The chapter about adhan (azan) has been translated from the book Durr-ul-mukhtar and from its explanation, Radd-ul-mukhtar, and summarized below:

Adhan means 'public announcement' in certain Arabic phrases in prescribed order. It is not adhan to say its translation. Even if it makes its meaning understandable, it cannot be recited in Persian or other languages. The first adhan was performed in Mecca on the night of Miraj before the Hegira. In the first year of the Hegira, it became a command to call the adhan to announce the time of salat. At district mosques, it is sunnat to call it at a high place, and the voice must be loud. But one should not force oneself to shout much.

[As it is understood, shouting is necessary as much as to be heard in one's own district. More than this is not permitted. There is no need to use a loud-speaker. It is a bidat to practice the adhan or iqamat through a loud-speaker or radio broadcast. An ibadat done with bidat is not acceptable but sinful.] It is sunnat-i muakkada for men to call the adhan for five prayers each day, for performing the omitted [qada] prayers that are fard, and towards the Khatib at Friday prayers. It is makruh for women to say the adhan or the iqamat. For it is haram for them to raise their voice. The adhan is said at a high place in order to announce the time to others. But the adhan that is said for the ready jamaat or for oneself is said on the ground. [It is written in Tanwir-ul-azhan, "It is tahrimi makruh to say the adhan while sitting. It has been understood through tawatur that it (must) be said standing"]. The adhan or the iqamat is not said for the namaz of witr, 'Iyd, tarawih or janaza. It is not acceptable to call adhan before the prescribed time, it is a grave sin. The adhan or iqamat which is said before the time (of prayer) begins must be repeated after the time begins. It is not permissible to call the adhan like a song so as to add vowel points or letters or prolong the letters, or to listen to the adhan said or the Qur'an read in this manner.

[It is written in the section about Medina of the book Mirat-ul-harameyn, "Calling the adhan commenced in Medina in the first year of the Hegira. Before that time only the words Assalatu Jamia were uttered at prayer times. It was Bilal-i Habashi who said the adhan in Medina first. And Habib bin Abdurrahman was first to say it in Mecca. The first adhan at Friday prayer is a sunnat of hadrat 'Uthman. Formerly it was said in the mosque, too. Hadrat Ebban bin 'Uthman, governor of Medina in the time of Abdulmalik, had it said on the minaret. In the year 700, Malik Naser bin Mansur had the salat-u-salam called on minarets before the adhans of Friday prayers. Prophets of Israil would say the tasbih before the adhan of morning prayer. Maslama bin Mahled, one of the Sahaba, as he was governor of Egypt, being commanded by hadrat Muawiya, had the first minaret built in 58 A.H., and got the muazzin Sharhabil bin Amir to say the salat-u-salam before the morning adhan." It is written in Durr-ul-mukhtar, "Saying the salat-u-salam after the adhan was first begun by Sultan Nasser Salahaddin's command in Egypt in the year 781."

[It is not written in dependable books that deaths must be announced by saying salat-u- salam on minarets. It is an ugly bidat. It should not be practiced.] It is written in Mawahib-i ladunniyya, "In the first year of the Hegira, Rasulullah consulted with the Sahaba. Some of them said, 'Let's ring a bell to announce prayer times as the Nasara did.' Some suggested that a horn might be sounded like Jews. And others put forward the idea of making a fire and lifting it up. Rasulullah would not accept these. Abdullah bin Zayd bin Salaba and hadrat 'Umar told about their dreams in which they had seen the adhan being called. Rasulullah 'sallallahu alaihi wa sallam' liked it and commanded that the adhan be said at prayer times." So is it written in the books Madarij-un-nubuwwa and Tahtawi, which inform also that putting lights on minarets, being something like that which was practiced by fire-worshippers, is bidat. [Hence it is inferred that it is a grave sin to light lamps on minarets in order to announce prayer times].

[It is written in the books Tabyin-ul-haqaiq and Tahtawi that, "Rasulullah 'sallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam' said to Bilal-i Habashi, 'Put your two fingers on your ears, so that your voice will be louder.' It is better to put the hands on the ears. For, it is not a sunnat to do so to perform the adhan. Yet it is a sunnat to do so to increase the voice. For the angel who said the adhan in the (above-named Sahabi's) dream did not do so. It was made a sunnat not in order to recite the adhan but in order to increase the voice . For the causal clause, 'so that your voice will be louder,' points to the hikmat in doing it. If the fingers are not put on the ears, the adhan will be better. If they are put on the ears, the voice being louder will be better." It is seen that to put the fingers on the ears is not a sunnat for the adhan, although it increases the voice. But, because it has been commanded, it is not a bidat, either. It is understood that the loudspeakers used in some mosques today, although they increase the voice, are not sunnat for the adhan and are bidat, and besides this, they cause the sunnat of raising the fingers to the ears to be omitted. It is seen that minarets are not constructed for some mosques on which loudspeakers are placed. [It is stated in the three hundred and twenty-second page of the fifth volume of Fatawa-yi-Hindiyya, "It is permissible to build a minaret in order to have the quarter hear the voice. It is not permissible if it is impossible." This comes to mean that using a loudspeaker is not permissible].

