Ustadh Abdul-Hakim Jackson informed me that one can still hear the salawaat upon Al-Mustafa (SAAS) after adhan in smaller villages in Masr.

He stated to me that according to what he learned from his shaykh, it was a practice that began in Masr during the Fatimiyyah prior to the Ottomans coming there.

WALLAHU `Alim.

Wassalaam

As-salamu alaykum,

Thank you for sharing this!

inshallah your well akhi.

just want to say jazakhallah khair for this, ive been looking for the duah to say after the adhan for a while. so i appreciate this much, may Allah reward you kindly ameen

This is an important point. From my very limited knowledge, there is a fiqh principle that says roughly: “a sunnah act performed with the mistaken belief that it is obligatory is acceptable, while an obligatory act performed with the mistaken belief that it is sunnah is not valid.” To me, this simple principle goes a long way toward explaining the teaching style of our Naqshbandi shuyukh. Our shuyukh are far more interested in having students that hold fast to the sunnah through thick and thin than with having students who have a degree of legal knowledge. Better to blindly follow the sunnah than to abandon it with eyes wide open. Of course possessing both of these traits, knowledge and practice are highly desirable, yadda yadda yadda. It’s a question of emphasis.

I agree with you that it is not part of the adhaan. That was what I needed clarified Sidi. Shukran. As for saying the Salawat upon the Nabi post-adhaan, then this is an established act.

In the famous treatise of Imam Ash-Shawkaani, Tuhfat-Adh-Dhaakirin the gloss of al-Jazaa’iri’s Hisnul-Hasin, he quotes a hadith from the Sahih of Imam Muslim that reads,

“When you [all] hear the Mu’adhdhin, then say as he has said. Then send Salaa upon me, for verily the one who sends one salaa upon me, Allah ta’alaa will send 10 Salaa upon him, then ask Allah for the waseelah for me, it being a rank a jannah for only one of Allah’s slaves, and I hope that I may be that one. And whoever asks Allah for the waseelah for me, he will have my intercession.”

[Sahih Muslim iin his Book of Salah: Chapter: It is recommended to say what the Mu'adhdhin has said - It is hadith number 154 of Hisnul-Haseen]

Jazaakum Allahu Khairan Sidi,
Abul Layth

The term azan refers specifically to the portions of the call which we see above.

Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar
Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar
Ashhadu an la ilaha illallah
Ashhadu an la ilaha illallah
Ashhadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullah
Ashhadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullah
Hayyi ‘alas salah
Hayyi ‘alas salah
Hayyi ‘alal falah
Hayyi ‘alal falah
Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar,
La ilaha illallah

Salawat is recited (and was recited) immediately before and after the azan. I take it to be a lexical debate (and really meaningless discussion for the layman), as to whether one wants to consider that as “officially” part of what is called ‘azan’. That discussion is really up to your scholarly knowledge. From my limited understanding, it is not part of the ‘azan’, but there is also no harm for the uneducated to believe that it is (so there is no need for a speech about the matter before giving Salawat and Azan).

However, then you mention different sources who are silent on this matter. I am not sure if that is to make the point that the salawat is was not recited before or after the Azan or not.

As we have seen in these comments students of Shaafi fiqh are learning that Salawat with azan is sunnah. A scholarly debate between those learned students is better. We have also seen number of travelogue reports from even non-Muslims showing Salawat was said before and after Azan. And we also have those who have commented here and elsewhere that the practice continues today in various areas including Syria, India, Malaysia.

Finally, from my Shaykhs teachings, I have learned (very simply) it is a firm part of Islam to send greetings and blessings upon the Prophet (Sallalahu’alaiheewassalam) when his name is mentioned. His (Sallalahu’alaiheewassalam) name is mentioned in the Azan.

As far as other more complicated discussions I would refer you to http://www.sunnah.org/fiqh/adhan.htm and other more knowledge books and articles. I understand Durr-ul-mukhtar and Radd-ul-mukhtar covers this topic as well.

-Yursil

“How do you know how the Azan was first said, and where did you hear it was any different? Do you know what was said before and after?

