The Shaykh’s remarks on the mu'adhdhins. His mention of the hadith of Abu Mahdhura.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah.

The questioner: His EminenceThe Shaykh : Regarding the adhan that was performed a short while ago.

The Shaykh : Yes, this adhan, in reality, I was pleased with it and I was not pleased with it. What I was not pleased with, naturally, was the melodic ornamentation and the sweetening of the voice. What I was pleased with was the beauty of your voice, because it reminded me of the hadith of Abu Mahdhura, who was one of the mu'adhdhins of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) heard him calling the adhan by imitation, not by faith. So he called him, and when faith entered his heart, he made him his mu'adhdhin (peace and blessings be upon him) and taught him how to call the adhan. One of the benefits we gained on this occasion—I say one of the benefits we gained from this hadith of Abu Mahdhura—is that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught him the adhan, which is the adhan known today with its four repetitions, he told him: . This is what is called in the language of the Shari'ah the tathwib in the Fajr prayer. We derived this tathwib from this hadith of Abu Mahdhura, and we derived its position from it, which is that it is in the first adhan, not in the second adhan as is customary today. So placing the tathwib in the second adhan is contrary to the Sunnah. The adhan of the mu'adhdhin today reminded me of the adhan of Abu Mahdhura and the teaching of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to him, because his voice was sweet. The sweetness of your mu'adhdhin’s voice reminded me of this hadith. This is what I was pleased with. But what I was not pleased with is that he was imitating one or some of the mu'adhdhins in al-Madinah al-Munawwarah. It is not a Shari'ah adhan because of the elongation, the dragging out, and the melodic intonation in places not customary in the language of the Arabs, the language of the Shari'ah. This rising and falling and descending of the voice is an imitation of the melodies of singers in their songs. And it is no wonder that it was inherited among the righteous Salaf to reject newly invented matters in general, and to reject melodic ornamentation in the adhan in particular. It is authentically narrated from Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that a man came to him and said to him, "I love you for the sake of Allah." He said, "As for me, I hate you for the sake of Allah." He said, "How so?" He said, "Because you put melody in your adhan and you take a wage for it." Therefore, the mu'adhdhin, every mu'adhdhin who seeks the Face of Allah with his adhan and hopes to be among those mentioned in the saying of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): The first quality is that his adhan is for the sake of Allah. Hence came the advice of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to 'Uthman ibn Abi al-'As al-Thaqafi, whom the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent to his tribe, Banu Thaqif. He said to him (peace and blessings be upon him): . So the first quality that the mu'adhdhin who seeks reward from Allah the Exalted and Majestic must possess is that his adhan is for the sake of Allah. And from that is what I mentioned earlier. So the first condition in that is that his adhan is for the sake of Allah. The second condition is that his adhan is according to the Sunnah. There is no sweetening of the voice in the adhan, and there is no melodic ornamentation in the adhan. Rather, it is to be done in his natural manner and in his natural way. Yes, an exception to what I said is that he should intentionally raise his voice as much as he is able to do so, because it has come in authentic hadiths that the mu'adhdhin is testified to by every human or jinn who hears his voice. Therefore, the mu'adhdhin is chosen to be the one whose voice is louder than others. This is taken from the story of the original Shari'ah basis of the adhan. It is known to those present, if Allah wills, that the adhan was not legislated directly in this manner. After the prayer was legislated for them, they would call out to one another, some calling to others, as some people do today, saying, "O Allah, prayer, prayer, pray!" They would call to one another like that. They gathered and consulted to choose a way they could agree upon to announce the arrival of the time of prayer. They differed on this. Some proposed that they announce the time of prayer by lighting a great fire. The answer of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was that it is . Another proposed that they strike a trumpet, and he said, . A third and finally proposed that the announcement be by striking a gong, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And they dispersed with nothing. That night, some of them saw in a dream that while he was walking in one of the roads of al-Madinah, he met a man holding a gong in his hand. He said to him, "Will you sell this to me?" He said, "For what?" He said, "So that we strike it for the prayer." He said, "Shall I not direct you to something better than that?" There was a stump of a wall, meaning a collapsed wall of which a portion remained elevated above the ground. This is a sight seen constantly and always, because a wall, no matter how strong or weak, does not collapse from its base such that it becomes level with the ground; rather, a portion of it remains elevated above the ground. So this person whom the Companion saw in the dream stood on it, faced the qiblah, and called the adhan known today. Then he descended from this stump and called the iqamah for the prayer. When the man woke up, he related the story to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he said: . The point is the completion of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . From that day, the mu'adhdhin became Bilal, who had not seen that vision, because his voice was sweet and melodious. Therefore, this is a recommended practice for the mu'adhdhin, but it is not permissible for him to follow the musical rules on which singers base their songs in his adhan. For this reason, we advise our mu'adhdhin tonight to be, as we think, first, sincere in his adhan for Allah Blessed and Exalted is He, seeking no reward or gratitude behind it. And second, we hope that he does not follow the traditions of some mu'adhdhins, even in al-Masjid al-Nabawi, because al-Masjid al-Nabawi today, unfortunately, contains many of the newly invented matters that he (peace and blessings be upon him) used to forbid while he was alive. And the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh: And you as well, if Allah wills.

The questioner : Some students of knowledge imitate the scholars in their speech.

The Shaykh : Likewise, this is not permissible. All of this is affectation.

The questioner : And he loves the scholars and imitates their voices...

The Shaykh : All of that is affectation that is not pleasing, because it is not reported from the Salaf that they used to imitate the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in their manner of speech.