
Adhaan and Iqama
Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center · Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center
January 12, 2026
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Show Notes
Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa salatu wa salamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbih. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. My brothers and sisters, Alhamdulillah.
We worship Allah and we worship only Allah. And that is the essence of the Uhid, the essence of Islam. And we do that in the way of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. If anyone invents a different way of Salah, that way is rejected. It is not accepted by Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The only way of Salah that Allah accepts is the way Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam prayed. The same thing applies to everything which is connected with Salah. For example, the only way of preparing yourself for Salah with Udu is the way that Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did Udu.
We cannot do Udu in our own way. For example, you cannot say, well, I will wash my feet first and after that I will wash my face. I am washing my face, I am washing my feet. What does it matter if the order is reversed? It matters if Udu would be invalid. Because the order, Tarteem, is part, is the Rukur of the Udu. It's part of the Udu. If you do the Tarteem, if you keep the order of the Udu, if you change it, the Udu is invalid. You have to repeat it.
So also, with regard to the Adhaan and Iqama, Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us, he said that even if you are alone on a hillside, there is nobody there. At the time of Salah, he said, call the Adhaan and then make the Iqama and make Salah. He might say, there is nobody here. If I call, who will come? That's not the point. This is the way in which we pray. We call the Adhaan, then we call the Iqama, then we start the Salah. Whether you are alone, whether people are there with you, not with you, doesn't matter. So how is this Adhaan to be done and how is the Iqama to be done? Salah, of course, we know. Again, same rule. It is to be done the way that Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught us.
We know the Hadith regarding the Adhaan. The Sahabi heard, in his dream he saw, and he heard the words of the Adhaan. He came to Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said, Ya Rasulullah, this is the dream I had, that I saw these two people and these two people were Malaika. And this is how they were advising about the Adhaan. And these are the words. And then Sayyidina Omar also came at the same time and he said, Ya Rasulullah, I saw the same dream, the same words. And Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, yes, this is the way, do it. And then he said, call Sayyidina Bilal bin Rabaa Radiyallahu Anhu. And he said, ask him to call the Adhaan because he has a powerful voice. Even though the people who saw the dream were somebody else, other people, Sayyidina Bilal didn't see the dream. But Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam asked Sayyidina Bilal Radiyallahu Anhu to call the Adhaan. Now, I'm saying this because it's very important to do it correctly. Okay.
Because Arabic is not our language. And so when we call the Adhaan, same thing applies in Salah or in recitation of Quran. We have to actually learn the Tajweed. Tajweed is the method of pronunciation.
Because same thing, if you mispronounce it,
the worst case scenario, it can completely change the meaning of what you are saying. If that happens in Salah, it can make your Salah invalid. If you are the Imam and you make that mistake, it makes everybody Salah invalid. If the same thing happens in Adhaan or if it happens in Iqamah, again it will not make your Salah invalid, but it makes the Adhaan bad and the Iqamah bad. So, since Arabic is not our language, we must, even for the Arabs, we have to learn Tajweed. Tajweed is, just because you are Arab, it doesn't mean that you know automatically how to pronounce people. I have seen. Or Arabs also making lots of mistakes with regard to Tajweed. That's why Tajweed has to be learned. So, let me go through the Adhaan and Iqamah very quickly. Because Alhamdulillah, many of you, you call the Adhaan, you call the Iqamah, you like to do that. And there is great khair in this. Prophet ﷺ said, race with each other to call the Adhaan. Because it's a matter of very great benefit to call the Adhaan, to call the Iqamah. And we ask Allah to give us the benefit. But we need to do it correctly. You are doing something of benefit and you do it wrongly, then it, you know, invalidates that. So, do it correctly. Now, I am going to focus on the mistakes that we, meaning people of Urdu speaking people, mistakes we make. I won't talk about the mistakes the Arabs make because there are no Arabs here. The mistakes that we make are of two kinds. One is, we mispronounce because in Urdu, we have the same alphabet, the same letters. But the talafuz, the pronunciation of the letters, there is a difference in Urdu and Arabic. In Arabic, every single letter has a different pronunciation.
No two letters are pronounced in the same way. So, in the word of, in the Arabic language, when we talk about Tajbih, we say makharij. So, makharij is from where in the throat and the, from the mouth, lips, down to the throat. This area, from where in that place, that letter is to be pronounced. This is called the, the kharij. The letter comes out from there. So, the makharij is very, very important in Arabic language. Otherwise, the meaning changes. Right? But very common things. For example, I will come back to the Adhan. But just for, just to explain the mistakes Urdu speakers make. We, we say, all of this is completely and totally wrong. Totally wrong. Because you are speaking, you are not speaking Urdu. You are speaking Arabic.
