ADHAN

The adhan along with its abridged accompaniment, the iqama, is an oral rite linked to mosques, daily prayer, sacred identity, and birth rites. The adhan and the iqamah are usually called outside and inside mosques, respectively: The former signals prayer times, and the latter the beginning of congregational prayer. The adhan given in public signals the presence of Islam, and gives members of a largely decentralized faith a sense of belonging. The adhan functions as a disjuncture between the sacred and the profane, between the Friday prayer, for instance, and the world of trade. It also distinguishes Islam from other religions: When Muslims needed some means to announce the prayer, they asked for a horn, a Christian symbol, but were providentially directed to the adhan, instead. Finally, the adhan is chanted into the right ear of a newborn and the iqama into the left ear.

The adhan consists of invocations and attestations: Four glorify God, two attest to His Oneness, two attest to Muhammad being Messenger, two call to prayer, two call to success, two glorify God, and one declares His Oneness. The Shi˓ites add: ˓Ali is the friend of God, and prayer is the best of deeds. For a while some mosques in Europe replaced the muezzin who called the adhan with a tape recorder, while in Turkey, in 1948, the government decreed that the adhan be given in Turkish. Both these efforts ultimately failed.

See alsoDevotional Life ; ˓Ibadat ; Masjid .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Parkin, David, and Headley, Stephen C., eds. Islamic Prayer across the Indian Ocean: Inside and Outside the Mosque. Surrey, U.K.: Curzon, 2000.

Muneer Goolam Fareed