Adhan
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Adhan |
Adhan ([ʔaðān]) 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 from a minaret of a mosque five times a day (Sunni Islam) or three times a day (Shi'a Islam) 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.
Text
Recital | Arabic | Transliteration | Translation | Sect |
4x | الله اكبر | Allāhu Akbar | God is the greatest | Sunni & Shia |
2x | اشهد ان لا اله الا الله | Ash-hadu an lā ilāha illallāh | I bear witness that there is no god except ALLAH | Sunni & Shia |
2x | اشهد ان محمد الرسول الله | Ash-hadu anna Muhammadur rasūlullāh | I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God | Sunni & Shia |
2x | اشهد ان عليا ولي الله | Ash-hadu anna 'Alīyan walīullāh | I bear witness that Ali is the vicegerent of God* | Shia only (optional) |
2x | حي على الصلاة | Hayya 'alas-salāt | Make haste towards prayer | Sunni & Shia |
2x | حي على الفلاح | Hayya 'alal-falāh | Make haste towards welfare | Sunni & Shia |
2x | Aṣ-ṣalātu khayru min an-naūm | Prayer is better than sleep** | Sunni only | |
2x | حي على خير العملا| | Hayya 'alā khayril-'amal | Make haste towards the best deed | Shia only |
2x | الله اكبر | Allāhu akbar | God is the greatest | Sunni & Shia |
2x | لا اله الا الله | Lā ilāha illallāh | There is no god except ALLAH | Sunni & Shia |
* The line "I bear witness that Ali is the vicegerent of God" is preferable and, although not mandatory, most Shi'as recite it. Phrases like "Amīr al-Mu'minīn" (Commander of the faithful) and "wa abna'unhu al-ma'sūmīn hujjaju Allāh" (and his infallible sons are the proofs of God), may be added to the end of that line.
** The line "Prayer is better than sleep" is used only for the first prayers of the day at dawn (fajr salat).
Sunni view
Sunnis state that the adhan was not written or said by Muhammad, but by one of his Sahabah (his companions), a freed Ethiopian slave by the name of Bilal ibn Ribah. However, Muhammad did choose adhan as the Islamic call to prayer in place of the bell or conch used by Christians, or the shofar (ram's horn), used by Jews [1].
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 recites the iqama as in all prayers.
Shi'a/Shiite 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.
Shi'a Islam teaches that God appoints a vicegerent on Earth for every generation. It teaches that although Muhammad is God's final Prophet and Messenger, God appointed Ali as the first of God's twelve vicegerents to succeed Muhammad in order to lead humankind. See also: wali
Form of the adhan
Each phrase is followed by a longer pause and is repeated one or more times according to fixed rules. During the first statement each phrase is limited in tonal range, less melismatic, and shorter. Upon repetition the phrase is longer, ornamented with melismas, and may possess a tonal range of over an octave. The adhan's musical form is characterized by contrast and contains twelve melodic passages which move from one to another tonal center of one maqam a fourth or fifth apart. The tempo is mostly slow; it may be faster and with fewer melismas for the sunset prayer. During festivals, it may be performed antiphonally as a duet. (Touma, p.157-158) Salafists, such as the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia, prefer to issue the adhan in a monotone, considering any verbal elaborations to be makrouh (permissible but discouraged)—or haraam (forbidden) if the meaning of the words is altered. [2]
Text of Azaan
The Adhan in the Republic of Turkey
During the 1920s and 1930s, the government of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk imposed a Turkish-language adhan in place of the traditional Arabic. The prohibition of the Arabic adhan was repealed on June 6, 1950, after an opposition election victory. This prohibition was also in direct confrontation with a hadith that relatively said: Arabic verses not kept in Arabic do not retain their meaning, as it can change the translation easily.
See also
Sources
- Habib Hassan Touma (1996). The Music of the Arabs, trans. Laurie Schwartz. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0931340888.
- http://www.iad.org/Pillars/athan.html
External links
- Call for prayers according to the five school of thought: A Shi'ite Encyclopedia
- Adhan: The Call to Prayer (suficenter.org)
- Islam Way Online - Allah Muslims Spiritual Healing and al Quran
- Audio files of Shia Adhans (Arabic)
- Web page including audio files of Adhan
- Audio files of Adhans around the Islamic world together with a variety of other Islamic Multimedia