In Surah Zilzal, there are three different letters involved. All of which have the, in Urdu they have the same, same pronunciation of Zal. But in Arabic, there are three different words. Three different letters. Iza, za. The tongue has to be caught between the teeth. Za. Walladheena. Inna alladheena. So, Iza. Zulzilatil ardu. Ba. It is a, what we call the, the word is, is, is, is a full mouth. Ba. Ba. Iza. Zulzilatil ardu. Zilzalaha. So, there is a Zaal. There is a Ze. And there is a Zwat. Three separate letters are involved. Similarly, Ghairil maghdoobi. There is a Zwat. It is not Zaal. It is not Ze. Right? One of the, thanks to our technology, very easy way to do it, is take any auto-dictation, you know, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, Arabic translation or English Arabic translation and recite these things and see what it does.
It will give you completely wrong, you know, thing because you are, what you are reciting is not the Arabic. So, it is very important to learn Tajweed, very important to learn the correct Talafus. Now, to come to the Adhan, very common mistakes we make. First mistake we make is in the first Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar. Now, in the Arabic language, if you are joining to, things, two nouns, there has to be a way of joining it. For example, if you say, Allah, who, Akbar. The who has to be pronounced, Allah, who, Akbar. Allah, man, who, who is it? Who, Akbar. He is the one who is the greatest. Many times we say, Allah, Akbar. Listen carefully. We say, Allah, Akbar, Allah, Akbar. The who is not,
not audible. So, you are talking about two different, Allah and Akbar.
One of the, one of my friends said that, his Hindu friend asked him, Do you worship the king Akbar, or do you worship the emperor Akbar? He said, why do you say that? He said, He said, Allah, Akbar, Allah, Akbar. Akbar, Allah, is. He said, what do you mean? Nauz be Allah.
Akbar, Allah, or Allah, Akbar?
See, see how the, completely different, thing. So, Allah, Akbar. First, very, very carefully. Allah, Akbar. Right? This is one, one major mistake we make. We, we don't combine the two. Second mistake we make is, when you have, Allah, Akbar, Allah, Akbar. Two different, the same word, but it's, same phrase, but repeated twice. Now, this two also has to be joined.
So, if you say, Allah, Akbar, Allah, Akbar, again, the two are not joined. So, you say, Allah, Akbar, Akbar, with a, Dhamma, with a Pesh. Allah, Akbar, Allah, Akbar. So, when you first do it, practice it, even if you have to, exaggerate it, it doesn't matter, to get the correct pronunciation. So, you say, Allah, Akbar, Allah, Akbar. Don't say, Allah, Akbar, Allah, Akbar. Galatai. If you are saying, Allah, Akbar, Allah, Akbar, it is wrong. Right? Please don't do that. This is the Kalam of Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. We can't play games with it. So, Allah, Akbar, Allah, Akbar, Allah, Akbar, Allah, Akbar, Allah, Akbar. Number one. Number two, mistake we make is, Ashadu anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah.
Now, again, it's a mistake in Tajweed. When there is a noon, and there is a, Alif, Lam, Ra, the thing is joined, and we say, Ashadu anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah. You don't say, Muhammadan Rasoolullah. Right? Also, when, Inna, or, Anab, comes before a noun, the word that comes after that, comes with a, Fatha, comes with a Zabar, and not with a Pesh. This is one mistake which people make in, in the Khutbah. Right? They say, Inna, Inna Hamdulillah.
Inna Alhamdulillah. It's wrong. It's completely false. Completely wrong. Inna Alhamda Lillah. Because,
Inna. Ashadu anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah. Not, Muhammadan Rasoolullah. Ashadu anna, Muhammadan Rasoolullah. Right? You say, La ilaha illallah, Muhammadan Rasoolullah. No problem. Because, there is no Inna there. There is no Anna there.
The, in Arabic we say, the resting point of every letter is with a, Fesh, with a Dhamma. So, if you simply say, Muhammadan Rasoolullah, suppose you say, Muhammadan Rasoolullah, it is wrong. You say, Muhammadan Rasoolullah, only if there is a, Inna or Anna before that. Otherwise, you say, Muhammadan Rasoolullah. La ilaha illallah, Muhammadan Rasoolullah. Ashadu anna, Muhammadan, because there is Anna, Ashadu, in the Adhan,