Benefits of the Hadith: (When you hear the call to prayer, say what the mu'adhdhin says)

The Shaykh : Among the benefits of this hadith is the wisdom of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in that He granted a share of the reward of this worship to those who are not performing it. The mu'adhdhin is undoubtedly performing one of the most noble forms of worship, to the extent that his reward on the Day of Resurrection will be that the mu'adhdhins will be the people with the longest necks. The mu'adhdhins will be the people with the longest necks. The mu'adhdhins will be the people with the longest necks, because they raised the remembrance of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and proclaimed it. So their recompense is that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) will raise their necks above the creation on the Day of Resurrection, so that they are distinguished by this distinction. When Allah prescribed the adhan for the mu'adhdhin, He prescribed for the non-mu'adhdhin to do what? To follow him. And were it not for this prescription, his following would have been a religious innovation. Among the benefits of the hadith is that it is necessary for one to hear it and know what he is saying. It is necessary for one to hear it and know what he is saying, because he said: So if he hears the sound but does not understand it, and this happens often, does he follow? It appears that he does not follow, except if he caught the first phrase and knew it, and then he hears the sound but does not catch the letters. In this case, we may say: follow him, because if you understood the first takbir, then what follows is what? The second, and what follows that is the second, and so on. But if he hears the noise but does not know what is being said, then it is not prescribed for him to follow. Among the benefits of this hadith is the permissibility of following the mu'adhdhin, based on his saying: Is the command for obligation or for recommendation? The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) differed on this. Some of them said: It is obligatory, because the default ruling for a command is obligation, and that it is obligatory for a person to follow the mu'adhdhin. But the majority of scholars are of the opinion that it is not obligatory. They cited as evidence for this that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And he did not say: "And let the other follow him." And if that had been obligatory, he would not have delayed its explanation until the time of need. And this is the correct view: that responding to the mu'adhdhin, meaning following him, is not obligatory, but it is a recommended practice (sunnah) that a person should not leave. Among the benefits of this hadith is that its apparent meaning is that one should say this dhikr in any place and in any state. That is, one follows in any place and in any state. In any state, in any place. That is, whether in the market, in the mosque, or in the house. Its apparent meaning is even in the bathroom, because the hadith is general. And if it is general, it remains general unless there is evidence. And there is no clear evidence that a person does not speak the dhikr when he is in the bathroom. Its apparent meaning is also that he says what the mu'adhdhin says, even if he is in a circle of knowledge or reading the Qur'an or something similar. So we say: If you hear the mu'adhdhin and you are reading the Qur'an, the best is that you say what he says, even if you stop the reading. Because this is a dhikr restricted to a specific time, and reading does not have a specific time; you read whenever you wish. And this is a rule regarding unrestricted dhikr and restricted dhikr. Restricted dhikr takes precedence over unrestricted dhikr. For example, when hearing the barking of dogs, the recommended practice (sunnah) is to seek refuge in Allah from Satan the accursed. And likewise the braying of donkeys. So if you hear the barking of dogs or the braying of donkeys and you are reading the Qur'an, seek refuge in Allah from Satan the accursed, cut off the reading, and seek refuge in Allah from Satan the accursed. If a person sneezes while reading the Qur'an, he cuts off the Qur'an and says: Praise be to Allah. If he hears the crowing of a rooster while reading the Qur'an, he cuts off the Qur'an and asks Allah for His bounty. The important point is that restricted dhikr takes precedence over unrestricted dhikr, even if the unrestricted dhikr is better than it. For example, reading the Qur'an is better than unrestricted dhikr, but the restricted one in its time takes precedence over the unrestricted one. Now, if a person is in prayer and hears the mu'adhdhin, does he respond to the mu'adhdhin while he is praying? Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) chose that he responds, because responding to the mu'adhdhin is from dhikr and does not conflict with prayer. And if it is from dhikr and does not conflict with prayer, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded it with a general command, then he responds to him. But what appears to me is that he does not respond to him in prayer, because if he responds to him in prayer, he becomes occupied with a great deal of occupation in responding to the mu'adhdhin, and it is not like a dhikr that can be done with a single phrase. So it appears to me that he does not respond to him. And evidence for this is cited from the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): And among the benefits of this hadith, and be careful, is that if he responds to the mu'adhdhin, he raises his voice like the voice of the mu'adhdhin. As for the similarity, the similarity: we say the intended similarity is in the essence of the dhikr, not in raising the voice. The difference between the mu'adhdhin and those who hear him in this state is clear. The mu'adhdhin calls for others, and this one responds to the mu'adhdhin, so it is a dhikr for which it is not prescribed to raise the voice like the raising of the voice of the mu'adhdhin. Now, among the benefits of the hadith: If he hears more than one mu'adhdhin, does he respond? The hadith is general: But if the voices of the mu'adhdhins mixed, and the second started when the first completed the four takbirs, what does he do? Does he follow? If he follows, the order of responding to following the first differs. In this case, we see, we see that he follows the first and continues with him. But sometimes the second is louder than the first, so it covers him and the voice of the first disappears. What do you do? Follow the second. Follow the second, because the first was replaced by the second in reality, like a tape on which another speech was recorded. So follow the second. The second will start with you from the beginning of the hadith, I mean from the beginning of the adhan, so it does not harm you to follow him. Now, if a person hears a recorded adhan, does he follow it? Yes, no, because I do not see that a recorded adhan is an adhan, but it is a narration of the voice of a mu'adhdhin. And for this reason, you find that the recorded tape may have recorded a mu'adhdhin who died a long time ago. So this does not fulfill the obligation and does not suffice for the obligation, and it does not deserve to be followed, because it is a narration of a voice in which there is no mu'adhdhin. Can anyone say: Make a recorded imam, his voice... put it in front of you, line up the rows, and follow him? Or did you not understand the question? One person put a recorder with the voice of an imam from the imams that people like to pray behind. He put the recorder and said to the mu'adhdhin: "Call the iqamah." He called the iqamah. When he finished the prayer, he opened the tape. Does it suffice or not? It does not suffice, it is known. So the adhan is like it. So if someone says: There is a difference here, there is no imam in front of the ma'mumin, but the adhan is intended for notification, and that has happened? The answer is: This is wrong. The adhan is not for mere notification, but it is a worship intended by the mu'adhdhin, which he performs on behalf of everyone, because it is a collective obligation (fard kifayah). So it is not valid to rely on a recorder. Now, if he hears the call after he has prayed. After he has prayed, let us suppose that the mu'adhdhin of some mosques is delayed, and this person has already prayed. Does he follow or not? The apparent meaning of the hadith is that he follows, because it is general and has no restriction. But the jurists said: He does not follow, because the mu'adhdhin says: "Hasten to success." And is it said to the one who has already prayed: "Hasten to success"? No, it is not said, because he has performed the obligatory prayer. They said: So when he is not being called by this adhan, it is not prescribed for him to follow it. But if a person takes the apparent meaning of the hadith and says: Praise be to Allah, it does not harm me. It is a dhikr, and if it is a dhikr and I have a general or unrestricted phrase from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), why do I not worship Allah with it? And the fact that I am not being called by this now, yes, because I have already prayed. And among the benefits of this hadith, or we take questions. Yes.
The student: Shaykh, may Allah bless you, if he hears the call from the middle.

The Shaykh : From the middle.
The student: From the middle, saying: Hasten to success.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The Shaykh : Yes, yes, yes, this is an important question.