our prophet Muhammed () by another muslim after he said he didnt want
to use the bells that the christians used or the rams-head(?) that the
jews used to call people to prayer. How does the idea of everything
the prophet ordered being an inspiration that is inspired fit in with
this?
I am not trying to be picky here, but am asking purely to aid my understanding.
Praise be to Allaah.
"Adhaan" in Arabic means conveying; in Islam it means announcing that
the time (for prayer) has come. It was prescribed during the time of
the Messenger of Allaah(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in
Madeenah. According to the hadeeth of 'Abd-Allaah ibn Zayd ibn Abd
Rabbihi, when the Messenger of Allaah(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) decided to use a bell even though he disliked it because it
was like what the Christians used, 'there appeared to me in a dream a
man who was wearing two green garments, in whose hand was a bell. I
said, "O slave of Allaah, will you sell that bell?" he said, "What
will you do with it?" I said, "We will call the people to prayer with
it." He said, "Shall I not show you something better than that?" I
said, "Yes." He said, "Say,Allaahu akbar Allaah akbar… (to the end of
the adhaan)." When morning came, I went to the Messenger of
Allaah(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and told him what I
had seen. He said, "This is a true dream, in sha Allaah. Get up with
Bilaal and tell him what you have seen, so that he can give the call,
because he has a more beautiful voice than you." So I got up with
Bilaal and started telling him what I had seen, and he gave the call
to prayer. 'Umar ibn al-Khattaab heard that whilst he was in his
house, and he came out, dragging his cloak behind him, saying, "By the
One Who sent you with the truth, O Messenger of Allaah, I saw the same
as he saw." The Messenger of Allaah(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: "To Allaah be praise."'(Narrated by Ahmad, 1588;
al-Tirmidhi, 174; Abu Dawood, 421, 430; Ibn Maajah, 698).
It is clear from this hadeeth:
That the words of the adhaan came in a dream which was seen by a great
sahaabi and approved of by our great Prophet. They were not a
suggestion as you mentioned, but a dream, and it is known that dreams
are one of the seventy parts of Prophethood, because it was stated in
a hadeeth narrated by Ibn 'Umar that the Prophet(peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) said: "Dreams are one of the seventy parts of
Prophethood."(Narrated by Ahmad, 4449).
Al-Bukhaari narrated a different version: "True dreams are one of the
forty-six parts of Prophethood."(Narrated by al-Bukhaari,, 6474;
Muslim, 4203, 42005).
The dream here, which the Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) described as a true dream, came from Allaah and was not a
suggestion from a person. So it was a part of Prophethood because it
was approved of by the Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) and was described by him as a true dream. If the Prophet had not
approved of it, it would not have been considered a true dream and it
would not have been a part of Prophethood. The one who judged it to be
true was the Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and
the one who commanded them to act upon it was the Prophet(peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him), who received revelation (wahy) from
his Lord.
'Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) had seen a similar dream. Let
us not forget that 'Umar was one of the Rightly-guided khaleefahs
(al-khulafaa' al-raashidoon), of whom the Messenger(peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, "I exhort you to adhere to my
sunnah (way) and the sunnah of the rightly-guided khaleefahs. Hold on
tight to it with your back teeth."(Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 2600; Ibn
Maajah, 43; Ahmad, 16519).
'Umar's view frequently coincided with the wahy and divine
legislation. 'Aa'ishah reported that the Prophet(peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) used to say, "Among the nations who came before
you there were people who were muhaddathoon (inspired). If there is
anyone like this in my ummah, it is 'Umar ibn al-Khattaab."(Narrated
by al-Bukhaari, 3282; Muslim, 2398).Ibn Wahb said muhaddathoon means
inspired.
You may ask, why did the adhaan start in this fashion, being seen in a
dream by two sahaabis then being confirmed by the wahy? Why was it not
revealed directly? The answer is that Allaah decrees whatever He
wills, however He wills, may He be glorified and exalted. Perhaps the
way it happened was meant to demonstrate the virtue of these two
sahaabis and to confirm the how good this ummah is, because among them
are some whose opinions coincide with the wahy and some who had true
dreams which confirmed their truthfulness, for the people who have the
truest dreams are the truest in speech as the Prophet(peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said.
Finally:
The definition of the Sunnah given in the books of the scholars is
that it consists of everything that was narrated from the
Messenger(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), everything that
he "said, did or approved of."
What is meant by his words and actions is clear. What he approved of
refers to when someone did something in front of him and he approved
of it – this is also part of the sharee'ah, not because that person
did it, but because the Messenger(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) approved of it. The Messenger(peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) never kept quiet about falsehood and he never approved of
anything false or misguided that was done by others. He would
disapprove of it and speak out against it, as he did in the case of
the sahaabi Abu Israa'eel, as was narrated by Ibn 'Abbaas, who said:
"Whilst the Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was
giving a khutbah, he saw a man standing in the sun, and he asked about
him. They said, 'That is Abu Israa'eel. He vowed to stand and not sit
down, not to seek shade, not to speak, and to fast.' He said, 'Tell
him to speak, seek shade and sit down, but let him complete his
fast.'"(Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6326).
The Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) approved of Abu
Israa'eel's vow to fast, but he cancelled the rest of his vow and did
not approve of it.
So it is clear that the adhaan became part of the religion when the
Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) confirmed what
Allaah had shown the two sahaabis in their dreams, and commanded
'Abd-Allaah ibn Zayd to teach it to Bilaal so that he could call the
people to prayer. Hopefully the explanation given above will dispel
your confusion and make matters clearer to you. We ask Allaah to grant
us and you understanding of Islam. And Allaah knows best.
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