Two Adhans on Friday

 

These, and similar narrations, make it clear that in the time of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and his household and grant them peace), there was a single adhan for jumu`ah, followed by the khutbah, and then the iqamah (which can be described as an adhan too) and salah. Later, Sayyidina `Uthman (the third Caliph - may Allah be well pleased with him) introduced an additional adhan (i.e. a third adhan, if we count the iqamah as an adhan too), which would be given earlier, in the marketplace rather than the masjid, in order to make it easier for people to start preparing for jumu`ah, since the Muslim population had increased significantly by then. Since then, the practice has continued in much of the Muslim world, even if it was not a consensus [Ibn Rajab, Jami` al-`Ulum wa'l-Hikam; Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari].

 

The practice of Sayyidina `Uthman does not in itself constitute a shar`i proof of the extra adhan being recommended. But, it is reported in a hadith that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) has said, "You must [follow] my way (sunnah), and the way (sunnah) of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs." [Tirmidhi and others] The Rightly-Guided Caliphs includes the first four Caliphs according to all Sunni scholars. Based on this, a sizable number of scholars have concluded that the additional adhan introduced by Sayyidina `Uthman is recommended, even if there is not a particular need for it. The Hanafis state that it is recommended [see, for example: Kashmiri, al-`Arf al-Shadhiyy], as do the Malikis [Ibn `Abd al-Barr, Al-Kafi], and (according to al-Mardawi) this is also the official position of the Hanbali madhhab. 

 

Within the Shafi`i and Hanbali schools, however, there is disagreement, with some scholars maintaining that the extra adhan is permissible, but not recommended without need, because Sayyidina `Uthman only introduced it to fulfill a need of that time [al-Bakri, I`anat al-Talibin; al-Mardawi, Al-Insaf]. This appears to be the stronger position in the Shafi`i school, according to al-Bakri.

 

The desirability of the extra adhan is especially evident in the Hanafi school. Hanafi texts [e.g. al-Marghinani, Al- Hidayah] often mention the two adhans, and many Hanafis even maintained that it is with the first adhan (the earlier one introduced by Sayyidina `Uthman) that trading becomes impermissible, and it is this view that `Allamah Ibn `Abidin mentioned to be the more authentic [Radd al-Muhtar]. The other three madhhabs (along with some Hanafis) hold that trading only becomes impermissible with the adhan right before the khutbah, because this is the only adhan that there was at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings upon him).

 

 

-sl