al-Ajwibah al-Nafiah an Asilat Lajnat Masjid al-Jamiah - Nasir al-Din al-Albani - (33)

It is therefore conceivable that, by the doorway and up on the roof, there stood a raised structure that looked very much like a minaret. Supporting evidence may be found in what Ibn Saʿd records in al-Ṭabaqāt 8/307, where—through his chain—he cites Umm Zayd ibn Thābit as saying:

“My house was the tallest of the houses surrounding the mosque, so Bilāl would deliver the adhān from its roof from the first time he ever called to prayer until the Messenger of Allah ﷺ built his mosque. Afterwards, he called from the roof of the mosque, and something had been erected for him above that roof.”

Its chain of transmission, however, is weak.

Abū Dāwūd and others also relate the report with a sound chain, but without the words: “and something had been erected for him above the roof.” And Allah knows best.

The conclusion I have reached on this matter is that no reliable evidence proves that a minaret inside the mosque was known during his ﷺ lifetime¹, even though it is certain that the adhān in those days was being given

(1) Nor does this contradict the statement of the Successor Abdullah ibn Shiqiq: "Part of the sunnah is to call the adhan from the minaret and the iqama inside the mosque, and he used to …"

فلعله كان هناك عند الباب على السطح شيء مرتفع يشبه بالمنارة وقد يشهد لهذا ما أخرجه ابن سعد في "الطبقات" "٨/٣٠٧" بإسناده عن أم زيد بن ثابت قالت: كان بيتي أطول بيت حول المسجد فكان بلال يؤذن فوقه من أول ما أذن إلى أن بنى رسول الله ﷺ مسجده فكان يؤذن بعد على ظهر المسجد وقد رفع له شيء فوق ظهره. لكن إسناده ضعيف. وقد رواه أبو داود وغيره بإسناد حسن دون قوله: "وقد رفع له شيء فوق ظهره" والله أعلم والذي تلخص عندي في هذا الموضوع أنه لم يثبت أن المنارة في المسجد كانت معروفة في عهده صلى الله عليه وسلم١ ولكن من المقطوع به أن الأذان كان حينذاك في

١ ولا ينافي هذا قول عبد الله بن شقيق التابعي: "من السنة الأذان في المنارة والإقامة في المسجد وكان.................=