The Arabic word Adhan means “to listen”. It is an invitation towards meeting with Almighty Allah, i.e. Salah. That means it serves a great purpose of achieving the highest state of morality and uprightness of heart and soul because of its direct link with Nimaz. It is more useful and effective way of encouraging others towards veneration of the Almighty Allah. On the other hand, Adhan sounds highly meaningful as it contains language of glorifying the Almighty Allah and His beloved Prophet (SAW). Saying “Allah is the Greatest” is to testify the Ultimate Power of the Creator of the Universe, Who controls every phenomenon happening in this world and heavens. “There is none worthy of worship except Allah” fulfills the very first criterion of Muslim faith, i.e. to believe in One God’s Supremacy and comparing no one to Him. After paying the Most Deserved Homage to Almighty Allah, the Adhan follows up with bearing witness that Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) is the Messenger of the Exalted One, which is also the necessary constituent of Islamic conviction. The expressions “Come to Salah” and “Come towards Success” are meant to inform the Muslims about Namaz as being the cause of one’s accomplishment in this world and hereafter. This is so because Adhan is the call towards Namaz, which in turn is the way of direct communication with Allah Almighty resulting in forgiveness of wrongdoings and attainment of many of God’s blessings. In the end, the name of Almighty Allah is again highly praised by repeating His Greatness and testifying that there is no one else praiseworthy as Him. Only for the Morning Prayer, the phrase “Namaz is better than sleeping” is added which signifies the fact that waking up for the sake of meeting with Almighty Allah has the greatest blessings and is definitely superior to being in an ignorant state of slumber. Adhan is a constant reminder for common people about Allah’s remembrance and a way of knowing that He is always there for us, and there is nobody else we could ask from. There is a great rank of Muezzin in Islam.
The Islamic way of calling people towards prayers is not merely a method of collecting them at one place for venerating Almighty Allah, but also serves as a means of reminding Muslims about their utmost religious duty of carrying out Namaz.
Abdullah bin Abdur Rahman reported: Abu Said Al-Khudri (R.A) said to me: “I see that you like living among your sheep in wilderness. So whenever you are with your sheep or in wilderness and you want to call Adhan, you should raise your voice because whoever hears the Adhan, whether a human or jinn or any other creature, will testify for you on the Day of Resurrection.” Abu Hurairah (AS) reported: The Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: “When Adhan for Salat is pronounced, the devil takes to his heels and breaks wind with noise so as not to hear the call. When the Adhan is finished, he returns. When the Iqamah is announced, he turns his back, and after it is finished, he returns again to distract the attention of one and makes him remember things which he does not recall in his mind before the Salat, and says ‘Remember this, and this,’ and thus causes one to forget how many Rakaat he performed.” This Hadith shows that Adhan is not any simple announcement; rather it is that powerful in its effect that Shaitaan (Satan) cannot bear hearing it as it contains the message about righteousness and leads one towards spirituality of heart and soul. It not only makes one able to get Allah’s blessings, but also leads towards achieving the greatest assistance one could ever get, i.e. the support of Rasulullah (SAW) in the hereafter. Thus we can say that the Islamic way of calling people towards prayers is not merely a method of collecting them at one place for venerating Almighty Allah, but also serves as a means of reminding Muslims about their utmost religious duty of carrying out Namaz.
