making the declaration of Allah’s greatness four times, the two testimonies four times, the two calls to prayer and success four times, “The prayer has begun” twice, the declaration of Allah’s greatness twice, and the declaration of Allah’s oneness once—making a total of seventeen.

Others said that it is recited one phrase at a time, except for “The prayer has begun”; thus, it consists of nine phrases. This is the apparent meaning of the hadith of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: “Bilal was commanded to recite the adhān in pairs and the iqāmah in odd numbers.” (1)

However, the well-known position of the school is that which the author has adopted. They answered the wording, “and to recite the iqāmah in odd numbers,” by saying that repeating the declaration of Allah’s greatness twice at its beginning is equivalent to odd-numbering it in comparison with its being repeated four times in the adhān.

It should be understood that there is a principle indicated by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (2) and other scholars: acts of worship that have been transmitted in various forms should be performed in all of those forms—one way on one occasion and another way on another—provided that this does not cause confusion among ordinary people or lead to discord.

His statement, “The one who gives the adhān gives the iqāmah,” means that the person who undertakes the iqāmah should be the one who undertakes the adhān, because Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) was the one who gave the iqāmah and the one who gave the adhān. This is evidence from the sunnah.

As for rational consideration, the one who undertakes the adhān—the first announcement—should also undertake the second announcement, so that no confusion arises among the people