Prayer

The Ruling of the Two Athans on Friday

Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan explains that the first Friday athan is legislated and was practiced by the Rightly Guided Caliphs. It was introduced by Caliph ʿUthmān, and though Ibn ʿUmar called it an innovation, scholars clarify it as a good linguistic innovation, not a religious one.

September 6, 2016

Questioner:

With regards to the first ʼathān of the Friday prayer, is the ʼathān repeated after the mu’athin?

Shaykh Ṣāliḥ ibn al-Fawzān:

The [first] ʼathān is Islamically legislated because it is from the sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. The third Caliph ʿUthmān enjoined it whilst the Rightly Guided Caliph ʿAlī ibn ʼAbī Ṭālib, the Muhājirīn and the Ansār were present, and they did not prohibit him from it. Except what has been narrated upon Ibn ʿUmar as Ibn Abī Shaybá (d. 235 ^AH) reports in his lexicon of ḥadīth, that [Ibn ʿUmar] said it is an innovation.

Ibn al-Rajab (d. 795 ^AH) explained when he reported the statement of Ibn ʿUmar, “He intended a good innovation and not an evil innovation..’ just as his father said with regards to the Tarāwīḥ prayer, ‘this is a good innovation..’” meaning it is an innovation in terms of the language and not religiously.