Sunnah Method of Adhan and Iqamah According to Authentic Hadiths
This excerpt is taken from Shaykh Zubair Ali Zai (رحمه الله)’s book Hadiyyat al-Muslimeen: Important Issues of Salah with the Complete Prophetic Prayer (ﷺ).
Authentic Narration
عن أنس رضى الله عنه قال: أمر بلال أن يشفع الأذان وأن يوتر الإقامة إلا الإقامة
Anas (رضي الله عنه) reported:
Bilal (رضي الله عنه) was commanded that the adhan be recited in pairs (each phrase twice) and the iqamah be recited singly (each phrase once) except for “qad qāmatiṣ-ṣalāh” which should be said twice.
[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 1/85, ḥadīth 605 (wording from here); Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 1/164, ḥadīth 378]
Another chain records:
“Indeed, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) commanded Bilal (رضي الله عنه)…”
[Sunan al-Nasāʾī with Ḥāshiyah al-Sindī, p. 103, ḥadīth 628]
✦ فوائد (Benefits)
① Wording of the Sunnah Adhan:
الله أكبر الله أكبر، الله أكبر الله أكبر – أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله – أشهد أن محمدا رسول الله، أشهد أن محمدا رسول الله – حي على الصلاة، حي على الصلاة – حي على الفلاح، حي على الفلاح – الله أكبر الله أكبر – لا إله إلا الله
Wording of the Sunnah Iqamah:
الله أكبر، الله أكبر – أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله – أشهد أن محمدا رسول الله – حي على الصلاة – حي على الفلاح – قد قامت الصلاة، قد قامت الصلاة – الله أكبر، الله أكبر – لا إله إلا الله
② In Muṣannaf ʿAbd al-Razzāq, a narration states: “Bilal used to say both the adhan and the iqamah in pairs.”
However, this chain is weak because:
- Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī is a mudallis, narrating with “ʿan” without clear hearing. This makes it weak according to the muhaddithīn, as well as Deobandi and Barelvi scholars.
[See Kitāb al-Mudalliseen by al-ʿIrāqī, pp. 24, 35; Asmāʾ al-Mudalliseen by al-Suyūṭī, p. 93; Khazāʾin al-Sunan, vol. 1, p. 1; Fatāwā Riḍawiyyah, vol. 5, pp. 245, 266] - Ḥammād ibn Abī Sulaymān (also in this chain) was a mudallis and mukhta liṭ (mixed up narrations later in life).
[See Ṭabaqāt al-Mudalliseen, 2/45]
Al-Haythamī said:
“We only accept his hadith when narrated by his early students — Shuʿbah, Sufyān al-Thawrī, or al-Dustuwāʾī. Others heard from him after his ikhtilāṭ.”
[Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid, 1/119–120]
Thus, the narration of Maʿmar from Ḥammād here is weak.
③ In Abū Maḥdhūrah’s (رضي الله عنه) narration of double iqamah, the adhan is also doubled — meaning أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله is said four times, and أشهد أن محمدًا رسول الله is said four times.
[Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 502]
If one follows this method, it is correct; but taking double iqamah from Abū Maḥdhūrah’s hadith and adhan from Bilal’s hadith is inconsistent and unjust.
④ Acting upon the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) is only possible for those whom Allah grants tawfīq. Unfortunately, those who call the iqamah doubled rarely call the adhan doubled — showing resistance to full Sunnah compliance. May Allah grant us the ability to follow the Sunnah completely.
