This letter (by hadrat
Imâm-i Rabbânî), written
for Muazzin Hadji Yûsuf, explains the meaning in the words of azân:
Be it known that there are seven [with repetitions, fifteen] words in
the azân: [Azân (or Adhân) means to say and hear these fifteen words. These
words are not heard when the azân is said melodiously through an amplifier. It
turns into an unintelligible, humming sound. Thus, an amplifier annihilates the
azân rather than help its performance].
ALLAHU AKBAR: Allahu ta’âlâ is great.
He needs nothing. He is so great that He does not need the worships of His
slaves. Worships are of no benefit to Him. In order to settle this well in
minds, this word is repeated four times. [The first and third ‘r’ sounds are
made jazm or wasl and read in the form of ‘ra’.[1]]
ASH’HADU AN LÂ İLÂHA IL-LAL-LÂH: Though owing to His greatness He does not need
anyone’s worship, I bear witness and certainly believe that none besides Him is
worthy of being worshipped. Nothing is like Him.
ASH’HADU ANNA MUHAMMADAN RASÛLULLÂH: I bear witness and believe that hadrat Muhammad
‘alaihi wa alâ âlihissalâtu wa sallam’ is the Prophet
sent by Him, that he is the communicant of the way of the worships liked by
Him, that only those worships communicated and shown by him are worthy of
Allahu ta’âlâ.
HAYYA’ALASSALÂH-HAYYA’ALALFALÂH: These are the two words inviting Believers to the
namâz, which brings happiness and salvation.
ALLÂHU AKBAR: No one could manage
the worship worthy of Him. He is so great, so far from anybody’s worship being
worthy of Him or suitable for Him.
LÂ ILÂHA IL-LAL-LÂH: He, alone, has the right to be worshipped, for us to humiliate
ourselves before. Along with the fact that no one can do the worship worthy of
Him, no one
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[1] 'Jazm' means not to add a vowel to a final consonant, and 'wasl’
means to combine a final consonant with the vowel sound of the following word.
besides Him is worthy of being worshipped.
Greatness of the honour in namâz can be understood from the greatness
of these words selected for inviting everybody to namâz. A Persian line in
English:
How prolific the year will be is predictable by its spring.
O our Allah! Include us among those who perform namâz as Thou like them
to. Âmîn.
[It is written in the tafsîr book Sâwî, in the tafsîr of the Sûrat-ul-inshirâh, “Allahu ta’âlâ declared, ‘I raise your name in the East and the West, all over the world’.” When we travel one degree of longitude toward the west, the times of namâz fall four minutes back. Every twenty-eight kilometres westward carries the time of the same namâz one minute backward and the azân is repeated. Thus, every moment, all over the world the azân is being called and the name of Muhammad alaihissalâm is being heard everywhere, every moment. It is written in the explanation of Shir’at-ul-Islâm[1], “When someone came to hadrat Abdullah ibni ’Umar and said, ‘I like you very much for Allah’s sake,’ he answered, ‘And for Allah’s sake I don’t like you at all, because you say the azân melodiously like singing.’ ”]