Adhan – How To Pronounce Correctly

Common Mistakes in Reciting the Adhan and a Guide to Pronouncing it Correctly

Here at the The Wahy Project, this past week the focus has been on the Adhan (& Iqama). So what better way to end the week off than a Guide on Pronouncing the Adhan correctly :). Alhamdulillah, I got a chance to sit down with my good friend Sheik Mamdouh and he provided an explanation of the common mistakes in pronouncing an Adhan and the correct way to pronounce each statement. Luckily I had my little audio recorder handy – so hope you enjoy listening to the Guide below (to help I have also highlighted the areas of common mistakes in red below).

Ref

  1. Sunan Abu Dawud. Volume 1, Hadith #499 (Hasan), pg 302. [10008]

[ mp3 | <4 MB | 56226a8ecdbf0540e736ed350810a0a5 | f6ade459291e1fc00cfbdc4a98162f107d301a98 ]

Iqama

Second Call to Prayer

Iqama (or Iqamah) refers to the second call for the prayer that follows the first call (Adhan). Iqama means that the obligatory prayer in congregation is just to begin. It is to be recited in Arabic before every obligatory prayer. It is composed of specific words and phrases very closely related to the Adhan. The statements of the Adhan are recited reduced so that the statements that are expressed twice in the Adhan are recited once in Iqama except the last utterance of Allâhu-Akbar. The prayer is offered immediately after Iqama has been pronounced.

Note

  1. There are a number of variations of Iqama (which I have been advised are all accepted, though I have only verified the one presented in this Post). These include:
    1. Reciting the wording of a full Adhan with the addition of ‘Qad qāmatis-salāh’ (recited twice)
    2. Reciting the wording of a full Adhan with the addition of ‘Qad qāmatis-salāh’ (recited only once)
    3. Reciting the wording of a half Adhan with the addition of ‘Qad qāmatis-salāh’ (recited twice) – as presented in this Post
  2. Further examples of Iqama (audio from Makkah and Madina during Umrah & Hajj) can be found in my ‘Adhan Recordings’ post here
  3. The transliteration above may not provide an accurate guide on how to pronounce the Adhan correctly. InshAllah I will have another post shortly that covers this topic, but if you are not sure please consult a scholar for the correct pronunciation.

Ref

  1. Sunan Abu Dawud. Volume 1, Hadith #499 (Hasan), pg 302. [10008]
  2. Sunan Abu Dawud. Volume 1, Hadith #510 (Sahih), pg 320. [10008]
  3. Sahih Muslim. Volume 7, Glossary of Islamic Terms, pg 475. [10007]

[ pdf | <2 MB | cb1aaa635b8b0aba1eec71302216bc3f | 1efc33a0595a24fd880dbd11010cce4ed9e655d7 ]
[ mp3 | <2 MB | 080df8c13416fc9c1d7c9c214bc47115 | f943266875e184396f4ba632f262177969e369c1 ]

Adhan (Fajr)

Call to Prayer (for the Fajr prayer)

Did you know that the Adhan (call to prayer) for the morning (Fajr) prayer is slightly different to the Adhan for the other regular daily prayers? Alot of people may not actually realize this. Essentially the wording for the Fajr Adhan is exactly the same as the regular Adhan, except for the inclusion of two additional statements (indicated in blue below).

Note

  1. Further examples of Fajr Adhan (audio from Makkah and Madina during Umrah & Hajj) can be found in my ‘Adhan Recordings’ post here
  2. The transliteration above may not provide an accurate guide on how to pronounce the Adhan correctly. InshAllah I will have another post shortly that covers this topic, but if you are not sure please consult a scholar for the correct pronunciation.
  3. The reference below only relates to the additional statements recited in the Fajr Adhan.
  4. Some further commentary on this topic can be found at OurDialogue here

Ref

  1. Sunan Abu Dawud. Volume 1, Hadith #500 (Sahih), pg 305. [10008]

[ pdf | <4 MB | c7213d14899972eba8b6424f44ff74c3 | 26a86a870db85c89732b3fa097460d878ed8a92a ]
[ mp3 | <5 MB | 2e61445aaa2c9b585468ad9e99cca1ee | c19e309efeea4db3114a580a2abf468bb05033df ]

Adhan

Call to Prayer (for the regular daily prayers, except Fajr)

Adhan is the call to Prayer (Salat), which is pronounced loudly to indicate that the time of praying is due. The person who calls the Adhan is called a Mu’adhin. The Adhan consists of specific phrases, recited aloud in Arabic prior to each of the five daily worship times. Following is the wording of Adhan for the regular daily prayers (except Fajr – which will covered separately in a later post).

Note

  1. Further examples of Adhan (audio from Makkah and Madina during Umrah & Hajj) can be found in my ‘Adhan Recordings’ post here
  2. The word ‘Adhan’ means to pronounce and inform, and here, it refers to the particular words by which people are informed about the entry of the time of one of the obligatory prayers.
  3. The transliteration above may not provide an accurate guide on how to pronounce the Adhan correctly. InshAllah I will have another post shortly that covers this topic, but if you are not sure please consult a scholar for the correct pronunciation.

Ref

  1. Sunan Abu Dawud. Volume 1, Hadith #499 (Hasan), pg 302. [10008]

[ pdf | <4 MB | 31554dda91fd28404f9773b94b2e3dc3 | 7df6b390acc6913dc31c81a68ea98166f55597e6 ]
[ mp3 | <4 MB | 7ced6da0842d28ed51a0ba5d203896b2 | 6e3c16b6a78d22391afededc33bb04c1f8c4997d ]

Adhan Recordings

My Adhan Recordings from Masjid Al-Haram (Makkah) and Masjid Al-Nabawi (Madinah)

The air is still, the crowd calm, the anticipation palatable. As we sit, enjoy and savor our time in Masjid Al-Haram, our ears suddenly fill with the sweet sounds ofAdhan (call to prayer) – echoing & reverberating throughout Makkah. It is such an amazing feeling and experience that words cannot do it justice – SubhaanAllaah. But as a special treat … I finally had a chance to upload some of my Adhan (& Iqama) recordings from Makkah and Madinah to share with you.

Actually a while back I tried searching for Adhan audio files online and found it quite difficult. Alhamdulillah I was able to record these (with a small voice recorder) last year (2010 / 1431) in Makkah and Madinah in the month of Dhul Hijjah.

Enjoy …

Masjid Al-Haram (Makkah)

Salah Adhan Iqama Extra
Fajr mp3 mp3 mp3
Zuhr mp3 mp3 mp3
Asr mp3 mp3 mp3
Maghrib mp3 mp3
Isha mp3 mp3 mp3
Tahajjud mp3 mp3, mp3

You can download all the above mp3’s in one convenient file: Zip
[ 05-Sept-2011 | 118 MB | 34be7b255992f8a7109c646a967cdbc6 | 6ee0a10992795d6a8c42648dbfd2346f60a4347e ]

Masjid Al-Nabawi (Madinah)

Salah Adhan Iqama
Fajr mp3 mp3
Zuhr mp3 mp3
Asr mp3 mp3
Maghrib mp3 mp3
Isha mp3 mp3

You can download all the above mp3’s in one convenient file: Zip
[ 05-Sept-2011 | 35.3 MB | 93a737d3b68b154c4d6c020652918f7c | 0d056d84184d3fda400f4e91adac7eaa3d525136 ]