Question:
Some of the scholars say the first adhan is from the Sunnah and this is from two angles: First: It is from the Sunnah of Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) for verily the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “So upon you all is my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs..” hadith. Second: It has an origin from the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.
What is the response to this?
Answer:
Firstly, the adhan for Jummah is only one adhan. As it comes in the hadith of Sa’ad ibn Yazid recorded in the two Sahihs. And this is how it was during the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr and Umar (may Allah be pleased with both of them). It only appeared during the caliph of Uthman when he saw the number of people increase he ordered the muadha’an to give an adhan in the market. And some said this adhan was given at the time of Jummah not before.
Secondly, if this first adhan was from the Sunnah of Uthman and we have the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ and the Sunnah of Abu Bakr and the Sunnah of Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), which Sunnah takes precedence? The Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah and Abi Bakr and Umar. So his ﷺ statement, “upon you all is my Sunnah” does that mean the one that only gives one adhan when the Imaam comes on the minbar is opposing the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the Sunnah of the caliphs? The answer is no. And how many things did the companions see from the caliphs that they disagreed upon. Like the punishment for the one that drinks alcohol, no set limit of lashes was ever perscribed, but it came in a hadith that once a man was lashed 40 times. Later, Umar saw that it should be increase to 80 because drinking alcohol had begun to spread amongst the people. And some of the companions agreed with him like Abdul Rahman ibn Awf as it came in Sahih Muslim. So during the caliph of Uthman a person was brought before him that was convicted of drinking alcohol. So Uthman said to Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) establish the punishment upon him and lash him. So Ali said I will establish it upon him with 40 lashes as this was the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, as for the Sunnah of Umar to punish with 80 lashes, the Sunnah of Allah’s Messenger is more beloved to me. This was the statement of Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). He never said I am opposing the Sunnah of the caliphs as this was during the caliph of Uthman.
Thirdly, there were from the companions that disagreed with this first adhan, like Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) as it came in the Sunan of Ibn Abi Shaibah and other than him from the narration of Hisham bin Gaaz from Na’fah on Ibn Umar. And this chain of narration is good and clear as the Sun. And there is no proof for the one that speaks against this narration from Hisham bin Gaaz, he has no evidence because he is trustworthy. And everyone that speaks against ruling the first adhan to be an innovation from the later scholars like Al-Alamah Uthameen and Al-Alamah al-Fawzan, who have strong speech against the one that says it’s an innovation, to the point they say “the one that rules it is an innovation he is an innovator, because we do not know anyone from the companions that disagreed with this adhan.” We say, “the one that knows takes precedence over the one that doesn’t.” So the statement of Al-Alamah Uthameen and Al-Alamah al-Fawzan and other than them that take a stern position and don’t consider the ones that don’t see the correctness of the adhan of Uthman, however if the evidence is confirmed that the companions did disagree on the adhan of Uthman then there is no room after that for anyone to speak against the ones that say “we are sufficied with just one adhan for Jummah.”
Fourthly, the first adhan has now become pointless because the intent of Uthman to establish it was to alert the people so they would attend Jummah. So you call the first adhan, then you sit for 20 minutes, then call the second adhan, all on the loud speaker, then there is the first khutbah then there is the second khutbah. So what is the benefit of the first adhan, is there a benefit? There is no benefit. So it’s presence is meaningless. So the purpose Uthman establish the first adhan no longer is present. All praise to Allah, we now have watches to tell the time so we have no need for the first adhan. And Allah knows best.
As for the statement that it has an origin in the Sunnah of Allah’s Messenger ﷺ from where? It has no origin in the Sunnah of Allah’s Messenger ﷺ. The first adhan has no origin whatsoever.
So in conclusion, the first adhan is as Ibn Umar said, it’s an innovation. And know, that it doesn’t necessitate that the ruling upon something with innovation means the doer of that action is an innovator. This does not entail that the one doing it is an innovator. So we make that very clear, Uthman is one of the foremost companions. Rather he is preferred by the majority of the scholars over Ali. As it comes in Sahih Bukhari on Ibn Umar that he said, “We didn’t consider anyone better after the Prophet ﷺ in his lifetime than Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman.” This shows the companions were in agreement that the best of them after Allah’s Messenger was Abu Bakr, Umar then Uthman. So there is no disparagement on Uthman the leader of the believers, the rightly guided caliph, the honorable companion. As he is from the scholars of the companions and from the best of them. However this (establishing the first adhan) occurred from him and Ibn Umar ruled it an innovation and spoke against it and that was the correct ruling and Allah knows best.
As for the one that wants to go to extreme in this issue, then that’s his choice. But he can’t force someone else to establish this first adhan because it was not confirmed upon the actions of the Messenger of Allah or Abi Bakr or Umar. And we are sufficied with the Sunnah of Allah’s Messenger ﷺ. And if that isn’t enough then there is the Sunnah of Abu Bakr and Umar. As the Messenger of Allah said, “Those after me will be guided by Abi Bakr and Umar.” And he likewise said, “Whoever obeys these two (Abu Bakr and Umar), he is guided.” As it comes in Sahih Muslim.
And Allah knows best.
Answered by: Shaikh Abu Abdillah Muhammad Ba Jamaal (May Allah preserve him)
Source: https://t.me/bajmaal/5422
Translated by: Abu Yusuf Bilal ibn Howard Robinson