روي أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: إذا قال المؤذن: الله اكبر الله اكبر فقال أحدكم: الله اكبر الله اكبر، ثم قال: أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله، قال: أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله، ثم قال: أشهد أن محمدا رسول الله، قال: أشهد أن محمدا رسول الله، ثم قال: حي على الصلاة، قال: لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله، ثم قال حي على الفلاح، قال: لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله، ثم قال: الله اكبر الله اكبر، قال: الله اكبر الله اكبر، ثم قال: لا إله إلا الله، قال: لا إله إلا الله من قلبه ذخل الجنة.

It is narrated that the Prophet (sws) said: “When the caller to the prayer says: ‘Allāh Akbar Allāh Akbar’ and you say: ‘Allāh Akbar Allāh Akbar’1, then when he says: ‘Ashhadu an lā# ilāha illallāh’2 and you say: ‘Ashhadu an lā ilāha illallāh’ and then when he says: ‘Ashhadu anna Muhammadan Rasūlullāh’3 and you say: ‘Ashhadu anna Muhammadan Rasūlullāh’ and then when he says: ‘hayya ‘alā al-salah’4 and you say: ‘lā hawla walā quwwata illā billāh’5 and then when he says: ‘hayya ‘ala al-falāh’6 and you say: ‘lā hawla walā quwwata illā billāh’7, then when he says: ‘Allāh Akbar Allāh Akbar’8 and you say: ‘Allāh Akbar Allāh Akbar’ and then when he says: ‘lā ilāha illallāh’9 and you say: ‘lā ilāha illallāh’, [when he says all this] from [the depth of] his heart, he shall enter paradise10

Notes on the Text of the Narrative

This narrative or a part of it with some variations has been reported in Bukhārī (nos. 586, 587 and 872), Muslim (nos. 383 and 385), Mu’attā Imām Mālik (no. 148), Tirmadhī (no. 208), Abū Dā’ūd (nos. 522 and 527), Nasā’ī (nos. 673 and 677), Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (nos. 11033, 11522, 11759, 11878, 16874, 16877, 16942, 16968 and 23917), Ibn Hibbān (nos. 1684, 1685 1686 and 1687), Nasā’ī al-Kubrā (nos. 1637, 1640, 9862, 9865, 9868, 9869, 10184 and 10185), Bayhaqī (nos. 1784, 1785, 1786 and 1787), Dārimī (nos. 1202 and 1203), Ibn Khuzaymah (nos. 411, 414, 415, 416 and 417), Abū Ya‘lā (no. 1189), ‘Abd al-Razzāq (nos. 1844, 1845, 1847 and 1849), Ibn Abī Shaybah (nos. 2360 and 2363), Al- Humaydī (no. 606). The preferred text is the one reported in Muslim (no. 383).

In some narratives, as for instance in Nasā’ī al-Kubrā (no. 9868), the words دخل الجنة (he shall enter paradise) have been replaced with وجبت له الجنة (he is sure to enter paradise).

Almost the same content has differently been reported in some narratives, as for instance in Bukhārī (no. 586):

روي أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: إذا سمعتم النداء فقولوا مثل ما يقول المؤذن.

It is narrated that the Prophet (sws) said: When you hear the [prayer] caller, repeat what the caller says.

In some narratives, as in Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (no. 15658), the Prophet’s saying has alternatively been reported as: إذا سمعتم المنادي يثوب بالصلاة فقولوا كما يقول (when you hear the person making the call gathering [people] for the prayer, repeat what he says), while in some variations of this reporting, as for instance in Nasā’ī Sunan al-Kubrā (no. 9862), the words يثوب بالصلاة (gathering [people] for the prayer) have been omitted.

In some narratives, as for instance, in Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (no. 11033), the words مثل ما يقول (as he says) have been replaced by a synonymous phrase كما يقول.

In some narratives, as for instance in Muslim (no. 383), the words مثل ما يقول المؤذن (as the callers says) have been replaced with مثل ما سمعتم المؤذن (as you hear the caller).