It is written in Radd-ul-mukhtar (Ibni 'Abidin) and in 'Uqud-ud-durriyya that, "The adhan called by several muazzins together on a minaret or during juma' khutba is named the Adhan-i Jawq. To call it together in order to increase the voice is a sunnat-i hasana and jaiz (permissible) because it is mutawarith, i.e. it has been practiced for centuries. Allahu ta'ala likes what Muslims like." It is also written in Bariqa' on page 94 that, "What Muslims find nice is nice according to mujtahids, too. It makes no difference whether non- mujtahids like it or not." See Endless Bliss, 5th fascicle. Hence it is quite clear that some ignorant trendy avant gardes' recommending the utility of loud-speakers in calling the adhan is of no value. It is a bidat, and therefore a grave sin, to change the acts of worship with the non-mujtahids' approvals and practices].

Saying the iqamat is better than the adhan. The adhan and the iqamat must be said towards the qibla. One must not talk while saying them, nor respond to any speech of greeting. If one talks, one will have to say the both again.

What prayers of namaz do we say the adhan and the iqamat for? We will explain this in three different articles:

1 - For qada prayers: When performing qada prayers individually or in jamaat in the country side, in fields, it is sunnat for men to say the adhan and the iqamat aloud. People, genies, rocks that hear the voice will bear witness on the Rising Day. He who performs a couple of qada prayers one after another should say the adhan and the iqamat first. Then, before performing each of the following qada prayers he should say the iqamat. It will be all right if he does not say the adhan for the following prayers of qada.

Women do not say the adhan or the iqamat when they perform the namaz individually whether they perform it in its time or they make qada of it.

He who makes qada in a mosque says the adhan and the iqamat only as loudly as he himself can hear. If a couple of people make qada of namaz in jamaat in a mosque, they do not say the adhan or the iqamat. If all the people in a mosque are going to make qada of a namaz in jamaat, the adhan and the iqamat are said. But it is makruh to perform namaz of qada in jamaat in a mosque. For, it being a grave sin to leave namaz to qada (to postpone it till after its prescribed time is over), it is not permissible to announce it publicly. Performing a prayer of qada in jamaat requires that the imam and the jamaat must be performing the same prayer of the same one day. For example, a person who is going to make qada of a Sunday's early afternoon prayer cannot follow and be jamaat for a person who will make qada of Tuesday's early after noon prayer or who performs early afternoon prayer of the present day which is Sunday, too.

He who makes qada in his home says the adhan and the iqamat only as loudly as to be heard in the room, so that the number of witnesses be more. [So does a person who performs qada of a fard prayer instead of a sunnat prayer.]

2 - He who performs the time's namaz individually at home or in jamaat does not have to say the adhan or the iqamat. For the adhan and the iqamat said in mosques are counted as being said in homes, too. But it is better to say them. It is not necessary to hear the muazzin's voice. If the adhan is not said in mosques, or if it is not sahih because they have not fulfilled its conditions, the person who performs namaz individually in his home says the adhan and the iqamat.

After the time's namaz is performed in a local mosque or in a mosque whose jamaat are certain people, a person who performs it individually does not say the adhan or the iqamat. After each of daily prayers is performed in jamaat with the imam on the mihrab in such mosques, other jamaats can be made again. While telling about being an imam on the three hundred and seventy-first page, it says that if the imams for the following jamaats stand on the mihrab, too, the adhan and the iqamat are not said. If the imams do not stand on the mihrab the adhan and the iqamat must be said as loudly as to be heard by the jamaats.

In mosques on roads or in those which have no imams or muazzins or certain jamaats, various people who come in at various different times make various jamaats for the namaz of the same prayer time. They say the adhan and the iqamat for each jamaat. Also, he who performs namaz individually in such a mosque says the adhan and the iqamat as loudly as he himself hears.

3 - Travelers, when they make jamaat or when each performs namaz individually, say the adhan and the iqamat. If the person who is performing namaz individually has friends with him who are performing namaz, too, he may not say the adhan. A safari (traveler) person says the adhan and the iqamat when he performs namaz individually in a house, too. For the adhan said in the mosque does not include his namaz. If some of the safari people say the adhan in a house, those who perform the (same) namaz later on at the same place, do not say it. At least three people ought to set out for a travel, and one of them must be their amir (commander).

