The other day, when he came back from
the desert, the signs of tiredness were seen in his face. The black man
put his knapsack down and wiped the beads of perspiration from his
forehead. The air was filled with dust churned up by the baaing sheep
running towards the fold. The black man said to himself, "Now, perhaps I
can take a rest for a while."Since morning he had grazed the sheep
under the hot sunshine of the desert, and in the afternoon had decided
to rest a few minutes, but he could not. The heat of the desert sand and
sun would not permit sleep.
He placed the sheep in the fold, and went to the water well. Just as
he was about to wash his face with the cool water, he heard loud shouts,
shouts of his Master and other people talking. Surely, something
important has happened which caused Master to shout that way!
The man's name was Bilal. Although he was from Abyssinia land, he
lived in Mecca. When he was sold to Master, he was only a small boy.
Master always reminded him, "I am your owner, and you are my slave, you
must obey me because your god has been made from wood and mine is from
gold. This is the god's will." The shouting, cursing voice always made
unpleasant noise in his ears.
Bilal washed his face, took his knapsack, and started to his room.
His room was dark, four walls in the basement of the big, aristocratic
house.
Bilal had not reached his room yet when he heard the shouts of his
Master raised again.
The shouts continued. The black man wanted to know what was going on,
but he was afraid of getting close enough to the Master's room to hear
what Master was saying and why he was so angry. Yet, he was irresistibly
drawn toward the room. Quietly, he stood at the door. Carefully, he
listened to the talk, which continued, with only occasional shouts from
his Master Omayyad. He recognized the voices as those of the aristocrats
of Mecca. The voice of Omayyad, son of Khalaf, who was more nervous than
the others, was raised again.
He spoke with indignation, "We must not let Mohammad freely disturb
the city. He treated our idols with disrespect."
He says, 'There is only one God and everybody must worship him.'
"Do you know what this means? It means that I, Omayyad, the noble
person of Mecca and Bilal, the ignorant black slave must have the same
God... Is that possible?"
At the same time, another aristocrat interrupted Omayyad's speech and
said "Our misfortune is too great because everybody knows him. He is
well-known for truthfulness, innocence and trustworthiness."
Omayyad paused a moment and then said, "so we are compelled to say to
people Mohammad has become mad."
The others admired the thing, which Omayyad suggested. All Masters
accepted this suggestion, and the meeting ended. They all got up to go
to their homes, but before they came out of the room, Bilal had gone to
his room.
Bilal's room seemed to him darker and smaller than ever. Omayyad's
words did not bring tranquility to him for a moment. He thought of the
prophet of God and... "Do people believe the aristocrat's words?" he
asked himself. No.... No. They would never accept that. Mohammad is the
most innocent and most truthful man in Mecca. Everybody knows him. When
he says there is only one God and these idols are not God, he certainly
tells the truth. But why were only the aristocrats and Masters afraid of
Mohammad's religion (peace be upon him) and his God?
That night Bilal thought much and he found out so many mysteries and
could not sleep until late.
The following day, Bilal heard that people were talking about the
madness of Mohammad (peace be upon him). He dared to speak several times
to give the people understanding of who had scattered falsehood among
them, but nobody believed him.
The days passed one after another. Every day there was news that
another one added to God's Messenger's followers. And also every day
Bilal heard about them that they were hurt or injured or killed.
Bilal became heavy - hearted. He was not able to do anything about
it, and sadness turned to anger. Many times he told himself, "I will
revenge these cruelties." Then it was reported that Ammar's father and
mother had been martyred on the rack.
Bilal knew Ammar. He was one of the innocent and honest youth in
Mecca. Bilal also knew Abu Jahl, the Master of Ammar very well.
Abu Jahl was one of the aristocrats of Mecca who was famous for
cruelty and meanness. But in spite of this, he could not force Ammar to
quit God's Messenger and his religion.
In spite of this despairing news, one day Bilal, coming back from the
desert, reached his decision. Instead of going to Master's house, he
went directly to a house where God's Messenger dwelled.
Mohammad (peace be upon him) was a tall man, with a face shining with
faith. When Bilal saw him, his heart became quiet. He felt that he had
found his loss.
Mohammad's words (peace be upon him) were so hope giving for him that
he did not want to leave. He concluded a promise with Mohammad, God's
prophet (peace be upon him) and converted to Islam.
These comings and goings continued, the words of Mohammad (peace be
upon him) had changed Bilal. He did not have endurance to see the idols
anymore because he had heard the truth from Mohammad (peace be upon him)
and now he realized real God.
One morning, when Bilal left the house of God's Messenger, he went to
kaaba. Nobody was there. He looked at the idols-the golden idols, the
small wooden idols and the stone idols.
"Oh! You unable idols!" he shouted. "How can you defend yourselves?
Woe is me that I worshipped these idols and fell crying at their feet."
Later he moved forward and spat at the face of one big idol and
shouted, "oh, you unable gods! You do not deserve worship! You become
extinct some day. You do not deserve for me to spend my time with you in
this manner!"
Bilal left kaaba and returned to his master's house. When Bilal
entered the house, he heard the shouts of Omayyad and his friends, but
heedless of them, he went to his own room. For him nothing was more
pleasurable than to bill and coo his newfound God, the One Who had given
him power to curse the idols and spit on the big idol.
But in the room where Omayyad and his friends were sitting the door
burst open and a man rushed into the room, went directly to Omayyad and
whispered something into his ear. Omayyad's face flushed red with anger.
"Are you sure you have seen it exactly?" Omayyad asked the man.
