Fiqh Al-Ibadah 7 — Al-Adhān wa-l-Iqāmah — the call to prayer and the call to stand الأَذَانُ وَالإِقَامَة

1 · What the adhān is, and its ruling #

The adhān is a specific form of remembrance (dhikr) prescribed by Islam to announce that the time of an obligatory prayer has begun, and to call the Muslims to gather for it. The adhān and the iqāmah are both shiʿār — symbols of Islam in our ṣalāh. The adhān matters because it publicly manifests one of Islam's distinctive rituals.

Two kinds of sunnah. You met ʿayn and kifāyah with the obligations; the same split runs through the sunnahs:

Muʾakkadah means a confirmed, strong sunnah.

Congregational prayer (jamāʿah) comes later in the chapter, but its ruling frames this one: in the Shāfiʿī madhhab it is farḍ kifāyah — it must take place in the town, and if no congregation is held there, everyone in the town is sinful.

Praying on your own. Giving the adhān and the iqāmah yourself is also sunnah. If the masjid's adhān did not reach you, give the adhān and the iqāmah; if it did, the iqāmah alone is good. But the adhān that reaches your ears is a call: if you hear it, go to the masjid. If there is a real reason you cannot go, pray at home in jamāʿah with your family — a congregation can be prayed anywhere, and it has its own reward besides the reward of the masjid. Allah does not only say "pray"; He says أَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ — "establish the prayer".

2 · The evidence for the adhān #

From the Qurʾān:

From the Sunnah, the Prophet ﷺ said:

On the second half of that ḥadīth. Whoever is made imam stands in the Prophet's ﷺ own place — the muṣallā where he prayed — so the imam needs real qualities: leadership and ʿibādah, not age alone.

3 · How the adhān began #

The adhān was prescribed in the first year after the Hijrah. Al-Bukhārī (579) and Muslim (377) narrate from Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both):

The dream. After that discussion, ʿAbdullāh ibn Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him) saw the adhān in a dream — its form, word for word. A question a person carries into sleep settles in the subconscious, and its answer can come back in a dream — not always, but it can. His dream was accepted, and that is how the adhān was formed.

4 · The wording of the adhān #

In Fajr we add, after the second ḥayya ʿalā l-falāḥ, twice: الصَّلَاةُ خَيْرٌ مِنَ النَّوْمِ — "Prayer is better than sleep." This wording is established through authentic ḥadīths in al-Bukhārī, Muslim and others.

The madhhabs agree on the adhān's wording. On the iqāmah there are small differences of opinion (§7).

5 · The seven conditions of a valid adhān #

Tamyīz — in Tamil pakuttarivu — is the maturity to tell permitted from forbidden, good from bad. A small child may give the adhān, provided he has reached it.

Women. The adhān is not recommended for women, because it needs a raised voice, and raising the voice may lead to fitnah. The iqāmah is recommended for them: its purpose is to alert those already present, and it does not need the adhān's raised voice.

Raising the voice — when, and when not.

• For a group: raised.
• For one praying alone, outside a masjid, or in a place where no adhān has been given: raise it, even alone.
• For one praying alone inside a masjid where the congregation has already prayed: lower it, so that no one hearing it thinks another congregation is about to begin. Say it to yourselves; there is no need for those outside to hear it.

The evidence for raising it. Al-Bukhārī (584): the Prophet ﷺ said to Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with him):

There is a second lesson in this ḥadīth. The Prophet ﷺ read each Companion's personality — what each one loved, how each one lived — and spoke to him through it. A man who lives in the wilderness has no masjid near him, so he is told: give the adhān yourself, and loudly. That is leadership: knowing the people in front of you.

The time has entered. The adhān announces the time, so given before the time it is not valid, by scholarly consensus — the ḥadīth in §2 says "when the time for prayer comes". The exception is Fajr, whose first adhān may be given from the middle of the night (sunnah 11 below).

