The adhan, word by word, with how to reply
The Islamic call to prayer, line by line: the Arabic, how to say it, what it means and what you say back. Switch on the Fajr line, see the iqamah, and step through it as the muadhdhin calls.
The adhan: 15 phrases.
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Line 1Said 4×
اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ
Allāhu akbar
Allah is the Greatest.
You reply
Repeat the same words after the muadhdhin.
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Line 2Said 2×
أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ
Ashhadu an lā ilāha illallāh
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah.
You reply
Repeat the same words after the muadhdhin.
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Line 3Said 2×
أَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ
Ashhadu anna Muḥammadar-rasūlullāh
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
You reply
Repeat the same words. After the muadhdhin's two testimonies you may add:
أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ، رَضِيتُ بِاللَّهِ رَبًّا، وَبِمُحَمَّدٍ رَسُولًا، وَبِالْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا
Ashhadu an lā ilāha illallāhu waḥdahū lā sharīka lah, wa anna Muḥammadan ʿabduhū wa rasūluh, raḍītu billāhi rabbā, wa bi-Muḥammadin rasūlā, wa bil-islāmi dīnā
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, without partner, and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. I am pleased with Allah as my Lord, with Muhammad as Messenger and with Islam as my religion. Whoever says it has his sins forgiven (Sahih Muslim 386).
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Line 4Said 2×
حَيَّ عَلَى الصَّلَاةِ
Ḥayya ʿalaṣ-ṣalāh
Come to the prayer.
You reply
لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ
Lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh
There is no power and no strength except with Allah.
Sahih Muslim 385.
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Line 5Said 2×
حَيَّ عَلَى الْفَلَاحِ
Ḥayya ʿalal-falāḥ
Come to success.
You reply
لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ
Lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh
There is no power and no strength except with Allah.
Sahih Muslim 385.
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Fajr only 6Said 2×
الصَّلَاةُ خَيْرٌ مِنَ النَّوْمِ
Aṣ-ṣalātu khayrum-minan-nawm
Prayer is better than sleep.
You reply
صَدَقْتَ وَبَرَرْتَ
Ṣadaqta wa bararta
You have spoken the truth and done well.
Said in the Hanafi and Shafi'i manuals. Hadith scholars found no hadith for it, so repeating the same words is also correct.
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Line 7Said 2×
قَدْ قَامَتِ الصَّلَاةُ
Qad qāmatiṣ-ṣalāh
The prayer has begun.
You reply
أَقَامَهَا اللَّهُ وَأَدَامَهَا
Aqāmahallāhu wa adāmahā
May Allah establish it and keep it going.
Sunan Abi Dawud 528. Its chain is weak (graded daif by al-Albani and others), and the Hanafi manuals still mention it as good to say.
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Line 8Said 2×
اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ
Allāhu akbar
Allah is the Greatest.
You reply
Repeat the same words after the muadhdhin.
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Line 9Said 1×
لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ
Lā ilāha illallāh
There is no god but Allah.
You reply
Repeat the same words after the muadhdhin.
Send salawat on the Prophet ﷺ, such as Durood Ibrahim, then say:
اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّ هَذِهِ الدَّعْوَةِ التَّامَّةِ، وَالصَّلَاةِ الْقَائِمَةِ، آتِ مُحَمَّدًا الْوَسِيلَةَ وَالْفَضِيلَةَ، وَابْعَثْهُ مَقَامًا مَحْمُودًا الَّذِي وَعَدْتَهُ
Allāhumma rabba hādhihid-daʿwatit-tāmmah, waṣ-ṣalātil-qāʾimah, āti Muḥammadanil-wasīlata wal-faḍīlah, wabʿathhu maqāmam-maḥmūdanil-ladhī waʿadtah
O Allah, Lord of this perfect call and of the prayer about to be established, grant Muhammad al-wasilah and excellence, and raise him to the praised station You have promised him.
Whoever says it will be granted the Prophet's ﷺ intercession. More on the dua after adhan page.
Show
Follow along
Step through the lines one at a time, as the muadhdhin calls them.
Recording: The Adhan, Muslim Call to Prayer, Aaqib Azeez, uploaded by Atcovi to Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The Fajr line and the iqamah have no recording yet.
Our teachers will check the Arabic and transliteration on this page before launch.
Guide
What is the adhan, and what does it mean?
The adhan (also written azan or athan) is the Muslim call to prayer. The muadhdhin calls it aloud before each of the five daily prayers, to tell people the time has come and invite them to the masjid. It has 15 phrases: Allah is the Greatest, the two testimonies of faith, the call to prayer and to success, and Allah is the Greatest again, ending with "there is no god but Allah". At Fajr, "prayer is better than sleep" is added, making 17. The iqamah is a second, quicker call given just before the prayer starts.
