After the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away, some of the Sahaba left the holy city of Medina and moved to other lands. This facilitated the spreading of Islam. It also helped the Sahaba to deal with the pain from the passing of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Even prior to this however some Companions were sent to other lands to teach people Islam. Muadh Ibn Jabal was sent to Yemen by the Prophet ﷺ who said to him:
‘O Muadh you might not meet me again after this year, and you might return and come to my mosque and find my grave there’.
Upon hearing this Muadh began to weep.
Ahmed and Abu Ya’la
Another Sahabi who left Medina was Sayiduna Bilal who settled in Syria. One day he saw the Prophet ﷺ in a dream. The Prophet ﷺ said to him:
What is this harshness O Bilal? Is it not time for you to visit me?
Bilal woke up anxious and worried, mounted his animal and went straight to Medina. He arrived at the grave of the Prophet ﷺ and he began to cry and rub his face in the grave! Then Hasan and Husain came and Bilal began to embrace them and kiss them. They said:
We want to hear the call to prayer (azan) which you used to make for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the Masjid.
So he climbed to the roof of the Masjid and stood in the same place he used to stand and when he said “Allah akbar Allah akbar” the city of Medina shook! And when he said “Ashhadu alla ilaha illalaah” the shaking increased. Then when he said “Ashhadu ana Muhammadan Rasulullah” the women of Medina came out of their rooms and asked “Has the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned?”.
There was no day in which more crying men and crying women were seen in Medina after the time of the Prophet ﷺ than this day. This was due to them being reminded of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ upon hearing the call to prayer (azan) from his ‘muezzin’.1
To list all of the virtues of Sayiduna Bilal al-Habashi would be impossible. It is sufficient for now to remind ourselves of his loyalty and long companionship with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in times of great difficulty.
During the Meccan period of the life of the Prophet ﷺ, the Quraish implemented a severe boycott on the Bani Abdul Mutalib (the clan of the Prophet ﷺ). They were confined to a valley on the outskirts of Mecca and the boycott was so severe that many passed away from sickness and hunger during this time. In fact, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, Sayidah Khadijah, passed away not long after the three-year boycott was lifted. Even during this most difficult period, Bilal could be found by the side of the Prophet ﷺ. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ later in life would speak about those difficult years. He once said:
I was threatened with fear in the way of Allah at a time when nobody else was threatened with fear. And I suffered harm in the way of Allah at a time when nobody else suffered. Thirty days and nights would pass and there would be no food for me and Bilal that was suitable for animals or humans to eat, except for some food Bilal would keep hidden under his arm.
Shama’il al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 375
May Allah Most High reward this great Sahabi on our behalf for the harm he endured side by side with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Sayiduna Bilal is buried in Bab al-Saghir cemetery in Damascus.
(1) This story was reported by Ibn Asakir with a good chain as stated by Hafiz al-Zurqani (Abdullah Sirajudin, Sayiduna Muhammad ﷺ, page 604)
Orthodox Muslim 