6 · The thirteen sunnahs of the adhān #

1. Facing the qiblah — the most honoured direction, and the practice handed down from the early generations.
2. Purity from minor and major impurity. The adhān in minor impurity is disliked; in janābah it is more strongly disliked. The Prophet ﷺ said: "I dislike mentioning Allah, the Almighty, except while in a state of purity" — Abū Dāwūd no. 17.
3. Standing, from "O Bilāl, stand up and call the people to prayer."
4. Turning the head — the neck, not the chest — to the right at ḥayya ʿalā ṣ-ṣalāh and to the left at ḥayya ʿalā l-falāḥ. Al-Bukhārī (608): Abū Juḥayfah "saw Bilāl giving the adhān, and I followed his mouth as he turned it from side to side." The rest of the adhān is said facing the qiblah.
5. Slow, clear recitation, because the adhān is for those far away.
6. At-tarjīʿ — saying the two testimonies quietly first, then repeating them aloud. From the ḥadīth of Abū Maḥdhūrah in Muslim (379): "Then he repeats and says: 'I bear witness that there is no god except Allah.'" It is sunnah, not obligatory.
7. At-tathwīb in Fajr — aṣ-ṣalātu khayrun mina n-nawm twice after ḥayya ʿalā l-falāḥ — Abū Dāwūd no. 500.
8. A pleasant, strong voice, so the listener's heart softens and he is more inclined to answer.
9. Good character and integrity — people must trust his word about the time; a fāsiq's report is not accepted.
10. No excessive stretching of the words, and no sing-song delivery — that is disliked. Learn the adhān properly: even Allāhu akbar is often mispronounced.
11. Two muʾadhdhins for Fajr — one before the time, one after it has begun. Al-Bukhārī (592) and Muslim (1092): "Bilāl gives the adhān at night, so eat and drink until you hear the adhān of Ibn Umm Maktūm." The first adhān leaves time for suḥūr, and it is the time of tahajjud.
12. What the listener does — listen, and repeat what the muʾadhdhin says ("When you hear the call to prayer, say what the muʾadhdhin says" — al-Bukhārī no. 586; Muslim no. 383) — except at the two ḥayya ʿalā phrases, where he says لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ — "There is no power or strength except through Allah" (al-Bukhārī no. 588; Muslim no. 385). At the end of that ḥadīth: "Whoever says this sincerely from his heart will enter Paradise." To aṣ-ṣalātu khayrun mina n-nawm he answers صَدَقْتَ وَبَرِرْتَ — "You have spoken the truth and done what is righteous."
13. The ṣalawāt and the duʿāʾ after the adhān, for the muʾadhdhin and the listener alike (below).

Sunnah 8 and the dream. When ʿAbdullāh ibn Zayd told his dream, the Prophet ﷺ did not have him give the adhān himself:

The lesson reaches past the adhān: give each task to the person whose ability fits it. Whoever has people under him should ask who does what, not only what must be done.

Sunnah 12 — what lā ḥawla is saying. The muʾadhdhin calls "come to prayer", and we answer "there is no power or strength except through Allah": to come to the masjid at all, I need Your help. That answer should run through the whole of life — every task, every day: make the effort, and say "O Allah, I need Your help." It is why there is a duʿāʾ for putting on clothes — al-ḥamdu lillāhi lladhī kasānī hādhā — and leaving the toilet — ghufrānak. Saying them is one kind of dhikr; a life lived in need of Allah every second is the real dhikr: أَنْتُمُ الْفُقَرَاءُ إِلَى اللَّهِ — "You are the ones in need of Allah" — and Allah is al-Ghanī, free of all need.

Al-Ghanī and aṣ-Ṣamad. Both mean Allah needs nothing; aṣ-Ṣamad goes further — the One who needs nothing at all while everything else needs Him. It is in qul huwa llāhu aḥad … allāhu ṣ-ṣamad, and the scholars give it as one reason Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ carries the reward of a third of the Qurʾān.

Sunnah 13 — the duʿāʾ. Muslim (384) from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr (may Allah be pleased with them both):

And from Jābir (al-Bukhārī), whoever says on hearing the call:

اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّ هَٰذِهِ الدَّعْوَةِ التَّامَّةِ، وَالصَّلَاةِ الْقَائِمَةِ، آتِ سَيِّدَنَا مُحَمَّدًا الْوَسِيلَةَ وَالْفَضِيلَةَ، وَابْعَثْهُ مَقَامًا مَحْمُودًا الَّذِي وَعَدْتَهُ

"O Allah, Lord of this perfect call and this established prayer, grant our master Muḥammad al-Wasīlah and al-Faḍīlah, and raise him to the Praiseworthy Station which You have promised him" — "my intercession will be due to him on the Day of Resurrection." The Praiseworthy Station is the one in al-Isrāʾ 17:79: "It may be that your Lord will raise you to a Praiseworthy Station." Its reward is the Prophet's ﷺ intercession on the Day of Qiyāmah. Say it understanding its meaning.