-Yursil”

I need clarification from Sidi Yursil. Are you saying that the Salawat was actually said as part of the adhaan? If this is not the case, I have no qualms. If this is the case, that the salawat is officially said as part of the adhaan, then this needs to be clarified for me.

Though by no means am I a scholar, I have read many works of fiqh, and never have I read of the fuqahaa’ of the Hanbali or the Shafi’i madha-hab promoting or even mentioning the salawat as part of the adhaan.

Ibn Qudamah – silent regarding it in his Al-Kaafi
Imam An-Nawawi – silent
Imam Ibn Rushd in his Bidayat Al-Mujtahid does not mention this act.

Imam Muhammad Ash-Shawkaani, a man who lived beneath the Ottoman empire in Yemen as well as travelled extensively throughout Ottoman domain, did not mention such an act in his detailed discussion of the adhaan in his tome Nayl Al-Awtaar.

The adhaan is recorded in mutawaatir form, with minor disagreements regarding the number of repetition of certain phrases, in all canonical books of hadith. It has been preserved in the earliest manuscripts of fiqh, and reported from all of the madha-hab of Islam.

Nice post Sidi
Jazaakum Allahu Khairan
Abul Layth

I hope I could recite salawat after the adhan in my local mosque. The imam is Wahhabi and I think he would mind and tell me not to do adhan at all.

I understood dear bin gregory and I also understand that Saifuddin had a personal experience where he was attacked on the fiqhi nature of it (which is also how I understand his inquisitive question above)

I like to keep things cool, not hot, on my website, inshaAllah

Relax, bro. I mean, understood by the one calling the azan. And yes, I think it’s perfectly conceivable that the muezzin would perform it thinking it was part of the azan, depending on the level of knowledge of the muezzin. I called azan with the salawat for years and years before I became aware of the distinction. I still call azan with salawat, but now I am more aware of the fiqhi status of each action. I’m not saying anyone is doing anything wrong, akhi. I’m just splitting fiqhi hairs that the short (or long) azan is not innovated in the sense of it introducing a change into the calling of the azan. It is innovated in the sense of it being a modern omission of a lovely sunnah that deprives one of the full range of blessings that could otherwise be obtained. But I knew what Yursil meant, and I hope he knew what I meant. My main point is that salawat after azan is indeed a sunnah act as taught by the shafiis of Malaysia. Whew. Is it just me or is it hot in here?

as-salaamu ‘alaikum, Bin Gregory you wrote,

“Likewise, my shafi’i fiqh teacher called it sunnah, provided the salawat is understood to be not the same as the azan or part of the azan.”

Understood by whom? The World, the jama’at, the imam, the muezzin? Do you think a muezzin would perform salawat thinking it was part of the azan?

In Kerala (southern India), another Shafi’i stronghold, I’ve heard salawat recited before the azan.

In Jordan, they say the salawat after the adhan is over (he waits about 4 or 5 beats), followed by the du’a. In our fiqh class (Shafi’i), we just learned last week that saying the salawat is a Sunnah.

How do you know how the Azan was first said, and where did you hear it was any different? Do you know what was said before and after?

-Yursil

i find it interresting, well i am not sure whether it was like that, bec we know how azan was first said. So i think it is just misinforming. Or maybe someone tells us source of that.

AA

Alhamdulilah,

I was in Turkey last week, and on Fridays and on Sundays both in Carsamba and in Konya, they were doing the salawat sherif before the namaz. and after….

The Osmanlis were on a totally different level compared with us today. May Allah bless them and change us to be like them. Amin

as-salaamu ‘alaikum, mashaAllah! This is very interesting. What makes it even more interesting for me is that not more than 3 months ago another Naks-i’bendi and I served as the visiting imam and muezzin for jumu’ah prayer in Brooklyn. During this visit I made the azan followed by salawat.

To my surprise, the custodian of the masjid, an Egyptian, became furious. After the khutbe, which was “the best khutbe this masjid has seen in sometime…” according to one observer, the custodian addressed the imam/khatib and I completely loosing his manners showing his guests no courtesy at all. Arguing that the azan should not be accompanied by salawat!