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Ibn Jarīr said: “In this very year—meaning the first year after the Hijrah—the resident prayer was, according to what has been reported, increased by two rakʿahs. At first both the resident’s and the traveller’s prayer were two rakʿahs each. The increase occurred one month after the Prophet’s arrival in Madinah, in Rabīʿ al-Ākhir, twelve nights having elapsed.” He went on to say that al-Wāqidī maintained there was no disagreement on this point among the scholars of the Ḥijāz.

I say: We have already quoted the ḥadīth transmitted by al-Bukhārī through Maʿmar, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah, who said: “When the prayer was first prescribed it consisted of two rakʿahs; the traveller’s prayer remained as it was, while the resident prayer was increased.” The same report also comes through al-Shaʿbī, from Masrūq, from her.

Al-Bayhaqī related that al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī held the view that the resident prayer was originally legislated as four. Allah knows best.

We have discussed the matter in detail under the verse, “And when you travel through the land, there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer” (al-Nisāʾ 4:101).

Section: The adḥān and its legislation after the Prophet’s ﷺ arrival in the radiant city of Madinah

Ibn Isḥāq said: Once the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had settled in Madinah, his brothers from the Emigrants had joined him, and the Helpers had gathered around him, the cause of Islam became firmly established: the prayer was performed, zakāh and fasting were made obligatory, the legal penalties were enforced, the lawful and unlawful were defined, and Islam took root among them. It was this clan of the Helpers who “secured both the abode and the faith.” At that time people would assemble for prayer at its appointed hours without any summons. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ considered adopting a horn like the Jews use for their prayer, but he disliked the idea. He then ordered that a wooden clapper be carved to strike and gather the Muslims for prayer.

While matters stood thus, ʿAbdullāh ibn Zayd ibn Thaʿlabah ibn ʿAbd Rabbih—of the clan of Banū al-Ḥārith ibn al-Khazraj—had a vision of the call. He came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, “O Messenger of Allah, last night a visitor came to me. A man wearing two green garments passed by carrying a clapper in his hand. I said, ‘Servant of Allah, will you sell me that clapper?’ He asked, ‘What will you do with it?’ I replied, ‘We will use it to call the people to prayer.’ He said, ‘Shall I not guide you to something better than that?’ I asked, ‘And what is that?’ He said, ‘You should say: Allah is greatest, Allah is greatest; Allah is greatest, Allah is greatest; I testify that there is no god but Allah, I testify that there is no god but Allah; I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, I testify that …”