144 – Abu Mahdhura (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that “the Prophet ﷺ taught him the adhān and in it he mentioned the tarjiʿ.” Muslim relates the report, but records only two takbīrs at the beginning, whereas the Five compilers transmit it with four takbīrs.⦗1⦘
Hadith grading
This narration is considered anomalous for containing only two opening takbīrs. Imām Ahmad and the four Sunan writers all transmit it with four. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said, “Four takbīrs at the start of the adhān is the version reliably preserved from trustworthy narrators—both in the report of Abu Mahdhura and that of ʿAbd Allāh b. Zayd.” Al-Talḵīṣ states: “The account of ʿAbd Allāh b. Zayd with four takbīrs at the beginning is well known; Abu Dāwūd narrated it, and Ibn Khuzayma and Ibn Ḥibbān declared it sound.” Rendering the takbīr four times is the practice of the people of Mecca, the gathering place of Muslims during the pilgrimage seasons, and none of the Companions objected to it. Al-Nawawī adds: “The muʾadhdhin should intone every two takbīrs in a single breath.”
Vocabulary
– “therein he mentioned the tarjiʿ”: To rajjaʿa speech is to repeat it. In the adhān, tarjiʿ means reciting the two testimonies twice—the first time softly, the second time aloud.
Points derived from the hadith
- Abu Mahdhura was one of the Prophet’s ﷺ muʾadhdhins for the Sacred City of Mecca.
- It is prescribed to teach the adhān to anyone who is unfamiliar with it.