Discover the meaning of the term Al-adhan (أذان) in Islamic vocabulary.
Contents :
Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 5 min readIn language: announcement in general. In the Law: informing of the entrance of the prayer time by known, transmitted words.
Like al-kalam: a noun derived from at-ta'adhdhin, that is, informing. In the Law: informing of the entrance of the prayer time by known, transmitted words; they are fifteen words (according to az-Zahidi): the adhan consists of saying: Allahu akbar four times, ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah twice, ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasul Allah twice, hayya 'ala as-salah twice, hayya 'ala al-falah twice, Allahu akbar twice, la ilaha illa Allah. And this is fifteen words. According to ash-Shafi'i, may Allah have mercy on him, the adhan has nineteen words, with the addition of four words in repetition (tarji'), namely saying each of the two testimonies twice with lowered voice, then each of them twice with raised voice. And the sounder view is that the adhan is an emphatic sunna for the five obligatory prayers, whether performed or made up, in congregation, and for the Friday prayer.
In language: informing. Al-Azhari said: the adhan is a noun derived from your saying: adhantu fulanan (I informed so-and-so of such a matter), and likewise awdhantu-hu idhanan: that is, I informed him of it; and one says adhdhana ta'dhdhinan wa-adhanan when one informs the people of the entrance of the prayer time; the noun was put in the place of the verbal noun. The Exalted said: (and an announcement from Allah and His Messenger to the people).
Informing people of the time of worship by specific formulas at appointed times.
Informing; in the generous Quran: (and an announcement from Allah and His Messenger to the people on the day of the greater pilgrimage that Allah disavows the polytheists, as does His Messenger) (At-Tawba: 3), that is, an information. Attentive listening to what is heard; it is also used for knowledge, as it is the beginning of much knowledge. In the Law: informing of the entrance of the prayer time by prescribed words; it is sometimes used for the words themselves (ad-Dasuqi). In the Law: the specified words which are necessarily a revelation from Allah the Exalted, according to the Ja'fari school (an-Najafi). In the view of Zayn ibn al-Munir: everything that issues from the muezzin in word, deed and posture; but this is objected to, since the Law specified the adhan with specific words: when they exist the adhan exists, and whatever exceeds them in word, deed or posture belongs to its complements, the adhan existing without them. The iqama; in the noble hadith: (between every two adhans there is a prayer): this refers to the sunan rawatib prayed between the adhan and the iqama before the obligatory prayer. Al-udhun (the ear): the organ of hearing in man and animal; it is feminine; plural: adhan. One says: rajul adhan (an ear of a man): when he hears every word spoken; the singular and the plural are alike in it. In the noble Quran: (And among them are those who harm the Prophet and say: he is an ear. Say: an ear of good for you, who believes in Allah and believes the believers, and is a mercy to those of you who believe; and those who harm the Messenger of Allah will have a painful punishment) (At-Tawba: 61). Ibn 'Abbas, Mujahid and Qatada said, explaining (he is an ear): whoever is told something believes it about us, whoever relates something to him believes it, and when they come to him and swear to him he confirms. Al-udhn: the permission; it is feminine; and every noun of the pattern fu'l with a damma on its first and second letter may have a sukun on the second, like 'unuq, kutub and rusul. Idhan: a particle of requital and reply; it is written with a nun; when one stops on idhn one says idha, as one says ra'aytu Zaydan. Al-idhn: the informing granting license for a thing, and the permission in it. Will; in the Quran: (How many a small company has overcome a large company by permission of Allah; and Allah is with the patient) (Al-Baqara: 249). Being unconfined (al-itlaq), according to as-Sarakhsi. Authorization. In the Law: the loosing of restraint and the freeing of disposition for one legally barred from it (al-Jurjani). In the Majalla (art. 942): the removal of restraint and the dropping of the right of prevention; the person who has given permission is called ma'dhun.