Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 144
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 144 breathed his last; and there, side by side with his first two Successors, he lies buried. The construction of the mosque and its adjacent apartments was completed within about seven months, and the Holy Prophet, peace he on him, moved with his wife, Sudah, into her apartment. Those of the Emigrants who could not procure building plots in the vi cinity of the mosque built their houses wherever they could procure a site, sometimes at quite a distance from the mosque, and some were able to procure houses from Ansar. The times of Prayer services had been appointed, but there was yet no arrangement about the announcement that a Prayer service was about to be held. The worshippers came to the mosque for each Prayer service according to their own estimate of the time of t he service, but this was not satisfactory. When the mosque had been built it began to be felt that some suitable means should be adopted for calling the Muslims to Prayer services. A consultation was held and various suggestions were made, and in the end U mar advised that someone should be appointed to announce that the time of a service had arrived. The Holy Prophet, peace be on him, approved of this suggestion and directed Bilal to carry out this duty. Thereafter Bilal used to call out in a loud voice at the time of each Prayer that the service was about to be held, and the worshippers arrived in response to this call. The same announcement was made if it was desired to call the Muslims to the mosque for other purposes also. Some time later Abdullah bin Za id Ansari was taught the Call to Prayer, which has since been in use, in his dream and he mentioned the