and the iqāmah. The remaining authors of the Six Books have likewise transmitted it through the chain of Abū Qilābah—ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zayd al-Jarmī—with the same wording.¹

The point of all this is to differ from the People of the Book in every one of their distinctive markers. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ first arrived in Madinah, the Muslims would simply wait for the appointed times of prayer without any formal summons. He initially instructed that a caller announce at the time of prayer, “al-ṣalātu jāmiʿah” (“prayer is about to begin; gather for it”). Later they wanted a more recognizable signal. Some suggested striking a bell, others proposed lighting a beacon-fire.² ³ Both options were rejected because they resembled the customs of the Jews and the Christians. Then ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zayd ibn ʿAbd Rabbih al-Anṣārī was shown the adhān in a dream; he related the dream to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who ordered Bilāl to proclaim it—just as the matter is set out in detail under the Chapter of the Adhān in the Book of Legal Rulings.⁴

Another ḥadīth:
Al-Bukhārī says:⁵ Bishr ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us; Maʿmar and Yūnus narrated from al-Zuhrī, who reported to me that ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh said that ʿĀʾishah and Ibn ʿAbbās stated: When death came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he started to draw a striped cloak over his face;⁶ whenever he felt distressed he removed it and said, “So it is—may Allah curse the Jews and the Christians! They took the graves of their prophets as places of worship.” He was warning against what they had done. Al-Bukhārī records this in several places,⁷ and Muslim likewise through multiple chains from al-Zuhrī.⁸

Another ḥadīth:
Al-Bukhārī reports:⁹ Saʿīd ibn Abī Maryam related to us; Abū Ghassān related to us; he said: Zayd ibn Aslam told me, from ʿAtāʾ ibn Yasār, from Abū Saʿīd, that the Prophet ﷺ said, “You will most certainly follow the ways of those before you, span by span and cubit by cubit…”¹¹