Word: bilal
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Libyan officials yesterday allowed Western reporters to see parts of the Sidi Bilal naval installation, which includes Libya's naval academy, in the first tour by journalists of damage to purely military targets during the raid...
...even changed the group's name. Once the Nation of Islam, it now calls itself the World Community of Islam in the West, or the Bilalians, in honor of Bilal, Mohammed's first black follower. Ministers, now termed imams, are expected to instruct members in the Koran and the Bible. At "temples," renamed "mosques," the seats have been ripped out so that members can prostrate themselves during prayer. Wallace also stresses such traditional "pillars" of observance as the month-long fast of Ramadan, the five daily prayers while facing Mecca, and the Hajj (pilgrimage...
...called Great Hegira. No harm ensuing, he followed later in holy triumph on his long-lived she-camel, Al-Kaswa, whom he permitted to choose the site of his new abode, a good browsing spot on the Medina town green. Up went the mosque on that spot. Bilal, a blackamoor, was first muezzin. Medina prayed seven times daily and reported for church on Fridays...