The adhan said by an 'aqil (mature in wisdom) boy, a blind man, a bastard, or an ignorant villager who knows prayer times and how to say the adhan, is permissible without any karahat. It is tahrimi makruh for a junub person to say the adhan or the iqamat, for a person without an ablution to say the iqamat, for a woman, a sinner, a drunk person, a child who is not 'aqil to say the adhan, or to say the adhan sitting. In such cases, it must be repeated. The adhan's being sahih requires the muazzin's being an 'aqil Muslim knowing the prayer time and his words should be dependable, that is, he must be an 'adil person. (By 'aqil we mean one who has reached the age of wisdom). [Likewise, one must be sure that the calendars giving the prayer times have been prepared by such a Muslim, and at least a Muslim should witness their accuracy. The prayer times on the calendars which were prepared by salih Muslims and followed by all Muslims for centuries should not be altered.] For a namaz being sahih (acceptable) one should know the exact time for performing it. The reason why the adhan of a sinner, - that is, he who drinks alcohol, gambles, looks at namahram women, allows his wife and daughter to go out without covering themselves -, is not sahih is because his word on worships is not dependable.

[As it is seen, it is not permissible to say the adhan through the radio or with loudspeakers on minarets or to say it before its prescribed time or to listen to it as adhan. It is not acceptable, plus the fact that it is sinful. It must be said again compatibly with its conditions. For it is a sound made by electricity caused by the voice of an unknown, unseen person; especially, sound made by a record is not adhan at all. Furthermore, our Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) declared, "Those who do not worship as we do are not in our community." Adhan must be said at a high place by a pious Muslim as he (the Prophet) had it said. For instance, when the adhan for the early afternoon prayer is said before its prescribed time, the early sunnat of the early afternoon prayer is performed at a karahat time. Insisting on smaller sins develops into a grave sin.

It is sunnat for a person who hears the adhan to repeat the adhan silently what he hears, even if he is junub or reading the Qur'an. He does not say anything else, does not respond to a speech of greeting, does not do any work. It is wajib for men to stop working and go to the mosque when they hear the adhan. One can make jamaat with one's household at home. Yet it is better to go to the mosque [if there is a pious imam in the mosque].

[It is written in the book Jawhara, "It is written in the commentary of Karhi that the adhan said in the Persian language is not sahih. This is a clear and a truest statement." It is written in Maraqilfalah that it is not permissible to say the adhan in any language other than Arabic even if it would be understood that it is the adhan.]

The adhan cannot be repeated while listening to the Khutba, while one's awrat parts are exposed, while eating, or studying a lesson on din or while reading Qur'an al-karim in a mosque. But, if the adhan is not being said compatibly with the sunnat, e.g. if some of its words are changed or translated or if it is being said partly melodiously, - or if the sound of adhan is coming from a loud speaker -, he who hears it does not repeat any of its words.

[On the 1031st and 1062nd pages of Bariqa, it is written: "One who does not know the times of namaz or commits taghanni or ilhan, that is, says it with musical notes, is not eligible for calling the adhan. It is not permissible but gravely sinful to appoint such an ineligible person as a muazzin. It is written in Bazaziyya that it is haram by unanimity to recite the Qur'an, dhikr or prayer (du'a) with ilhan. So is the case with calling the adhan and saying it before its time. Taghanni is permitted in the adhan solely while saying the two 'Hayya ala...' The taghanni permitted in reciting the Qur'an al-karim means that it should be recited fearing Allahu ta'ala and is done according to the science of tajwid. Otherwise, taghanni by altering sounds or words or spoiling the meaning or verse is unanimously haram. Tarji', that is, recitation by repetitively magnifying and lowering the voice, in the Qur'an and adhan is prohibited by the Hadith. Listening to such recitation is also haram."] Also, he who hears the adhan said before its prescribed time or by a junub person or a woman does not repeat it. If a person hears and repeats the adhan said at some place, he does not repeat it again when he hears it said at some other place. Upon hearing the parts of "Hayya ala...", he does not repeat them, but says, "La hawla wala quwwata illa billah." After saying the adhan you say the salawat and then say the prescribed prayer of adhan. After saying Ash'hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullah the second time, it is mustahab to kiss the nails of both thumbs and rub them gently on the eyes. Though the hadith stating this fact is written in Tahtawi's Hashiyatu Maraqi 'l-falah, this hadith is reported to be daif in Radd al-mukhtar and Hazinat ul-ma'arif (page 99). This is not done while saying the iqamat. It is not sunnat but it is mustahab for a person who hears the iqamat to repeat it. A person who enters the mosque while the iqamat is being said sits down. He does not wait standing. He stands up as all the others do as the muazzin says, "Hayya-alal-falah."

