The word adhān is derived from idhn which means originally anything that is heard (udhun meaning the ear), and hence it comes to mean knowledge or giving knowledge that a thing is permitted (R.), and adhān or ta’dhīn means an announcement, or an announcement of prayer and of the time thereof— the call to prayer (LL.).25 Regarding the origin of adhān, Bukhārī tells us that when the Muslims came to Madīnah, they used, at first, to have a time appointed for prayer, at which they all gathered together, but this arrangement being unsatisfactory, a consultation was held at which suggestions for ringing a bell or blowing a horn having been rejected, ‘Umar proposed that a man should be appointed who should call out for prayer, at which the Holy Prophet ordered Bilāl to call out for prayers in the words of adhān as we now have it (Bu. 10:1, 2).26 The need for the call to prayer was felt after the emigration of the Muslims to Madīnah, because at Makkah the unbelievers did not allow the Muslims to say their prayers openly.
The adhān is delivered in every mosque, or wherever there is a gathering for congregational prayer,27 five times a day. The call is given out from a minaret or some raised platform, in as loud a voice as possible, so that it may reach the ears of the greatest possible number of men. The man giving the call stands with his face to the Qiblah, i.e., towards Makkah, with both hands raised to the ears, chanting the following sentences in the order given:
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Allāhu Akbar, Allāhu Akbar, Allāhu Akbar, Allāhu Akbar. |
Allāh is the Greatest (repeated four times). |
25 The words adhān (9:3) and adh dhana, the perfect form of ta‘dhīn and mu‘adh dhin, the nominative form (7:44; 12:70), have been used in the Holy Qur’ān in the general sense of making an announcement, while the call to prayer is expressed by the word nidā (5:58; 62:9), which means calling out, with the addition of the words li-l-ṣalāh, or for prayer.
26 There are other ḥadīth which speak of the visions of ‘Abd Allāh ibn Zaid and ‘Umar who saw a man calling out for prayer in the words ordered by the Holy Prophet, but it appears also from ḥadīth that the Holy Prophet gave orders before these visions were related to him, and that it was Divine inspiration which guided him to the adhān.
27 Bu. 10:18.