Al-Shāfiʿī and his disciples implemented these aḥādīth, maintaining that the adhān is prescribed for the lone worshiper whether he is in the wilderness or in a town. Al-Shāfiʿī says in al-Umm: “A man’s giving the adhān and the iqāmah in his house is the same as when he is elsewhere, whether or not he hears the muʿadhdhins around him.” The same is cited in al-Majmūʿ (3/85–86). He also states in his Commentary on Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: “This is the sound, well-known view in our school, and in other schools as well: the adhān is legislated for the individual worshiper.” I add: this is likewise the position of the Ḥanafīs.

10 – The muʿadhdhin must intend only Allah’s reward for his adhān and must not take payment for it.

Allah, Exalted is He, says: “They were commanded only to worship Allah, dedicating the religion to Him alone” (Q 98:5).

ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ said, “Among the last instructions the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave me was: ‘Appoint a muʿadhdhin who does not accept wages for his adhān.’”

It was recorded by al-Tirmidhī (1/409–410), Ibn Mājah (1/244), and Ibn Ḥazm (3/145) through the chain of Ashʿath ibn ʿAbd al-Malik al-Ḥumrānī, from al-Ḥasan, from him. Al-Tirmidhī remarked, “A ḥadīth that is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.”

I say: every narrator in the chain is trustworthy, though al-Ḥasan was a mudallis. Yet he has been supported, for Ḥammād ibn Salamah said: “Saʿīd al-Jarīrī informed us, from Abū al-ʿAlāʾ, from Muṭarrif, from Muṭarrif ibn ʿAbd-Allāh, from ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ, who said:”