bilal ibn rabah (, also called bilal al-habashi) was an ethiopian born in mecca in the late 6th century, sometime between 578 and 582.bilal was an ethiopian slave. bilal's owner was umayyah ibn khalaf, an enemy of islam. when bilal learned about muhammad and became muslim, his master started punishing him. when muhammad heard about this, he ordered abu bakr to buy bilal's freedom and bilal -who was now free- joined muhammad's companions.