Muʾaẕẕin.—“I testify that Muḥammad is the Apostle of God.”
Reply.—“I testify that Muḥammad is the Apostle of God.”
Muʾaẕẕin.—“Come to prayer.”
Reply.—“I have no power nor strength but from God the most High and Great.”
Muʾaẕẕin.—“Come to salvation.”
Reply.—“What God willeth will be; what He willeth not willeth not be.”
The recital of the Aẕān must be listened to with great reverence. If a person be walking at the time, he should stand still; if reclining, sit up. Mr. Lane, in his Modern Egyptians, says, “Most of the Muʾaẕẕins of Cairo have harmonious and sonorous voices, which they strain to the utmost pitch; yet there is a simple and solemn melody in their chants which is very striking, particularly in the stillness of the night.” But Vambéry remarks that “the Turkistānees most carefully avoid all tune and melody. The manner in which the Aẕān is cried in the west is here (in Bokhārā) declared sinful, and the beautiful melancholy notes which, in the silent hour of a moonlit evening, are heard from the slender minarets on the Bosphorus, fascinating every hearer, would be listened to by the Bok͟hariot with feelings only of detestation.”
The summons to prayer was at first the simple cry, “Come to public prayer.” After the Qiblah was changed, Muḥammad bethought himself of a more formal call. Some suggested the Jewish trumpet, others the Christian bell; but neither was grateful to the Prophet’s ear. The Aẕān, or call to prayer was then established. Tradition claims for it a supernatural origin, thus:—“While the matter was under discussion, ʿAbdu ʾllāh, a Khazrajite, dreamed that he met a man clad in green raiment, carrying a bell. ʿAbdu ʾllāh sought to buy it, saying that it would do well for bringing together the assembly of the faithful. ‘I will show thee a better way,’ replied the stranger; ‘let a crier cry aloud, “God is most great,” &c.’ Waking from sleep, ʿAbdu ʾllāh proceeded to Muḥammad, and told him his dream.” (Muir, from Kātibu ʾl-Wākidī.) Hishāmi recites the story as if ʿAbdu ʾllāh had actually met the man.
Bingham, in his Antiquities (vol. ii., book viii. chap. vii.), relates that, in the monastery of virgins which Paula, the famous Roman lady, set up and governed at Jerusalem, the signal for prayer was given by one going about and singing “Hallelujah!” for that was their call to church, as St. Jerome informs us.
The Aẕān is proclaimed before the stated times of prayer, either by one of the congregation, or by the Muʾaẕẕin or crier, who is paid for the purpose. He must stand with his face towards Makkah, with the points of his forefingers in his ears, and recite the formula which has been given above.