Ibni Abidin, while explaining the sunnats of namaz, states that it is sunnat for the imam to raise his voice so as to be heard by the jamaat when beginning the namaz, when passing from one rukn to another, when performing the salam (to finish the namaz). It is makruh to raise it too loud. For beginning the namaz the imam must say the takbir (Allahu akbar) and must not think of having it heard by the jamaat. Otherwise, his namaz will not be sahih. When all the jamaat do not hear the imam, it is mustahab also for the muazzin to raise his voice as loud as to be heard by the jamaat. If the muazzin does not think of beginning the namaz but shouts only in order to get the jamaat to hear, his namaz will not be sahih, nor will the namaz of those who do not hear the imam but begin the namaz by the muazzin's voice only. For in that case they will have followed someone who is not performing the namaz. It is makruh also for the muazzin to shout more loudly than enough for the jamaat to hear. As informed unanimously by the savants of the four Madhhabs, while all the jamaat hear the imam's voice it is makruh and nastily bidat for the muazzin to repeat the takbir aloud. In fact, it is written in Bahr-ul-fatawa, by the Mufti of Erzurum, Qadizada, in Fath-ul Qadir, and toward the end of the booklet Ustuwani, which is written on the margins of the book (Miftah-ul-Jannat Ilmihal), "In small masjids, if the muazzin says the takbir aloud though the imam's takbir can be heard, his namaz will be nullified."

[In addition to the fact that it is sinful to raise the voice more than necessary, what is produced by the loud-speaker is not the imam's or the muazzin's voice. Their voice turns into electricity and magnetism. So what is heard is the sound produced by electricity and magnetism. It is necessary to hear the voice of a person who is performing the same namaz. The namaz of those who follow the voice of someone who is not performing the same namaz, or the sound produced by any apparatus, is not sahih. It is written on the five hundred and seventeenth page of the first volume of the book Radd-ul-mukhtar, "If a hafiz's voice spreads out and gets multiplied on mountains, in desert, in forests or through any other means, these second sounds will not be the Qur'an. It is not necessary to perform sajda with the ayat of sajda heard from them." It is written in Halabi al-kabir that these recitals are not human recitals, but they are like human recitals. These clear statements by specialists of Islam show that it is wrong to read or listen to the adhan or the Qur'an al- karim through radios or loud-speakers or to perform namaz by following them. It is written in detail on page 2361 of the third volume of the book of Tafsir written by Muhammad Hamdi Effendi of Elmali that it is not permissible to call the adhan or to recite the Qur'an al-karim through a loudspeaker or on the radio. In especial, it is both not sahih and an abominable bidat to follow an imam in another building through a loudspeaker. It is a grave sin. Please see the third page of the seventy-second chapter and also the fifty-second chapter in the first part of the Turkish version!

The loud-speaker put on minarets has become a means of laziness for some people and caused him to say the adhan sitting in dark rooms without following the sunnat. It is written in Fatawa-yi-Hindiyya, "It is makruh to call the adhan before the prayer time comes, to say it inside the mosque, to say it sitting, to raise the voice more than one's normal puissance, not to say it in the direction of qibla, or to say it melodiously. A person who arrives as the iqamat is being said, sits down. Then he stands up together with all the others as the muazzin says 'hayya-alal-falah.' " Ibni Abidin states at the beginning of the subject about namaz, "The adhan called at its prescribed time is the Islamic adhan. The adhan called before its time is no more than a talk. It means to make fun of Islam." And minarets, our spiritual ornaments that have been soaring in the sky for centuries, have been made a mast of loud-speaker because of this atrocious bidat. Islamic savants have always consented to scientific inventions. So it is doubtless that useful broadcasting by TV's, radios and loud- speakers everywhere is an invention which Islam consents to and will utilize. But it has been harmful to deprive Muslims of the sweet voice of adhan and to conduct the worships with the lacerating sound of the loud-speaker. It is unnecessary prodigality to install loud- speakers in mosques. When this apparatus did not exist, which clatters as if it were a church bell instead of the voices of pious believers that would impress hearts with iman divinely, the adhans said on minarets and the voices of takbir in mosques used to move even foreigners to enthusiasm. The jamaat that filled the mosques upon hearing the adhans said at every quarter used to perform their namaz in khushu' (deep and humble reverence), as had been in the time of the Sahaba. This heavenly effect of the adhan that would move believers to raptures has been fading away in the metallic sounds of loudspeakers.]

He who dislikes or makes fun of any adhan said compatibly with the sunnat, or who discredits it by words or actions, becomes a disbeliever. But he who mocks a muazzin does not become a disbeliever.

Being an imam is better than being a muazzin, and saying the iqamat is better than saying the adhan.

How fortunate is a lad,
Who reads the Qur'an;
When he hears adhan and iqamat,
His heart swells with iman.