"Yes, I am sure," was his reply.
"Have you seen him with Mohammad?" shouted Omayyad.
In a weak voice with head bowed, the man answered "yes, my master."
Then pausing some moments, "And it is worse than that. I saw him spit on
the big idol."
"His mouth will soon be a place for the snakes." Omayyad shouted,
unable to control his rage.
Omayyad's friends were soon aware of the meaning of these words as
his shouts continued into the night.
Next day Mecca's people saw Omayyad and his friends drag the bound
Bilal to the city square.
Bilal remained quiet with shining black eyes looking to the sky.
All the people - young and old - followed them, anxious to know what
destiny was waiting for Bilal.
The sun had reached the middle of the sky creating beads of
perspiration on the black, naked body of Bilal. The white of Bilal's
eyes had become red from the heat. He looked around at the people who
stared wide - eyed back at him. He fell on the hot sands. Omayyad pushed
aside the people and with a fiery torch stood over his head. Bilal
closed his eyes, which only served to further infuriate Omayyad.
"Bilal," came the shout of Omayyad, "O' you unlucky slave, are you
willing to repent, or do I burn your body by the fire?"
Bilal did not answer. He did not open his eyes. Omayyad's anger
increased. He brought the torch forward to Bilal's body. The stench of
burning flesh permeated gradually to everybody's nostrils. Omayyad was
shocked as he heard Bilal's resonant voice split the silence.
The Ethiopian Bilal was among those who took the lead in
accepting Islam. Abu Jahl made him lie on the burning hot
pebbles, placed a heavy stone on him, the torture of which is,
needless to say, beyond endurance. When the faithful Bilal was
being tormented, Abu Jahl shouted at him, Disbelieve in
Muhammad's God. Discard Islam. But Bilal just repeated, The One.
The One, meaning God is the One, and I worship the One God. |
|
"Absolute Oneness... Absolute Oneness..."
Omayyad anger flared. "Shut your mouth, you impudent slave!
"Absolute Oneness... Absolute Oneness..."
Bilal had learned these words from the prophet (peace be upon him)
and Ammar. The shouts of Bilal caused tumult among the people. Omayyad,
while giving Bilal lashed, shouted, "I will not let him disobey my
order! You must respect our idols!"
But Bilal's voice continued:
"Absolute Oneness... Absolute Oneness..."
One from among the crowd asked, "What does Absolute Oneness mean?"
A man answered, "He means unique God."
Bilal opened his eyes. He saw Ammar. He smiled. He remembered Ammar's
father and mother. He shouted with a loud voice, "Absolute Oneness...
Absolute Oneness..."
Omayyad's anger increased.
But no matter how much he tortured Bilal, he heard nothing except
"Absolute Oneness."
That day passed. The torture continued for days. But now Bilal went
without any fear to the house of honorable Messenger freely and listened
to his words.
One day Omayyad, with the assistance of Oghbeh, one of the masters
and aristocrats of Mecca, fell upon Bilal's unclothed body and pushed
him into the hot sands again. Then Omayyad ordered a container to be
prepared full of boiling water and sank Bilal into the boiling water.
This time he suffered pain more that in the past, but again only the
voice of "Absolute Oneness" was raised.
It was ordered that a big stone be brought. They tied Bilal's hands
and feet and put the stone, which took four men to lift, on his chest.
Then some of people told him, "If you want to be free, just show respect
to the idols as we do now."
Bilal ridiculed them, "My tongue does not know your words."
Bilal's arms were only "Absolute Oneness... Absolute Oneness..."
Whenever Bilal said these words, Omayyad became intensely angry. He
tied Bilal's neck with a rope and made children and ignorant people drag
him naked on the hot sands of the city.
Bilal resisted Omayyad so much, until he was bought and freed finally
by Abu Bakr.
The days in Mecca came to an end. Bilal and the other followers went
to Medina by order of the prophet, who joined them there.
Bilal's patience, forbearance, and faith in God and creed to the
prophet caused him to be chosen by the Messenger of God (peace be upon
him) to call to prayer the people in Medina.
When Bilal went to the housetop and said the prayer call, all the
Moslems of Medina went to the mosque and prayed with the Messenger of
God (peace be upon him).
One day, the people of Medina heard the prayer call, while there was
much time left to pray. The people ran, confused toward the mosque.
Everybody was waiting to know what had happened. When all were gathered,
they realized that the enemy had set out of Mecca and were near Medina.
By order of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) each person
immediately made ready to defend himself. Everyone took up his arms and
when the Islam corps was ready, they set out of Medina to the place
where the enemy was. The corns of blasphemy approached them, and from
the opposite side, the prophet and his followers with the motto of
"Absolute Oneness... Absolute Oneness... God is the greatest" came
toward the enemy. Bilal's black face shown in the midst of them.
The fight began.
When the corns of blasphemy beard the shouts of "Absolute Oneness...
Absolute Oneness...", a fear came upon them. The voices of Ammar and
Bilal rang in their ears. Color drained from the face of Omayyad.
Bilal looked at every side to find Omayyad in the battlefield.
Suddenly they stood face to face. Omayyad had lost himself. Bilal
shouted, "I will not be quiet until colored my sword with your dirty
blood!"
Moments later, when the enemy was defeated, Omayyad's body was among
those of the enemy. Bilal's shout was as thunder as he moved away from
the body of Omayyad and went to be at the side of the others to kill
God's enemies with each stroke of his sword.
Absolute Oneness... Absolute Oneness... Absolute Oneness... |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment