he says, ‘There is no deity but Allah,’ and he responds from his heart, ‘There is no deity but Allah’—he will enter Paradise.”1

This demonstrates the virtue of hearing the call and repeating its words along with the muezzin. One repeats every phrase he says except “Come to prayer” and “Come to success,” replacing them with: “There is no power and no strength except through Allah.” This is because “Come to prayer” calls people to come and perform the prayer, while “Come to success” calls them to come and attain its reward. Thus, when a Muslim hears these words and says, “There is no power and no strength except through Allah,” he is seeking Allah’s help to accomplish this.

Moreover, the Prophet’s words—peace and blessings be upon him—“from his heart” indicate that sincerity is required, for it is an indispensable foundation for the acceptance of deeds and words.

It is also Sunnah for a Muslim, after hearing the two testimonies, to say: “And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, without partner, and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. I am pleased with Allah as my Lord, with Muhammad as Messenger, and with Islam as my religion.” Muslim narrated in his Sahīh from Sa‘d ibn Abī Waqqās—may Allah be pleased with him—that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “Whoever says upon hearing the muezzin, ‘I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, without partner, and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. I am pleased with Allah as my Lord, with Muhammad as Messenger, and with Islam as my religion,’ his sin will be forgiven.”2

Abū ‘Awāna also narrated it in his Mustakhraj with the wording: “Whoever, upon hearing the muezzin say, ‘I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah,’ says, ‘I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah. I am pleased with Allah …’” to the end of the hadith. This explicitly indicates that the listener says this after repeating the two testimonies in response to the muezzin, and that he says it once.3