Fath al-Rabbani

Benefits: … Reflecting on the above-mentioned narrations, two forms of adhan and iqamah have been described:

(1) Adhan with tarji‘ and double phrases in the iqamah: Saying the adhan with tarji‘ is also Sunnah, in which "ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah" and "ashhadu anna Muhammadan Rasul Allah" are each said four times. (Muslim)

When the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught Sayyiduna Abu Mahdhurah radi Allahu anhu the adhan with tarji‘, he also taught him the iqamah with double phrases. (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasa’i, Ibn Majah)

In one of the aforementioned narrations, Sayyiduna Abu Mahdhurah radi Allahu anhu said: "Ya Rasul Allah! ‘Allimni sunnat al-adhan." That is: O Messenger of Allah! Teach me the prescribed adhan. In response, he sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught him the adhan with tarji‘. (Abu Dawud)

And in another narration: Sayyiduna Abu Mahdhurah radi Allahu anhu says: The Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught him nineteen phrases for the adhan and seventeen for the iqamah. (Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, Nasa’i) And this number of phrases occurs in the adhan with tarji‘.

It should be remembered that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, at the request of Sayyiduna Abu Mahdhurah, appointed him as the mu’adhdhin of Makkah al-Mukarramah, and he remained the mu’adhdhin in the Haram of Makkah until 59 AH after the Prophet’s sallallahu alayhi wa sallam passing, and continued to give this same adhan. (See: Usd al-Ghabah: 6/273) After him, his descendants also held this position and continued to give this same adhan. It should also be kept in mind that the incident of Sayyiduna Abu Mahdhurah’s adhan occurred after the Battle of Hunayn in 8 AH, and the incident of Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Zayd’s dream occurred in the first year of Hijrah, therefore the ruling of the adhan with tarji‘ should be considered as remaining and not abrogated.

According to Imam Shafi‘i, Imam Ahmad, Imam Malik, and the majority, this adhan is recommended (mustahabb).

The Hanafis do not accept the adhan with tarji‘; their view is that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam repeated the shahadatayn for the sake of teaching Sayyiduna Abu Mahdhurah, not as part of the phrases of the adhan, and they also say that in the adhan from the dream of Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Zayd radi Allahu anhu, there is no such addition of the shahadatayn. However, the above-mentioned evidences and facts refute the Hanafi view.

The Hanafis, considering their own legal principles, should also have kept in mind that the narrator of the hadith himself considered the adhan with tarji‘ as Sunnah and continued to give this adhan for nearly fifty years. May Allah grant us the ability to act upon all the Sunnahs. One of the Hanafi legal principles is: al-‘ibrah bima ra’a la bima rawa (consideration is given to the narrator’s own view and fatwa, not merely to his narration). And in this issue, both the narration and the view have the same meaning.

(2) Double adhan and single iqamah:

Some evidences have already been mentioned above; in one hadith, Sayyiduna Bilal radi Allahu anhu was explicitly instructed to say the iqamah as a single phrase. Further evidences are as follows:

Sayyiduna Jabir radi Allahu anhu narrates that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: "Ishfa‘ al-adhan, wa-awtir al-iqamah." That is: Say the adhan in double phrases and the iqamah in single phrases. (al-Daraqutni fi al-Afrad no. 50 vol. 2, al-Sahihah: 1276)

Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Zayd ibn ‘Abd Rabbihi radi Allahu anhu was taught in a dream the adhan in double phrases and the iqamah in single phrases. When he related this dream to the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said: "Innaha la-ru’ya haqq in sha’ Allah." That is: Indeed, if Allah wills, this dream is true. The same dream was seen by Sayyiduna ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab radi Allahu anhu, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam also affirmed his account. (Abu Dawud: 499, Ibn Majah: 706)

Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn ‘Umar radi Allahu anhu says: In the time of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the adhan was in double phrases and the iqamah in single phrases, except that the words "qad qamati al-salah" were said twice. (Abu Dawud, Nasa’i)

In the iqamah, the words "qad qamati al-salah" will be said twice, as is known from various narrations.

Khatabi said: In the two Harams, Hijaz, Sham, Yemen, Egypt, Maghrib, and other distant Islamic lands, the practice is to say the phrases of the iqamah once each. This is also the view of Sayyiduna ‘Umar, Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn ‘Umar, Sayyiduna Anas radi Allahu anhum, and Imam Hasan al-Basri, Imam al-Zuhri, ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, Imam Ahmad, and others.

It is not known why, despite these facts, people hesitate to say the iqamah in single phrases.

Note: … The words "ashhadu anna amir al-mu’minin ‘Aliyyun waliyyullah" have been added to the adhan by the Shia, and these words are not established by any authentic, or even weak, hadith. It is astonishing that even in Ja‘fari fiqh, there is no evidence for these words in the adhan.

Similarly, the words "al-salatu wa al-salamu …" at the beginning of the adhan are not established from the Sunnah; the mu’adhdhins of the Prophetic era, Sayyiduna Bilal, Sayyiduna Ibn Umm Maktum, Sayyiduna Abu Mahdhurah, etc., did not say these words. However, reciting the prescribed salawat and specific supplications after the adhan is a means of virtue.