramount Might who acquainted Herself with an ant’s prayer and satisfied its need, was surely aware of Bilâl’s invocation too. That day would also come and those would happen too; that day Bilal’s longing would be satisfied too, but it wasn’t time yet.
Then the day arrived and by a conquest Mecca opened her doors wide. The Prophet Eye was on the look-out for his Holiness Bilâl again when it rebounded with the voices “Allahu Akbar!” here there and everywhere. It was noon time to pray and that was Him who would sing the first Call to Prayer in Mecca too! At the same time that was the announcement of ending nullity in where the truth became clear!
And he sang his last call to prayer on a monday morning. He wasn’t able to sing anymore after the Sun setting down in the mid-morning of that day. He tried again and again to petrify his bosom and blow out the fire in his heart but it wasn’t possible; he got tongue-tied!
There was neither savor nor flavor in a world without Him (May the Blessings of Allah and the Peace be upon Him). One day he went to his Holiness Ebû Bekir the Caliph and to Him, he narrated an hadith that he was told by the Messenger of Allah (May the Blessings of Allah and the Peace be upon Him); once he said “Hey Bilâl!” upon a time. “There’s not a deed better than Jihad on the Road to Allah!”
His Holiness Ebû Bekir (May Allah be pleased with him) did see what he meant but he asked anyway:
“O Bilâl, what do you mean?”
“Devoting myself to Allah untill i die!”
His Holiness Ebû Bekir (May Allah be pleased with him) who was suffering the same sorrow, said “Alright”. “Who will sing our Call to Prayer?”
That was the answer of his Holiness Bilâl whose heart a fire ground, “I can’t sing the Call to Prayer after the Messenger of Allah!”
As he saw that the caliph didn’t like that he took a step forward and said “You”.
“For Allah or for yourself did you buy me to set free?”
His answer was crystal clear:
“Of course for Allah!”
He got the answer he wanted to hear and then he said that:
“If you bought me for yourself and set free then you can hold me in. It’s your right; then i’ll do what you say. But if you did that for Allah then let me go today to Jihad for Allah.”
What could be said for such a resoluteness!
So, Medîna was a city now, far and long-awaited, for his Holiness Bilâl. Because he just joined the army and left to Damascus side by leaving Madîna behind with his heart.
Days passed away. As his follower, His Holiness Ömer (May Allah be pleased with him) missed him too. Meanwhile the ears in Madîna were longing for his Call to prayer and he was the topic on various discussion tables of Singers, his Holiness Bilâl.
And one day his Holiness Ömer (May Allah be pleased with him) came to Damascus for visiting his Holiness Bilâl.
He took a seat and they fulfilled their longings for a long time that’s getting longer and longer. Finally his Holiness Ömer (May Allah be pleased with him) led up to the Call for prayer and said “Madîna people is waiting for you, your Call to Prayer, o Bilâl!”
Those days he just got a dream about. His room was honored with the visit of His Master for whom he pined away in burning and flame up year in on year out
then he said “What is so much separation for; is it not time to visit us ô Bilâl?”
There was an obvious rapprochement and he came to Madîna with the Caliph.
It was a celebration for the people of Madîna… Their Holiness Hasan and Hüseyin surrounded him by kissing and hugging, their were crying their hearts out. They were surely not the only ones crying. His Holiness Bilâl also let it go who got the smell of their Grandfather on their Heaven-rose bodies; it was an unnameable flood of emotions what’s being lived there!
They got the opportunity and asked his Holiness Bilâl to sing the Call to Prayer as how he used to. He was to accept that request made by the each eye locked on him and there rose a familiar voice in Madîna at dawn:
“Allahu Akbar.. God is the Unique Great!”
It was a voice pulling the audience toward itself, it was the voice of Bilâl! Where the Messenger of Allah was until yesterday there he sang the Call to Prayer; he just became “the ensign” of the Azan, his Holiness Bilâl! Such a different ambiance became real that whoever heard the voice of Bilâl just thought that the Messenger of Allah came to the Mosque; “If his Singer is here, so is Imam!” they said!
But, no way that day he could say “I testify Muhammad as the Messenger of Allah!” his Holiness Bilâl; no way he could shout out the testification of the Messenger of Allah who was the witness of what happened just beside, as his throat was in knots by sobs.
The Call to Prayer of his Holiness Bilâl was left half finished that day.
But, people flowed like the flood to the Mosque on the same morning; Madîne was then, a fairground where the feelings of the unreachable wisdom hit the top. The Prophet’s Mosque was like a boiling pot and the one of those who cried the most was surely his Holiness Ömer (May Allah be pleased with him) who organized that celebration.
A black coloured slave not appreciated by yesterday, took the position of a great head hugged by everyone to fulfill their longings today.
However, the heart of his Holiness Bilâl couldn’t take that ecstasy and by saying goodbye to everyone he took the road back to Damascus. At the day in that it was time to say goodbye to the life, when he said “We’ll meet the friends tomorrow; Muhammed and all those with him”
then his wife just joined in:
“That’s an ultimate union; what a joy for us!”
Since that day till now, the millions have ever been named as “Bilâl”, as an appearance of the love belongs to him. Moreover, it’s always the same adress that’s recalled by the mind of those who have heard about the name “Bilâl” while they cannot recognize even the names of ninety per hundred of the Companions who are more than one hundred thousand.
Here it is, Islam is the name of a faith that inlaced a black coloured slave to the hearts till the Apocalypse who was about to fade away two generations later and today, we need ever so much that Islam!