The adhan in English
| Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Allāhu akbar, Allāhu akbar | Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest |
| Allāhu akbar, Allāhu akbar | Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest |
| Ashhadu an lā ilāha illallāh | I bear witness that there is no god but Allah |
| Ashhadu an lā ilāha illallāh | I bear witness that there is no god but Allah |
| Ashhadu anna Muḥammadar-rasūlullāh | I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah |
| Ashhadu anna Muḥammadar-rasūlullāh | I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah |
| Ḥayya ʿalaṣ-ṣalāh, Ḥayya ʿalaṣ-ṣalāh | Come to the prayer, come to the prayer |
| Ḥayya ʿalal-falāḥ, Ḥayya ʿalal-falāḥ | Come to success, come to success |
| (Fajr only) Aṣ-ṣalātu khayrum-minan-nawm, Aṣ-ṣalātu khayrum-minan-nawm | Prayer is better than sleep, prayer is better than sleep |
| Allāhu akbar, Allāhu akbar | Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest |
| Lā ilāha illallāh | There is no god but Allah |
How the adhan began
In Madinah the Muslims first gathered for prayer without a call. Some suggested a bell or a horn; Umar suggested sending a man to call, and the Prophet ﷺ said: "O Bilal, stand and call to the prayer."1 Abdullah ibn Zayd then saw the words of the adhan in a dream, and the Prophet ﷺ told him to teach them to Bilal, whose voice was stronger. Umar had seen the same dream.2
Replying to the adhan
The Prophet ﷺ said: "When you hear the call, say what the muadhdhin says."3 At "hayya alas-salah" and "hayya alal-falah" you say "la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah" instead.4 Then send salawat on him and ask Allah to grant him al-wasilah, a rank in Paradise, and his intercession becomes due for you.5 Dua between the adhan and the iqamah is not turned back.6
Replying to the adhan with the tongue is recommended (mustahabb), and the reply that is required is to go to the prayer. Stop talking or reciting to listen and repeat.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i, Maliki, Hanbali
- Repeating the words of the adhan is sunnah for everyone who hears it.
The wording in the four madhhabs
The adhan is 15 phrases, as Abdullah ibn Zayd saw it, with no tarji (saying the testimonies quietly first). The iqamah is 17 phrases: every phrase is doubled like the adhan, with qad qamatis-salah twice after hayya alal-falah, following the narration of Abu Mahdhurah that the Prophet ﷺ taught him the iqamah in seventeen phrases.7 The iqamah is said a little faster than the adhan.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- The adhan has tarji: the muadhdhin says the two testimonies quietly, then aloud, making 19 phrases, from the hadith of Abu Mahdhurah.8 The iqamah is 11 phrases, each said once except the takbirs and qad qamatis-salah, because Bilal was told to say the adhan in pairs and the iqamah singly.9
- Hanbali
- The adhan is 15 phrases, as in the Hanafi school. The iqamah is 11 phrases, as in the Shafi'i school. Doubling the iqamah is also allowed.
- Maliki
- The adhan opens with Allahu akbar twice, not four times, and has tarji, making 17 phrases. The iqamah is 10 phrases: qad qamatis-salah is said once.
Is the adhan obligatory?
The adhan and iqamah are sunnah muakkadah (strongly emphasised) for men, for the five fard prayers and Jumuah, prayed on time or made up. Someone praying alone at home in a town where the adhan is called may leave them, though saying them is better. They are not given for the Eid, witr, janazah or voluntary prayers. The Fajr adhan is not valid before dawn and is repeated after it, in the view of Abu Hanifa and Muhammad.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- A sunnah, in the more correct view of the school. A Fajr adhan from the middle of the night is valid, as Bilal called before dawn and Ibn Umm Maktum after it.10
- Maliki
- A confirmed sunnah in masjids and wherever people gather for prayer. An early Fajr adhan in the last sixth of the night is allowed.
- Hanbali
- A communal obligation (fard kifayah) on men, residents and travellers. A Fajr adhan after midnight is allowed.
The adhan in a newborn's ear
Abu Rafi reported that he saw the Prophet ﷺ call the adhan in the ear of al-Hasan ibn Ali when Fatimah gave birth to him.11 At-Tirmidhi graded it hasan and many scholars act on it, giving the adhan in the right ear. Others graded its chain weak because of the narrator Asim ibn Ubaydullah. Reports of the iqamah in the left ear are weaker still.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 604, from Ibn Umar.
- Sunan Abi Dawud 499; Jami at-Tirmidhi 189, from Abdullah ibn Zayd, graded hasan sahih.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 611; Sahih Muslim 383, from Abu Said al-Khudri.
- Sahih Muslim 385, from Umar.
- Sahih Muslim 384, from Abdullah ibn Amr; Sahih al-Bukhari 614.
- Sunan Abi Dawud 521; Jami at-Tirmidhi 212, from Anas, graded sahih.
- Sunan Abi Dawud 502; Jami at-Tirmidhi 192, from Abu Mahdhurah, graded hasan sahih. Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, Bab al-Adhan.
- Sahih Muslim 379, from Abu Mahdhurah.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 605; Sahih Muslim 378, from Anas.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 617, from Ibn Umar.
- Sunan Abi Dawud 5105; Jami at-Tirmidhi 1514, from Abu Rafi.
- The Fajr line: Sunan Abi Dawud 500, from Abu Mahdhurah, graded sahih by al-Albani. The other madhhabs' positions are summarised from their standard manuals.
The rulings on this page are pending review by the scholars on our team.
Questions
Good to know
What are the words of the adhan in English?
Allah is the Greatest (4 times). I bear witness that there is no god but Allah (2). I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah (2). Come to the prayer (2). Come to success (2). Allah is the Greatest (2). There is no god but Allah (1).
What is added to the Fajr adhan?
After "hayya alal-falah", the muadhdhin says "as-salatu khayrun minan-nawm" twice: prayer is better than sleep (Abu Dawud 500).
What do you say when you hear the adhan?
Repeat each phrase after the muadhdhin, except "hayya alas-salah" and "hayya alal-falah", where you say "la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah" (Muslim 385). Then send salawat and say the dua after the adhan.
What is the difference between the adhan and the iqamah?
The adhan calls people to the prayer when its time begins. The iqamah is said just before the prayer starts, a little faster, and adds "qad qamatis-salah" (the prayer has begun). In the Hanafi school it has 17 phrases; in the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools, 11.
Who was the first muadhdhin?
Bilal ibn Rabah. The Prophet ﷺ chose him because his voice was strong and clear (Abu Dawud 499).
Can women give the adhan?
In the Hanafi school, women do not give the adhan or iqamah, alone or in a group of women, and pray without them.