Discover the meaning of the term Iqama (إقامة) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readVerbal noun of aqama in the place, the ha replacing the verb’s ’ayn, the root iqwam.
Like the adhan in words, save two phrases added: « the prayer stands, the prayer stands »; seventeen words; adhan and iqama separated the span of two or four rak’a: some ten verses recited each rak’a. First for the muezzin supererogation between adhan and iqama; not praying, he sits between. At maghrib, recommended separating them by a suspension, standing the span of three short verses; so in az-Zahidi. In the glosses of Kanz ad-Daqa’iq: separated at fajr reading twenty verses; at dhouhr and ’isha the span of four rak’a, ten verses each; at ’asr the span of two, twenty verses.
Lexically: verbal noun of aqama; aqama in the place: fixing there; aqama the thing: fixing or rectifying; aqama the man the Law: manifesting it; aqama the prayer: perpetuating it; aqama for prayer: calling it. Iqama has several senses in the tongue: establishment, manifestation, calling, and the sitting one’s establishing. In the Law: two senses: first, establishment in place, opposite travel; second: informing the present, readied for prayer, of rising to it by specified words and specified quality. Al-maqam, with damma: iqama’s place. Al-Jouhari said: he hastened in recitation and adhan, hadaran hadran: when hastening. Abou ’Outhman relates: no difference between recitation and adhan in haste. Said: iqama is like adhan in words, two phrases added; first the muezzin supererogation between, else sitting; at maghrib recommended separating by suspension, standing three short verses; so in az-Zahidi. In the glosses of Kanz ad-Daqa’iq: separated at fajr reading…
It is informing of entering the prayer by words the Lawgiver specified, distinguished from adhan by the iqama wording.