Calling people to Prayer

26-3-2023 | IslamWeb

Question:

Salamuhalykum WarahmatullahMy question is to ask about the ruling concerning the call to prayer after the Adzhan has already been made for the compulsory Fajr prayer, this is because the Imam of the Masjid near my residence used to practise this act by calling out people as a means of enticing them to come and pray in a very loud voice using the microphone and I fear that this act might be an innovation in religion because he does it almost all the time. I want you to advise me on what to do concerning that, should I call the attention of the Imam to it or what. Also bear in mind that the Imam in question practices different kinds of innovation like raising the hands after Fard prayer and saying the azdhkar in unison with the congregation and he doesn't seem like someone that'll budge to correction even if I purport my claim with references
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu`alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

If you mean that the Muaththin calls out people by their names or tells them “come” and things like that after he finishes the Call to Prayer, and keeps doing it, then this act is Bid'ah (innovation in the religion). The Call to Prayer which was ordinated by Allah, the Exalted, is enough.

Imam Malik, mayAllaah have mercy upon him, and other scholars have disapproved of the act in which the Muaththin greets (by saying As-salamu Alaykum) the imam and calls him to prayer. Ibn Abdul-Barr, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said in Al-Istidhkar:

He was asked about the act in which the Muaththin greets (by saying As-salamu Alaykum) the imam and calls him to prayer, and who was the first one who did so, he said: I have never heard or read that the first generation did so. What he said is true because such an act was not practiced in the era of Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman, or 'Ali may Allaah be pleased with them all. It is said that the first one who practiced this act was Mu’awiyah, may Allaah be pleaed wthi him, he ordered his Muaththin to alert him by calling him by saying: “As-Salamu Ala Amir al-Mu'minin wa Rahmatullah, it is time to pray, may Allah have mercy upon you” Also, it was told the first one who practiced this act was Al-Mughirah ibn Shu’bah, but the first narration is more accurate. Imam Malik said about the part of the Call to Prayer which is Hayya 'alas-Salah “Come to the prayer”, Hayya 'alal-Falah (Come to the success) is sufficient to call to prayer. We also say the Call to Prayer is sufficient to call people to the prayer instead of calling people by names, and the Messenger of Allah sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) said: “Whoever innovates something in this matter of ours (meaning Islam) that does not belong to it shall have it rejected.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]. And in the wording of Muslim: “Whoever does an act that is not conformant with our way, it will be rejected.”

Imam An-Nawawi - may Allaah have mercy upon him - said: “This hadith is a great rule of the rules of Islam, and it is one of its Comprehensive Words - sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. His statement is clear to reject all inventions. Moreover, this hadith should be memorized and used in refuting all innovations and acts that do not conform with Sunnah.

Allah knows best.

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