The Adhan: A Brief Chronology By Flamur Vehapi

When the Muslims first settled in Madinah they had no fixed signal for the prayer, and they discussed using a bell or a horn before Umar suggested that a man should simply call out. Ibn Umar narrated that "Allah's Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, ordered Bilal to get up and pronounce the Adhan for prayers." (Sahih al-Bukhari 604) The same words have been called aloud ever since, and that continuity is what this book sets out to trace.

The Adhan: A Brief Chronology by Flamur Vehapi is a short English-language history of the call to prayer, arranged as a chronology. It follows the adhan from its beginning in seventh-century Madinah, through its spread across regions and empires, and into an age of broadcast and recorded sound.

What This Book Covers

The Beginning of the Adhan in Madinah

The book opens with the origin of the call to prayer in the first years after the Hijrah: the need for a way to gather the Muslims, the options that were considered and set aside, and Bilal ibn Rabah as the first to call it.

A Chronology, Century by Century

The material is laid out as dated entries rather than as continuous narrative, which makes it a quick reference as well as a straight read. Each stage in the history is placed in its own period so the sequence stays clear.

The Adhan Across Regions and Empires

The call travelled with Islam. This section follows it out of Arabia and into the wider Muslim world, and into the practices, buildings and public life of the societies that received it.

The Adhan in the Modern Age

The closing chapters reach the present: the minaret giving way to the loudspeaker, the call carried by radio and recording, and the adhan heard in cities where Muslims are a minority.

A History, Not a Book of Rulings

This is a work of history. It records how the adhan has been called across fourteen centuries rather than setting out the fiqh of the adhan, its conditions, or the rulings connected to it. For those, see the titles linked below.

About the Author

Flamur Vehapi is a researcher, chronologist, poet, literary translator and academic, and the owner of Crescent Books, the Portland publishing house that publishes this title. He holds a PhD in Education and Leadership from Pacific University, an MA in Conflict Resolution from Portland State University, and a BS in Counseling Psychology with a minor in History from Southern Oregon University. He taught social sciences at Rogue Community College and Southern Oregon University, and afterwards at institutions in the Middle East. He has written several books and received the Imagine Award for Community Peacemaking in 2009. He and his family live in Oregon. Published by Crescent Books.

Who This Book Is For

Readers who want the history behind an act of worship they hear every day, and anyone who reads Islamic history and wants a short, dated account they can work through in a sitting or keep as a reference. It is written to be followed by non-Muslim readers as well.

Continue Reading

On why the chronology format makes this a useful starting point for Islamic history, read The History of the Adhan: A Chronology of the Muslim Call to Prayer. For the rulings of the adhan and the iqamah alongside the rest of the prayer, see Prayer According to the Qur'an and Sunnah, and for the errors that occur in them, Common Mistakes Regarding Prayer. Browse the full salah collection and our Islamic history books.