It should be first stressed that the adhan(call to prayer) symbolizes the presence of Islam throughout the world. To have the same language for the adhan and prayer for all people of all nations, races, and tongues is such a powerful connecting force that bonds all the Muslims of the entire world into a single Ummah and a universal brotherhood. Wherever you go in the world, the moment you hear the call of the adhan, you will feel that in this place there is someone or some people who belong to the Muslim community and now he is calling for Muslim prayer.
Sheikh `Atiyyah Saqr, former head of Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee, who states: “The adhan was decreed in order to proclaim among people the time of prayer. This applies to all obligatory prayers. As for the Jumu`ah prayer, it is like all obligatory prayers that had one adhan during the lifetime of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). It started at the moment he sat on the minbar (pulpit). After the Prophet’s death, during the government of `Uthman, the city of Madinah grew bigger and wider. More people were involved in business. `Uthman thought that those people who were far from the masque needed an alarm for Jumu`ah. He thought that the best way would be to make another adhan early in the zawra’ (market) in order to warn people of the time of the Jumu`ah prayer. Ibn Hajar said: It seems that all people acted according to the doing of `Uthman. What is said about its being bid`ah (innovation) means that it was not done in the lifetime of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but we must know that not all that did not exist in the lifetime of the Prophet is dispraised. As long as `Uthman ordered a second adhan to be called for Jumu`ah while he is one of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and that act was not rejected by other Companions, then it is right. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said: “You are to abide by my way and the way of the Rightly Guided Caliphs who will follow me.” (Reported by Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah). Thus, it is not permissible to call into question the first adhan for Jumu`ah, as Muslims have been doing it for fourteen centuries without objection. Then, it was reported in the book Az-Zurqani `al al-Mawahib that Ibn al-Hajib said that Hisham ibn `Abd al-Malik turned the adhan of `Uthman from the zawra’ to the mosque.” As for the last point, it should be clear that the reason behind adhan is to proclaim among people the time of prayer. It may be done inside or outside the mosque or from above the mosque, because all these were related from the acts of the righteous predecessors. Thus, the criterion in this regard is the proclamation itself, not the means.
