Adhan

This article is about the Islamic call to prayer. For the settlement in Ras al-Khaimah, see Adhan, Ras al-Khaimah.

Adhan

The adhān (also Athaan: IPA: [ʔæˈðæːn], Azan) (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 mandatory (fard) prayers (salah). There is a second call known as iqama (set up) that summons Muslims to line up for the beginning of the prayers. The main purpose behind the loud pronouncement of adhan five times a day in every mosque is to make available to everyone an easily intelligible summary of Islamic belief. It is intended to bring to the mind of every believer and non-believer the substance of Islamic beliefs, or its spiritual ideology. Loudspeakers are sometimes installed on minarets for the purpose.

The adhan sums up the teachings of Islam. In the Qur'an and the sunnah 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 is the final dispenser of the Will of Allah and it is his words and deeds that His will find expression; (c) it is not the material utility that determines the 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.

Text

Sunni

Recital	Arabic	Transliteration	Translation
4x	الله أكبر	Allahu Akbar	Allah is the greatest*
2x	أشهد أن لا اله إلا الله	Ash-hadu an la ilaha illallah	I bear witness that there is no deity except Allah
2x	أشهد أن محمدا رسول الله	Ash-hadu anna Muħammadan rasulullah	I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah
2x	حي على الصلاة	Hayya 'alal-salah	Make haste towards worship
2x	حي على الفلاح	Hayya 'ala 'l-falah	come to the true success
2x	الصلاة خير من النوم	Al-salatu khayru min an-nawm	Prayer is better than sleep **
2x	الله أكبر	Allāhu akbar	Allah is the greatest
1x	لا إله إلا الله	La ilaha illallah	There is no deity except Allah

* Followers of the Maliki madh'hab 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).

Shi'a

Recital	Arabic	Transliteration	Translation
4x	الله اكبر	Allah-u Akbar	God is greater than any description
2x	اشهد ان لا اله الا الله	Ash-hadu anna lā ilāha illallāh	I testify that there is no god but God
2x	اشهد ان محمدا رسول الله	Ash-hadu anna Muhammadar-rasūl ullāh	I testify that Muhammad is God's Messenger
2x	أشهد أن على ولى الله	Ashhadu ana Alian waliullah	I bear witness that Ali is the vice regent of God
2x	حي على الصلاة	Hayya 'alas-salāt	Hasten to prayers
2x	حي على الفلاح	Hayya 'alal-falāh	Hasten to deliverance
2x	حي علی خير العمل	Hayya 'alā Khair 'il-'amal	Hasten to the best act
2x	الله اكبر	Allah-u Akbar	God is greater than any description
2x	لا اله الا الله	Lā ilāha illallāh	There is no god but God

• "Ashhadu ana Alian waliullah" ("I bear witness that Ali is the vice regent of God") is not a part of adhan and iqamah. If you add it when you are performing adzan, you are a "musyrik".

Different views

Sunni view

Sunnis state that the adhan was not written or said by the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, but by one of his Sahabah (his companions), a freed Habeshan slave by the name of Bilal ibn Ribah. However, Muhammad did choose adhan as the Islamic call to prayer in place of the bells used in Christianity and horns used by Jews, after one of his prominent sahabah, Umar, saw it in a vision.

During the Friday prayer (Salat Al Jumu'ah), 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

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

Dua during adhan

While listening to the adhan, Muslims repeat the same words silently, except when the muezzin says ḥayya 'alas-salāh or ḥayya 'alal-falāḥ they silently say lā hawla wa lā quwata illā billāh (there is no strength or power except from God).

Dua following adhan

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

Arabic	Transliteration	Translation
اللهم رب هذه الدعوة التامة والصلاة القائمة	Allahumma rabba hadhi-hid da'wa-tit-tamma wa-salatil qae-ma	O God, Owner of this perfect call and Owner of this prayer to be performed
آت محمداً الوسيلة و الفضيلة	Ati muhammadanil wasilata wal fadeela	Bestow upon Muhammad al waseelah (a station in Paradise {Jannah}) and al fadeelah (a rank above the rest of creation)
وابعثه مقاماً محموداً الذي وعدته	Wab ath-hu maqamam-mahmuda-nil alladhi wa aadtha	And raise him to the rank you have promised him

The adhan in Turkey

As an extension of the reforms brought about by the establishment of the Republic of Turkey 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 Qur'anic 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 (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı) 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.

Turkish National Anthem

Adhan in the eighth verse of İstiklâl Marşı, the Turkish national anthem

Oh glorious God, the sole wish of my pain-stricken heart is that,

No heathen's hand should ever touch the bosom of my sacred Temples.

These adhans, whose shahadahs are the foundations of my religion,

May their noble sound last loud and wide over my eternal homeland.

See also

• Angelus

References

• Sahih Muslim of Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, translation into English by Abd-al-Hamid Siddiqui
• Meaning of the Adhan

External links

• Various Adhaan from around the world
• Azan / Adhan MP3 Downloads
• Azan / Adhan MP3 Downloads