Have you ever visited a Muslim country before? If you did, you must have
heard this call to prayer five times a day.
After prayers were made obligatory upon Muslims, it was obvious that a sign
was needed to inform people that it was time to pray. Although many ideas were
suggested for this, they were not accepted by the Messenger of Allah. At that
time, however, Abdullah ibn Zaid ibn Sa'labah, one of the companions, was
taught the adhan in a dream. Abdullah came to the Prophet the next day
and informed him of the situation. Muhammad (peace be upon him) then ordered
Bilal to recite the adhan. Meanwhile, the companion Umar came to the Messenger
of Allah and reported that he had had the same dream, but Abdullah ibn Zaid had
acted earlier. Bilal climbed on top of a high house belonging to a woman from
the sons of Najjar, and read the morning prayer adhan for the first time. After
the conquest of Mecca, the adhan was recited by Bilal from the Kaaba. Bilal
reciting the adhan as an Ethiophian slave, looking down on everyone from the
Kaaba, which has always been a sacred temple for Arabs and Muslims, was a
challenge to the social order of the era.
The words and the meaning of the adhan are as follows:
Allahu akbar (x4)
Allah is the Greatest
Ashadu an la ilaha illa Allah (x2)
I bear witness that There is no god except Allah
Ashadu anna Muḥammadan rasulu Allah (x2)
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah
Hayya ala s-salah (x2)
Come to
prayer
Hayya ala l-falah (x2)
Come to salvation
As-salatu khayrun mina n-nawm (x2) (only for the Morning prayer)
