The meaning of the adhan (call to prayer)

Five times a day, from masjids around the world, you hear the adhan (the call to prayer). The person who calls it is the mu'adhdhin (often written muezzin). Its words are few, and once you know what they mean, every adhan becomes a small reminder of your faith.

How the adhan began

In Madinah, the early Muslims were looking for a way to gather people for prayer. The companion Abdullah ibn Zayd, may Allah be pleased with him, saw a dream in which a man taught him the words of the adhan. When he told the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, the Prophet said it was a true dream, if Allah willed, and asked him to teach the words to Bilal, may Allah be pleased with him, because Bilal had the more melodious voice. When Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, heard Bilal's call, he came saying he had seen the same dream (Abu Dawud, hasan sahih).

The words, phrase by phrase

This is the wording taught in the hadith of Abdullah ibn Zayd. The note after each meaning shows how many times the phrase is called.

Notice the shape. The adhan begins and ends with Allah's greatness and His oneness. In the middle, it calls you to prayer and then to falah: real success, which scholars explain as reaching Paradise and being saved from the Fire. The adhan is telling you that the road to that success runs through the prayer.

In some masjids you may hear small differences, such as the two testimonies repeated a second time. These come from other authentic narrations, including the adhan the Prophet taught to his companion Abu Mahdhurah (Muslim), and they are all correct.

The extra phrase at Fajr

In the adhan for Fajr, the dawn prayer, the mu'adhdhin adds this phrase twice, right after Hayya alal-falah. The companion Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, said this is part of the Sunnah (Ibn Khuzaymah, al-Daraqutni, and al-Bayhaqi, authentic). It is a gentle nudge on a sleepy morning, and it is only said at Fajr.

What you say when you hear it

The Prophet said: "When you hear the Adhan, repeat what the Muezzin says" (Bukhari and Muslim). So you simply repeat each phrase after the mu'adhdhin, quietly. There is one change: when he says Hayya alas-salah and Hayya alal-falah, you answer with this:

In other words: I want to come, and I can only do it with Allah's help. The Prophet said that whoever answers the adhan this way, sincerely from the heart, will enter Paradise (Muslim).

When the adhan ends, the Prophet taught us to send blessings on him (the salawat you learned in the tashahhud lesson) and to ask Allah to grant him al-wasilah, a high station in Paradise (Muslim). He also taught this supplication, and said that whoever says it will receive his intercession on the Day of Judgment (Bukhari):

Shortly before the prayer starts in congregation, you will hear a second, shorter call: the iqamah. That is the next lesson.