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Adhan (also - Athaan IPA: /ʔæðæːn/) (أَذَان) is the Islamic call to prayer, recited by the muezzin. The root of the word is ʼḏn "to permit", and another derivative of this word is uḏun, meaning "ear."

Adhan is called out by the muezzin in the mosque, sometimes from a minaret, five times a day summoning Muslims for fard (mandatory) salah (prayers). There is a second call known as iqama that summons Muslims to line up for the beginning of the prayers.

The Adhan ( Athan ) beautifully sums up the teachings of Islam. If we study the Holy Quran ( Qu'ran ) and the sunnah we will find that there are four fundamentals on which the entire superstructure of Islam rests: (a) Belief in the oneness of Allah and in the fact that there is no Power greater than Him; (b) he alone is the Creator and the Master of the universe and no one other can claim share in His Godhood of sovereignty; (c) Muhammad (peace be unto him) is the final dispenser of the Will of Allah and it is his words and deeds that His will finds expression; (c) it is not the material utility that determines tha value of things or acts in Islam but their spiritual significance - thus salvation in Islam lies in the purification of the soul which can be achieved only by willing and conscious obedience to the Commands of Allah, and prayer is the most important of that obedience; (d) the highest aim of the life of a Muslim is to live a life of a eternal bliss.

Looking into the character of the contents of Adhan (Athan), it becomes apparent that the teachings of Quran (Qu'ran) and the sunnah have been beautifully summed up in Adhan (Athan). If a person were to read and listen to nothing but Adhan ( Athan ) and grasp its meaning, he could understand all essentials of the Faith. The main purpose behind the loud pronouncement of Adhan ( Athan ) five times a day in every mosque is to make available to everyone and easily intelligible brief version of Islam. it is intended to bring to the mind of every believer and non believer the substance of Islamic beliefs, or its spiritual ideology, as well as his/her goal in life and programme of righteous living. Ref. [4]

Text (Sunni)

* Followers of the Maliki madhab say this line twice instead of four times.

** The line "Prayer is better than sleep" is used only for the first prayers of the day at dawn (fajr Prayer; Salat al-fajr).

Text (Shi'a)

• According to Shi'a scholars, "Ashhadu ana Alian waliullah" ("I bear witness that Ali is the vice regent of God") is not a part of Adhan and Iqamah but it is recommended (Mustahabb) to say that.¹

Sunni view

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Sunnis state that the adhan was not written or said by Prophet Muhammad, but by one of his Sahabah (his companions), a freed Ethiopian slave by the name of Bilal ibn Rabah. However, Prophet Muhammad did choose adhan as the Islamic call to prayer in place of the bells used in Christianity and horns used by Jews.

During the Friday prayer (Salat Al Jummah), there are two adhans; the first is to call the people to the mosque, the second is said before the Imam begins the khutbah (sermon). Just before the prayers start, someone amongst the praying people recites the iqama as in all prayers. The basis for this is that at the time of the Caliph Umar he ordered 2 adhans to be made, the first of which was to be made in the marketplace to inform the people that the Friday prayer was soon to begin, and the second Adhan would be the regular one held in the mosque. Not all Sunnis prefer two adhans as the need for warning the people of the impending time for prayer is no longer essential now that the times for prayers are well known.

Shi'a view

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Shi'a sources state that it is Muhammad who, according to God's command, ordered the adhan as a means of calling Muslims to prayer. Shi'a Islam teaches that no one else contributed, or had any authority to contribute, towards the composition of the adhan.

Other Shi'a sources state that Bilal ibn Ribah was, in fact, the first person to recite the adhan publicly out loud in front of the Muslim congregation.

Dua following adhan

The following dua (supplication) is optionally read by Muslims after the adhan is recited:

The adhan in Turkey

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As an extension of the reforms brought about by the establishment of the Republic in 1923, the Turkish government at the time, encouraged by Ataturk, wished to make faith more understandable and less confusing to the general public by allowing them to practice faith in their native language. The program involved implementing a Turkish adhan program as part of its goals, as opposed to the conventional Arabic call to prayer.

As part of this initiative, a committee was organized in 1932, which brought together some of the leading religious scholars, Huffaz, academics and linguists of the day, including such names as Hafız Burhan, Sadettin Kaynak, and Hafız Nuri. The committee, after extensive research and deliberation, ultimately ruled that it was fully jaiz (i.e. permissible by Koranic canon) to use one's native language for all aspects of faith, and followed this decision by releasing an official Turkish version of the adhan, which was as follows;

Tanrı uludur;
Şüphesiz bilirim, bildiririm;
Tanrı'dan başka yoktur tapacak.
Şüphesiz bilirim, bildiririm;
Tanrı'nın elçisidir Muhammed.
Haydin namaza, haydin felaha,
Namaz uykudan hayırlıdır.

Following the conclusion of said debates, the Presidency of Religious Affairs released an official mandate on July 18, 1932, announcing the decision to all the mosques across Turkey, and the practice was continued for a period of 18 years.

On July 16, 1950, the practice was terminated after a new government under Adnan Menderes was sworn in, who repealed the ban on the Arabic adhan within two weeks of sitting in office, and declared Arabic as the liturgical language.

See also

• Iqama
• Salah

References

• [4] Sahih Imam Muslim Translation into English by Abdul Hamid Siddiqi

External links

• Audio files of famous Sunni Adhans

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 21 November 2008, at 11:27.

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