In some narratives, as for instance in Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (no. 11759), the word المؤذن (the caller) has been omitted.

In another narrative, as for instance in Ibn Khuzaymah (no. 414), the same implication has been reported as follows:

عن عيسى بن طلحة قال دخلنا مع معاوية فنادى المنادي بالصلاة. فقال: الله أكبر الله أكبر فقال معاوية: الله أكبر الله أكبر، ثم قال: أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله، فقال معاوية: وأنا أشهد، ثم قال: أشهد أن محمد رسول الله، فقال معاوية: وأنا أشهد، ثم قال: حي على الصلاة، فقال معاوية: لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله، ثم قال: حي على الفلاح، فقال معاوية: لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله، فقال: الله أكبر الله أكبر لا إله إلا الله، فقال معاوية: الله أكبر الله أكبر لا إله إلا الله ثم قال هكذا سمعت نبيكم صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول.

‘I#sā Ibn Talhah says: “[Once] we entered [the mosque] with Mu‘āwiyah. The caller started calling [to gather people] for the prayer. He said: ‘Allāh Akbar Allāh Akbar’, at this Mu‘āwiyah also said ‘Allāh Akbar Allāh Akbar’. Then he said: ‘Ashhadu an lā ilāha illallāh’ and Mu‘āwiyah said: ‘wa anā ashhad’ (I too bear witness). Then he said: ‘Ashhadu anna Muhammadan Rasūlullāh’ and Mu‘āwiyah said: ‘wa anā ashhad’ (I too bear witness). Then he said: ‘hayya ‘alā al-salah’ and Mu‘āwiyah said: ‘lā hawla walā quwwata illā billah’. Then he said: ‘hayya ‘alā al-lfalāh’ and Mu‘āwiyah said: ‘lā hawla walā quwwata illā billāh’. Then he said: ‘Allāh Akbar, Allāh Akbar lā ilāha illallāh’ and Mu‘āwiyah repeated ‘Allāh Akbar, Allāh Akbar lā ilāha illallāh’. Then Mu‘āwiyah said: ‘This is how I heard your Prophet (sws) say.’”

In some narratives, as in Bukhārī (no. 872), the words فنادى المنادي بالصلاة (the caller started calling [to gather people] for the prayer) have been replaced with أذن المؤذن (the caller started Ādhān).

In some narratives, as in Bukhārī (no. 872), the two occurrences of the words وأنا أشهد (I too bear witness) have been replaced with وأنا (and I [bear witness]), in Ibn Khuzaymah (no. 415), both these occurrences have been replaced by the preceding words of Ādhān, while in Bayhaqī (no. 1787), the first of these occurrences is replaced with وأنا أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله (and I too bear witness that there is no god, except the One God) while the second occurrence is replaced with وأنا أشهد أن محمدا رسول الله (and I too bear witness that Muhammad is a messenger of God).

In Bukhārī (no. 872), the response to حي على الصلاة (come to the prayer) and حي على الفلاح (come to salvation) have been omitted.

The words فقال الله أكبر الله أكبر لا إله إلا الله فقال معاوية الله أكبر الله أكبر لا إله إلا الله (then he said: “Allāh Akbar, Allāh Akbar, lā ilāha illallāh” and Mu‘awiyah repeated: “Allāh Akbar, Allāh Akbar, la ilāha illallāh”) have been reported in Ibn Hibbān (no. 1687). In some narratives, as for instance in Nasā’ī al-Kubrā (no. 10185), these words have been replaced with وقال بعد ذلك ما قال المؤذن (after this, he repeated the words spoken by the caller to prayers).

In another narrative, as for instance in Ahmad Ibn Hambal (no. 16968), the same implication has been reported as follows:

روي أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم كان إذا سمع المؤذن يقول: الله اكبر الله اكبر، قال مثل قوله وإذا قال: أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله، قال مثل قوله وإذا قال أشهد أن محمدا رسول الله، قال مثل قوله.

