“When the dark wing of night has turned black, then come—
And let your steps be light, for our guards are lions.” (1)

According to this dialect, placing “Messenger” in the accusative case does not cause any harm, provided that the speaker believes it to be the predicate of inna (indeed). The muezzins do believe that “the Messenger of Allah” is the predicate.

If he says, “Come to prayer” with an added final vowel, then according to the well-known grammatical usage—namely, that the verbal noun does not take inflectional endings—this apparently does not alter the meaning. The adhan is therefore valid, since at most he has lengthened the fatḥah vowel until it became an alif.

It Suffices for It to Be Given by a Discerning Child

His statement, “It suffices for it to be given by a discerning child”: “it suffices” refers to the adhan.

A discerning child is one who has reached the age of seven until puberty. He is called discerning because he can distinguish: he understands what is said to him and gives an answer. Some scholars said that discernment is not restricted to a particular age; rather, it is determined by a characteristic. (2)

Those who held that it is restricted to an age cited the Prophet’s statement: “Command your children to pray when they reach seven, and discipline them for it when they reach ten.” (3) Thus, he made seven years of age the earliest age at which a child is commanded to pray. This indicates that before then, a command cannot validly be directed to him. It may be said that this is because he does not understand the command; or it may be said that it is because he cannot bear the obligation. If we adopt the first rationale, then seven years of age becomes the threshold of discernment; but if we adopt the second, it is not a threshold for discernment.