When Hazrat Sa’eed bin Zaid (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) passed away, then Hazrat Sa’d bin Abi Waqqaas (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) and Hazrat Abdullah bin Umar (radhiyallahu ‘anhuma) were among the people who gave him ghusal. After the ghusal, the janaazah was carried by the people from Aqeeq to Madinah Munawwarah to be buried in Baqi’, the graveyard of Madinah Munawwarah. When the janaazah passed the home of Hazrat Sa’d (radhiyallahu ‘anhu), he (Hazrat Sa’d (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) entered his home to take a quick bath before joining the people in the burial. Before leaving his home, he addressed his family and said, “I did not take a bath because I participated in the ghusal of Sa’eed (radhiyallahu ‘anhu). Rather, I only took a bath due to the heat.” (Majmauz Zawaaid #14880)

Hazrat Bilaal (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) is a famous Sahaabi among the galaxy of Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum), and was the muazzin of the Prophet’s (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) musjid. Initially, he was an Abyssinian slave of a disbeliever in Makkah Mukarramah. His conversion to Islam was, naturally, not liked by his master and he was therefore persecuted mercilessly.

Ummayah bin Khalaf, who was the worst enemy of Islam, would make him lie down on the burning sand at midday and would place a heavy stone on his breast, so that he could not even move a limb. He would then say to him, “Renounce Islam, or swelter and die.”

Even under these afflictions, Hazrat Bilaal (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) would exclaim, “Ahad! (The One Allah!) Ahad! (The One Allah!)”

At night, he was bound in chains and whipped, and with the cuts thus received, made to lie on the burning ground during the day to make him either forsake Islam or to die a lingering death from wounds. The torturers would get tired and take turns. At times, Abu Jahl would torture him, while at other times, Umayyah or someone else would inflict the punishment, and they would vie with one another in afflicting more and more painful punishment, but Hazrat Bilaal (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) would not yield.

Seeing the extreme suffering that Hazrat Bilaal (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) was undergoing, Hazrat Abu Bakr (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) bought his freedom, and he became a free Muslim.

As Islam taught implicitly the oneness of the Almighty Creator, while the idolaters of Makkah Mukarramah believed in many gods and goddesses, therefore Hazrat Bilaal (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) repeated, “Ahad! (The One Allah!) Ahad! (The One Allah!)” This shows his love and devotion to Allah Ta‘ala. (Al Isaabah 1/456, Fazaa’il-e-A’maal [English] pg. 21-22, [Urdu] pg. 16-17)