Ramadan 2016, Day 6 – Hadiths, part three

As an aside, I have updated my post "Varieties of Dates" for two more varieties – Majdool and Khenaizi.


More hadiths about praying. I learned two things today:

Firstly, children should start trying to do the prayers starting from age 7. By age 10 they should be doing all five prayers properly. If they are younger than 10 they should not be punished for missing prayers or making mistakes.

Secondly, there were many hadiths regarding the origin of the call to prayer, the lengthy call that is announced from every mosque to inform Muslims that it is time to come to the mosque for prayer. It is known as the Adhan.

According to the hadiths in the Sunan Abu Dawud there was discussion with the Prophet about how it would be best to inform everyone it was time for prayer. A few ideas were put forth: using a flag (no), using a horn, using bells (no, that would be confusing as Christian churches use bells). So the matter was left undecided and people went home. That night a man by the name of Abdullah bin Zaid bin Abd Rabbih had a vivid dream where the Adhan was revealed to him. The next day he went and reported his dream to the Prophet and the people around him. This was later confirmed by Omar, who said that he had a similar dream a couple of weeks ago (maybe 20 days) but had not reported it. The Prophet concluded that these dreams may have been messages and so asked Bilal, a follower known for his strong and powerful voice, to learn the words from Abdullah bin Zaid and recite them.

Bilal is henceforth famous as the first person to call the Adhan, and would be the one to call the Adhan for the followers thereafter.

If you ever listened to the Adhan (if not you should search it on youtube) the hadiths in the Sunan Abu Dawud repeat the Adhan many times, though with slight variations from hadith to hadith. I believe the Adhan was finalized in its current form shortly afterwards. I listened to it last night with my book in hand to follow the words, and I believe it goes like this:

Allahu Akbaru
Allahu Akbaru
Allahu Akbaru
Allahu Akbaru
Ashhadu anla ilaha illallah
Ashhadu anla ilaha illallah
Ashhadu anla Muhammadan rasulullah
Ashhadu anla Muhammadan rasulullah
Ashhadu anla ilaha illallah
Ashhadu anla ilaha illallah
Ashhadu anla Muhammadan rasulullah
Ashhadu anla Muhammadan rasulullah
Hayya alas-salat
Hayya alas-salat
Hayya alal-falah
Hayya alal-falah
[if the morning prayer then say: As-salatu khairun minan-nawm, As-salatu khairun minan-nawm]
Allahu Akbaru
Allahu Akbaru
La ilaha illallah


Now the story I given above is apparently the Sunni-accepted version. Shi’a believe that the Prophet had the dream, not Abdullah bin Zaid or Omar, and the Adhan is slightly different from the one I listed above. Both groups agree that Bilal was the first to conduct the call to prayer.


More hadiths to come . . .