Adhan

Adhan (also - Athaan IPA: /ʔæðæːn/) (أَذَان) is the Islamic call to prayer, recited by the muezzin. The root of the word is ʼḏn "to permit", and another derivative of this word is uḏun, meaning "ear."

Adhan is called out by the muezzin in the mosque, sometimes from a minaret, five times a day summoning Muslims for fard (mandatory) salah (prayers). There is a second call known as iqama that summons Muslims to line up for the beginning of the prayers.

Text (Sunni)

Recital	Arabic	Transliteration	Translation
4x	الله اكبر	Allāhu Akbar	God is The Greatest*
2x	اشهد ان لا اله الا الله	Ash-hadu an lā ilāha illallāh	I bear witness that there is no deity except God
2x	اشهد ان محمدا رسول الله	Ash-hadu anna Muħammadan rasūlullāh	I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God
2x	حي على الصلاة	Hayya 'alas-salāh	Make haste towards prayer
2x	حي على الفلاح	Hayya 'alal-falāħ	Make haste towards welfare
2x	الصلاة خير من النوم	Aṣ-ṣalātu khayru min an-naūm	Prayer is better than sleep **
2x	الله اكبر	Allāhu akbar	God is greatest
1x	لا اله الا الله	Lā ilāha illallāh	There is no deity except Allah

* Followers of the Maliki madhab say this line twice instead of four times.

** The line "Prayer is better than sleep" is used only for the first prayers of the day at dawn (fajr Prayer; Salat al-fajr).

Text (Shi'a)

Recital	Arabic	Transliteration	Translation
4x	الله اكبر	Allah hu Akbar	God is the Greatest
2x	اشهد ان لا اله الا الله	Ash-hadu anna lā ilāha illallāh	I bear witness that there is no deity except God
2x	اشهد ان محمدا رسول الله	Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasūl allāh	I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God
2x	حي على الصلاة	Hayya 'alas-salāt	Make haste towards prayer
2x	حي على الفلاح	Hayya 'alal-falāh	Make haste towards welfare
2x	حي علی خير العمل	Hayya 'alā Khair al-'amal	Make haste towards the best thing
2x	الله اكبر	Allah u Akbar	God is the Greatest
2x	لا اله الا الله	Lā ilāha illallāh	There is no deity except Allah

According to Shi'a scholars, "Ashhadu ana Alian waliullah" ("I bear witness that Ali is the vice regent of God") is not a part of Adhan and Iqamah but it is recommended (Mustahabb) to say that.

Sunni view

Sunnis state that the adhan was not written or said by Prophet Muhammad, but by one of his Sahabah (his companions), a freed Ethiopian slave by the name of Bilal ibn Rabah. However, Prophet Muhammad did choose adhan as the Islamic call to prayer in place of the bells used in Christianity and horns used by Jews.

During the Friday prayer (Salat Al Jummah), there are two adhans; the first is to call the people to the mosque, the second is said before the Imam begins the khutbah (sermon). Just before the prayers start, someone amongst the praying people recites the iqama as in all prayers. The basis for this is that at the time of the Caliph Umar he ordered 2 adhans to be made, the first of which was to be made in the marketplace to inform the people that the Friday prayer was soon to begin, and the second Adhan would be the regular one held in the mosque. Not all Sunnis prefer 2 adhans as the need for warning the people of the impending time for prayer is no longer essential these days whereby the times for prayers are well known.

Shi'a view

Shi'a sources state that it is Muhammad who, according to God's command, ordered the adhan as a means of calling Muslims to prayer. Shi'a Islam teaches that no one else contributed, or had any authority to contribute, towards the composition of the adhan.

Other Shi'a sources state that Bilal ibn Ribah was, in fact, the first person to recite the adhan publicly out loud in front of the Muslim congregation.

Dua following adhan

The following dua (supplication) is optionally read by Muslims after the adhan is recited:

Arabic	Transliteration	Translation
اللهم رب هذه الدعوة التامة والصلاة القائمة	Allahumma rabba hadhi-hid da'wa-tit-tamma wa-salatil qae-ma	O God, Owner of this perfect call and Owner of this prayer to be performed
آت محمداً الوسيلة و الفضيلة	Ati muhammadanil wasilata wal fadeela	Bestow upon Muhammad al waseelah (a station in Paradise) and al fadeelah (a rank above the rest of creation)
وابعثه مقاماً محموداً الذي وعدته	Wab ath-hu maqamam-mahmuda-nil ladhi wa at-ta	And raise him to the rank you have promised him

The adhan in Turkey

As an extension of the reforms brought about by the establishment of the Republic in 1923, the Turkish government at the time, encouraged by Ataturk, wished to make faith more understandable and less confusing to the general public by allowing them to practice faith in their native language. The program involved implementing a Turkish adhan program as part of its goals, as opposed to the conventional Arabic call to prayer.

As part of this initiative, a committee was organized in 1932, which brought together some of the leading religious scholars, Huffaz, academics and linguists of the day, including such names as Hafız Burhan, Sadettin Kaynak, and Hafız Nuri. The committee, after extensive research and deliberation, ultimately ruled that it was fully jaiz (i.e. permissible by Koranic canon) to use one's native language for all aspects of faith, and followed this decision by releasing an official Turkish version of the adhan, which was as follows;

Tanrı uludur;
Şüphesiz bilirim, bildiririm;
Tanrı'dan başka yoktur tapacak.
Şüphesiz bilirim, bildiririm;
Tanrı'nın elçisidir Muhammed.
Haydin namaza, haydin felaha,
Namaz uykudan hayırlıdır.

Following the conclusion of said debates, the Presidency of Religious Affairs released an official mandate on July 18 1932, announcing the decision to all the mosques across Turkey, and the practice was continued for a period of 18 years.

On July 16 1950, the practice was terminated after a new government under Adnan Menderes was sworn in, who repealed the ban on the Arabic adhan within two weeks of sitting in office, and declared Arabic as the liturgical language.