The muʾadhdhin says the ṣalawāt and the duʿāʾ in a lower voice and separately from the adhān, so no one takes them for part of it.

7 · The iqāmah #

The iqāmah is like the adhān, with these differences:

1 · The adhān's words are said twice; the iqāmah's once — except qad qāmati ṣ-ṣalāh, said twice. Al-Bukhārī (580) and Muslim (378), from Anas: "Bilāl was instructed to repeat the words of the adhān twice and the words of the iqāmah once, except for the words 'Qad qāmati ṣ-ṣalāh', which are repeated twice."

2 · The adhān is slow; the iqāmah is quicker. The adhān is for those far away; the iqāmah is for those already present.

3 · Several missed prayers: one adhān, an iqāmah for each. Whoever makes up several missed obligatory prayers (fawāʾit) gives one adhān for the first and an iqāmah for every prayer. The Prophet ﷺ combined Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ at Muzdalifah with one adhān and two iqāmahs — Muslim no. 1218.

Its conditions and sunnahs are the adhān's. In addition:

• it is recommended that whoever gave the adhān also gives the iqāmah;
• whoever hears the iqāmah says أَقَامَهَا اللَّهُ وَأَدَامَهَا — "May Allah establish it and make it continue" (Abū Dāwūd no. 528).

8 · Prayers with no adhān: aṣ-ṣalātu jāmiʿah #

The adhān and iqāmah are confirmed sunnahs for the obligatory prayers only. For the other prayers in which a congregation is prescribed — the two ʿĪds, the solar and lunar eclipse prayers and the funeral prayer — there is no adhān and no iqāmah. Instead the call is:

الصَّلَاةُ جَامِعَةٌ — "Gather for the prayer."

Al-Bukhārī (1003) and Muslim (910), from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ: "When the sun was eclipsed during the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, it was announced: 'Gather for the prayer.'" Other recommended congregational prayers are treated by analogy with the eclipse prayer.

9 · Women's congregation and the janāzah #

Women pray in congregation too. If five women are at home, they should not each pray alone — they should pray one jamāʿah, with one of them giving the iqāmah. Even two gain the virtue of congregational prayer. It is one and the same ʿibādah for men and women.

The janāzah. Women may pray the funeral prayer, once the washing of the body is confirmed — washing is obligatory, and only after it may anyone pray. They may pray it in congregation, one woman leading. The prayer is prayed in front of the body; otherwise at the graveyard; otherwise where you are. When the body is right beside them, women praying separately, each alone, is a mistake — it is a rare opportunity, and it should be a congregation.

10 · Primary and secondary — the masjid, the imam and the muʾadhdhin #

Primary: a good imam and a good prayer. Secondary: the building. A prayer in an open place is valid; a masjid's beauty is not what makes it one.

• We spend crores on the secondary. Carpets, prayer mats and fittings should be without isrāf (extravagance). Yet a muʾadhdhin with a beautiful voice and a fair salary is nobody's concern — often an old caretaker with failing eyesight and an odd tune.
• Beautifying masjids is still permitted by contemporary scholars. When houses were huts of palm leaves, so were masjids; today a masjid poorer than our own houses would be a disgrace to Allah's dīn. Built your house? Build the masjid better than it.
• Imams are hired like a tender, not an auction. An auction (muzāyadah) goes to the highest offer; a tender (munāqaṣah) to the lowest — and that is how many masjids choose an imam: whoever asks the least salary, whatever his quality. Pay well, and you can hire quality.
• A Ẓuhr of four rakʿahs prayed in six minutes, from iqāmah to salām, when one Fātiḥah alone needs about a minute. The prayer should be light, but not naqr — pecking at it like a bird.
• Prayer is munājāt — intimate conversation with your Lord — so prepare for it and say each word with fear. The righteous felt, on rising from the prayer, a fear as though they had committed zinā, because they had not prayed it as it deserved. We give the salām and are gone in a rush. After the prayer: astaghfirullāh three times, for its shortcomings.
• The adhān itself is daʿwah, heard by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Some complain of it as noise pollution; the real answer is a voice that softens the heart.