Is it necessary to call adhan while performing a prayer at home?

Is it necessary to call adhan while I am performing a fard prayer at home? Or, is it enough to call iqamah only before the fard prayer?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Issues related to adhan:

* Can more than one adhan and iqamah be called for one prayer?

More than one adhan cannot be called for any prayer except Friday prayer; more than one iqamah cannot be called for any prayer. Therefore, after a fard prayer is called in congregation in a mosque, those who will perform the same prayer in congregation or individually will call neither adhan nor iqamah. Two adhans are called in Friday prayer. One of them is inner adhan and the other is outer adhan. The inner adhan is taken into consideration. During the time of the Prophet (pbuh), only inner adhan used to be called. Afterwards, when the number of people increased, the second adhan started to be called during the caliphate of Hz. Uthman. 

* Are there prayers that are performed without adhan and iqamah?

Adhan and iqamah are not called for wajib prayers like witr, eid and tarawih and sunnah and nafilah prayers. However, it is sunnah to call adhan and iqamah for missed (qada) prayers. For, adhan and iqamah are sunnahs of the prayer not the time. Adhan and iqamah are not called for janazah prayer either.

* Can a prayer be performed by abandoning adhan or iqamah?

It is more virtuous to call both adhan and iqamah for the fard prayers to be performed alone at home or in the countryside. However, adhan can be abandoned; only iqamah is enough. It is makruh to call adhan but to abandon iqamah.

* It is necessary to call as many adhans and iqamahs as the number of qada prayers while performing more than one qada prayer?

If more than one qada prayer is performed in different places, adhan and iqamah are necessary for each of them. If they are performed in the same place, it is more virtuous to call adhan and iqamah for each of them but adhan and iqamah for the first one and only iqamah for the following ones will be enough.  

* Is it permissible to call adhan before the time for a prayer starts?

It is not permissible to call adhan for any prayer before its time period starts. It is necessary to call such an adhan again because the purpose of adhan is to inform people about the time. When adhan is called before its time, this purpose cannot be attained. However, according to Abu Yusuf and the other three imams, it is permissible to call adhan before its time only for the morning prayer.

* After adhan, the phrase "waqt as-salah" can be called to inform people about prayer. The scholars that came later regarded it nice to remind people about prayer in the face of laziness and slow moving.

* A person who cannot perform Friday prayer performs the noon prayer instead of it without an adhan and iqamah. For, adhan and iqamah are for fard prayers that are mustahab to perform in congregation. However, it is makruh for the noon prayer to be performed in congregation. Therefore, adhan and iqamah are not called for it.

* If a Sunnah prayer is performed after iqamah or if the imam becomes ready after iqamah, it is not necessary to call iqamah again. However, if an interval like eating and drinking takes place after iqamah and before the fard prayer, it is necessary to call iqamah again.

* A person who enters the mosque while iqamah is called does not stand and wait for iqamah to end; he sits. When the muezzin says "hayya-alal-falah", he stands up.

* If the same person is the imam and the muezzin, the congregation does not stand up until the muezzin finishes iqamah.

* It is sunnah for a person who hears the iqamah to repeat the words like in adhan. When the muezzin says, "qad qamatis-salah" (the prayer has begun), those who listen say "Aqamahallahu wa adamaha" اَقَامَهَا اللّهُ وَاَدَامّهَا  (May Allah establish it and make it permanent).

* It is permissible for a blind person who is informed about prayer times to call adhan.

* It is mandub to call adhan into the ear of a newborn baby, epileptic person, furious person, meticulous person and an animal, in the face of a fire, or after a traveler and a person who has lost his way in the countryside.

* It is not mandub to repeat the words of the adhan that is not read in accordance with the Sunnah.

* It is makruh to perform a fard prayer without adhan and iqamah in a mosque. However, if adhan and iqamah have been called in that neighborhood before, it is permissible to abandon them. However, it is more virtuous to call them.  

It harms a person’s belief to lengthen ‘a’ at the beginning of takbir by reading it as, اللّهُ اَكْبَرُ "Aaaallahu Akbar". For it means "Is Allah great?", it includes the meaning of denial. To lengthen the last ‘a’ in takbir by reading it as اللّهُ اَكْبَرُ "Allahu Akbaaaar" is a big mistake and it changes the meaning.

* Is it permissible to call adhan with loudspeakers?

If adhan that is called through loudspeakers is recited in the way that Islam orders, that is, by a person who has the conditions of a muezzin, it is permissible. Loudspeakers do not exclude muezzins and do not annul adhan. They only increase the power of the voice, enabling it to be heard from more distant places. This is one of the purposes of adhan. However, it is not permissible to call adhan through a recorded cassette, tape, etc. For, there is nobody there. It is like echo. (Halil Günenç, Günümüz Mes`elelerine Fetvâlar)

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