Explanation of the Book of the Adhan-04a
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The reciter: 'Umar ibn Hafs narrated to us, saying: My father narrated to us, saying: Al-A'mash narrated to us, saying: I heard Salim say: I heard Umm al-Dard say: Abu al-Dard came to me in a state of anger, so I said: What has angered you? He said: By Allah, I do not know anything of the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) except that they pray in congregation.
The Shaykh : What Abu al-Dard (may Allah be pleased with him) meant by "I do not know anything" is that he did not know anything regarding the matters of prayer, meaning that they had neglected many of them, and he did not know of them except that they prayed in congregation. Otherwise, there are many well-known matters in the time of Abu al-Dard, such as the adhan, the iqamah, fasting, and zakah, among other things. But his meaning was regarding what pertains to establishing the prayer. And if this was the case in the time of Abu al-Dard, who was a Companion and the last of the Companions to die, having reached the age of 110 years, what can be said about our present time? Many great ages have passed. If people changed in the matters of their prayer from that time, then here too they must have changed. But as you know, religion has its ups and downs; sometimes there are people among the people who establish the religion of Allah, and sometimes they neglect it, and so on, as you have witnessed now. And you are young in age, yet you have known the difference between the people twenty years ago and the people today. And we do not know about the future; Allah knows best.
The Shaykh : What Abu al-Dard (may Allah be pleased with him) meant by "I do not know anything" is that he did not know anything regarding the matters of prayer, meaning that they had neglected many of them, and he did not know of them except that they prayed in congregation. Otherwise, there are many well-known matters in the time of Abu al-Dard, such as the adhan, the iqamah, fasting, and zakah, among other things. But his meaning was regarding what pertains to establishing the prayer. And if this was the case in the time of Abu al-Dard, who was a Companion and the last of the Companions to die, having reached the age of 110 years, what can be said about our present time? Many great ages have passed. If people changed in the matters of their prayer from that time, then here too they must have changed. But as you know, religion has its ups and downs; sometimes there are people among the people who establish the religion of Allah, and sometimes they neglect it, and so on, as you have witnessed now. And you are young in age, yet you have known the difference between the people twenty years ago and the people today. And we do not know about the future; Allah knows best.