The virtue of Bilal the muezzin (may Allah be pleased with him)

Sayyiduna Sahl bin Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I entered Paradise and sensed a sound there. I looked, and it was Bilal."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Saghir and al-Mu'jam al-Kabir; its chain contains Mus'ab bin Thabit al-Zubayri, whom Ibn Hibban declared thiqah (trustworthy) while a group declared him da'if (weak); the rest of the narrators of this narration are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I entered Paradise and heard someone's footsteps ahead of me. I asked: O Jibril! Whose footsteps are these? He replied: This is Bilal, who is walking ahead of you."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Saghir, and he recorded something similar in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat and al-Mu'jam al-Kabir. Imam Ahmad recorded it within a long hadith which has passed earlier in the chapter on the combined virtues of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and others. The narrators of al-Mu'jam al-Saghir are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Wahshi bin Harb (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "On the night I was taken on the Mi'raj, in Paradise I heard someone's movement, so I asked: O Jibril! Whose movement is this? He said: This is Sayyiduna Bilal's." Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Would that the mother and father of Bilal had given birth to me, and that I were like Bilal.
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Zayd bin Arqam (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What an excellent man Bilal is! He is the leader of the martyrs, and those who call the adhan will have the longest necks of all people on the Day of Resurrection."
Al-Bazzar recorded it; its chain contains Husam bin Missakk, who is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: On the night the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was taken on the Mi'raj, when he entered Paradise during it, he heard a faint sound of someone. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: O Jibril! Who is this? He said: This is Sayyiduna Bilal the mu'adhdhin (may Allah be pleased with him). When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) returned, he said to the people: "Bilal has indeed succeeded; I saw such-and-such for him." After this the narrator mentioned the complete hadith.
Imam Ahmad recorded it; its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih except Qabus, though Qabus has also been declared trustworthy, and there is weakness in him.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: I gave glad tidings to Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him), and he asked: O Abdullah! Of what do you wish to give me glad tidings? I replied: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "On the Day of Resurrection, Bilal will come riding a she-camel whose feet will be made of gold and whose rein will be made of precious stones and rubies. Bilal will have a banner, and those who call the adhan will follow behind him, and he (that is, Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him)) will admit them (that is, the mu'adhdhins) into Paradise, until he will even admit everyone who called the adhan for forty days solely to seek the pleasure of Allah."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Saghir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains Khalid bin Isma'il al-Makhzumi, who is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The example of Bilal is like that of the honeybee: it goes out and eats from the sweet and the bitter (that is, every kind of thing), yet all of it then turns sweet."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and its chain is hasan (good).

Yahya bin Bukayr narrates: Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him), who was a client (mawla) of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, and who according to one view was of the same age as Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), passed away in Damascus due to the plague, and he was buried near Bab al-Saghir. His kunyah was Abu Abdullah, and according to one view his kunyah was Abu Amr. He passed away in 17 AH, and he was born into slavery.
Al-Tabarani recorded it.