Chapter on the Adhān (Call to Prayer) and Iqāmah (Call to Commence Prayer)

He was asked:

“Is the adhān obligatory or a sunnah? Is it recommended to repeat the two testimonies of faith aloud after reciting them quietly? Should ‘Allah is greatest’ be said four times or twice, the latter being Mālik’s position? Should the phrases of the iqāmah be repeated twice or said once? Should ‘The prayer has begun’ be said once or twice?”

He replied:

The correct view is that the adhān is a collective obligation. The inhabitants of a city or village may not abandon the adhān and iqāmah. This is the well-known position in the school of Ahmad and others. Several groups of scholars have described it as a sunnah without qualification. Some of them nevertheless hold that if the inhabitants of a town agree to abandon it, they are to be fought. The disagreement with these scholars is almost entirely terminological.

Many scholars use the term “sunnah” for something whose omission is blameworthy and punishable under Islamic law. Thus, the disagreement between someone using the term in this sense and someone who calls it obligatory is merely terminological. There are numerous comparable examples.