Adhan (Call to Prayer)
The Islamic call to prayer, recited by a muezzin.
Adhan (Arabic: أذان) is the Islamic call to prayer, which announces that the time for an obligatory prayer has arrived. The adhan is recited by a muezzin and can be heard from the mosque's minaret. The word "adhan" comes from the Arabic root meaning "to listen" or "to be informed".
The adhan was introduced in the second year after the hijra (migration to Medina). According to tradition, one of the Prophet's companions, Bilal ibn Rabah, had a dream about the call to prayer, and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) approved this form. Bilal became the first muezzin in Islam.
The adhan consists of the following phrases: "Allahu Akbar" (Allah is the Greatest), "Ashhadu an la ilaha illallah" (I bear witness that there is no god except Allah), "Ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasulullah" (I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah), "Hayya 'alas-salah" (Come to prayer), "Hayya 'alal-falah" (Come to success), and concludes with "Allahu Akbar" and "La ilaha illallah".
It is sunnah to repeat the words after the muezzin and to say a specific du'a (supplication) after the adhan.
Related terms
Ashura (The Tenth of Muharram)
The tenth day of Muharram, the commemoration of Imam Husayn's martyrdom.
Laylat al-Qadr (The Night of Decree)
The most sacred night in Islam, when the Quran was revealed.
Muharram (The Sacred Month)
The first and one of the four sacred months in the Islamic calendar.
Qibla (Prayer Direction)
The direction toward the Kaaba in Mecca, which Muslims face during prayer.
Madhhab (School of Law)
An Islamic school of law with its own methodology for legal derivation from the sacred sources.
Sunan Abu Dawud (Abu Dawud's Hadith Collection)
One of the six canonical hadith collections in Sunni Islam with a special focus on legal narrations.