But the Messenger of Allah ﷺ spoke the truth when he said that toward the end of this community some people would curse its earliest generations, God forbid, and revile them. The first Friday adhan is, in fact, a legitimate act of worship—indicated by the Prophet ﷺ himself, instituted as the Sunnah of the Commander of the Believers ʿUthmān (d. 35 AH), and confirmed by the Companions through their tacit consensus. No one, therefore, has any excuse to reject it, and may Allah cut off the tongue of whoever dares to object to the rightly guided caliphs or to the Companions.

Someone might ask, “Why did the Messenger ﷺ not legislate it, even though the Friday prayer existed in his time?” The answer is that during ʿUthmān’s caliphate the population had grown and Madinah had spread outward, so the people needed an adhan to alert them before the final call that is given when the imam arrives. Wisdom thus dictated that an earlier adhan be introduced, and ʿUthmān—may Allah be pleased with him—based his decision on sound precedent. After all, the Prophet ﷺ instructed Bilāl to give an adhan late in the night, not because the time for prayer had actually begun, but so that the sleeper might awaken and the night-vigilant worshipper might conclude his devotion. That was a clear, lawful objective.

There is, then, no doubt whatsoever about the legitimacy of the first Friday adhan. It stands on the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs, the indication of the Master of the Messengers ﷺ, and the consensus of the Companions who witnessed it.

As for the adhan that is given toward the end of the night, it is sanctioned by the Prophet’s Sunnah in Ramadan to wake those who are asleep and allow those who are praying to finish. Is it prescribed outside Ramadan as well? By analogy with the practice of ʿUthmān, we deem it permissible and see no harm in it.