It is narrated that when the Prophet (sws) would hear the caller to the prayers say “Allāh Akbar Allāh Akbar”, he would repeat the words as spoken by him [the caller] and when he would say “Ashhadu an lā ilāha illallāh”, he would repeat the words as spoken by him [the caller], and when he would say “Ashhadu anna Muhammadan Rasūlullāh”, he would repeat the words as spoken by him [the caller].

In some narratives, as for instance Humaydī (no. 606), the words الله اكبر الله اكبر (Allāh Akbar, Allāh Akbar) have been repeated in place of the first occurrence of مثل قوله (as spoken by the caller), and the words وأنا أشهد (and I too bear witness) have been reported in place of the second and third occurrence of the phrase مثل قوله (as spoken by the caller).

In another narrative, as for instance in Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (no. 23917), the same implication has been reported as follows:

روي أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم كان إذا سمع المؤذن قال مثل ما يقول حتى إذا بلغ حي على الصلاة حي على الفلاح، قال لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله.

It is narrated that when the Prophet (sws) would hear the caller to prayers [make the call], he would repeat the words as spoken by him, till the time that he reached “hayya ‘alā al-salah hayya ‘alā al-falāh”, he would say “lā hawla walā quwwata illā billāh”.

In some narratives, as for instance in Nasā’ī al-Kubrā (no. 9869), the words إذا سمع المؤذن (when he heard the caller to the prayers) have been replaced by ذا سمع الأذان إ (when he heard the call to the prayer).

In some narratives, as in Nasā’ī al-Kubrā (no. 9865), the clause قال مثل ما... إلا بالله (he would repeat the words as spoken… quwwata illā billāh) has been reported as قال كما يقول حتى يسكت (he would say what was said by him [the caller], till he would become silent).

In some narratives, as for instance in Nasā’ī al-Kubrā (no. 9869), the words حتى إذا بلغ (till that he reached) have been replaced by فإذا بلغ (then when he reached).

In some narratives, as in Abd al-Razzāq (no. 1847), the words العلي العظيم (al-‘Alī al-‘Azīm (the High, the Great)) have been added at the end of لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله (lā hawla walā quwwata illā billāh (There is neither any power nor strength except from God).

 (This write-up is prepared by the Hadīth Cell of Jāved Ahmad Ghāmidi#)

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1. God is the greatest, God is the greatest.

2. I bear witness that there is no god except the One God.

3. I bear witness that Muhammad is a messenger of God.

4. Come to the prayer.

5. There is neither any power nor strength except from God. It may be noted that all the other words of Ādhān (the call to the prayer) are in fact related to the Muslim beliefs. This and the succeeding sentence are an invitation to prayers. Thus, whereas all the other statements of the Ādhān are repeated by the listeners, this and the succeeding statement are responded with the words lā hawla walā quwwata illā billāh, implying that hearing the invitation to the attend the prayers, the listener intends to join the congregation or to offer his prayer, yet his intention and his will shall only materialize if God – the source of all power and strength – grants him the power and the strength to carry out what he intends.

6. Come to salvation.

7. There is neither any power nor strength except from God.

8. God is the greatest, God is the greatest.

9. There is no god, except the One God.

10. Ādhān (call to the prayer), it may be noted, provides the gist of the whole message of Islam. Acknowledging the statements of the Ādhān from the depths of one’s heart actually implies embracing the whole message of Islam.

a. Acknowledging that “God is the greatest” implies that no power, no love, no attraction, no activity and no force can come in our way or hinder us from submitting to the call of the One God.

b. Acknowledging that there is no god except the One True God refuses conception of worship and seeking help from any additional deistic concepts.

c. Acknowledging that Muhammad (sws) is a true messenger of God implies our acknowledgement of the fact that we accept and submit to all of the teachings of Muhammad (sws) in the name of God’s religion and hold them to be the true teachings and directives of the Almighty.

d. Seeking God’s help in offering prayers and in adopting the path of eternal salvation implies both the significance of prayers in Islam as well as acknowledgement of the belief that only those people shall succeed in adopting the path of eternal salvation, who are found deserving for this privilege by the Omniscient and the Omnipotent God.