Al-Ṣanʿānī said:

“Even so, both reports are reinforced by the very purpose for which the adhān was legislated. The adhān is a public summons for those who are not yet present, urging them to come to the prayer; therefore an interval must be set long enough for a person to leave his place, reach the mosque, and take part in the congregation. Otherwise, the benefit of the summons would be lost altogether. Al-Bukhārī even entitled a chapter, ‘How long is there between the adhān and the iqāmah?’—yet he did not specify an exact amount of time.”

He nonetheless hinted at it by including the ḥadith cited at the beginning of this discussion, as well as Ubayy ibn Kaʿb’s report in the Musnad.

Some scholars have also used the ḥadith of Abū Hurayrah as evidence for allowing a gap between the adhān and the iqāmah. In it the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“When the call to prayer is given, Satan turns his back and breaks wind so that he will not hear the adhān. When the call is finished he returns; then, when the iqāmah is pronounced, he turns away again. When the iqāmah is concluded he comes back and insinuates himself between a man and his thoughts, saying, ‘Remember this, remember that …’” — end of ḥadith.

This narration is agreed upon, and it will appear in full, God willing.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-ʿIrāqī said in his commentary on al-Taqrīb:

“It proves that in his time ﷺ a span of time was left between the adhān and the iqāmah. That, in turn, shows that obtaining the merit of performing the prayer at the very start of its allotted time does not require the opening takbīr to coincide precisely with the first instant of the time; for had that been obligatory, they would not have continually neglected that merit. This is the well-known, sound position. Others have claimed that the merit is attained only when …”