Bilal al-Habashi Minaret (Ustuwane)

Before the minaret application in the Prophet's Mosque began, Hz. Bilal al-Habashi climbed to the highest point near the mosque to call the adhan. According to narrations, this point was a tall pole or tree on the qibla side of the mosque. Hz. Bilal would climb this pole with a rope and call the adhan that covered all of Medina with his voice. Hz. Bilal b. Rabah (d. around 20/641) is the first muezzin in Islamic history. Bilal, an old slave of Abyssinian origin, was purchased and freed by Hz. Abu Bakr; Hz. The Prophet appointed him as a muezzin. Bilal's loud and impressive voice made the adhan in the Prophet's Mosque unique. To keep the memory of this historical pole alive, a minaret was built at this point on the qibla side of the mosque in later periods, or one of the existing minarets was named after Bilal. The first minaret of the Prophet's Mosque was built during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph Walid b. Abd al-Malik (H. 88-91/M. 706-709). [Source: "Bilal al-Habashi", TDV Islamic Encyclopedia, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/bilal-i-habesi; "Prophet's Mosque", TDV Islamic Encyclopedia, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mescid-i-nebevi]