بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Imām al-Nasā’ī said: “Chapter: The Adhan For One Who Is Praying Alone”
‘Uqbah ibn ‘Āmir narrated: I heard the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) say:
يَعْجَبُ رَبُّكَ مِنْ رَاعِي غَنَمٍ فِي شَطْيَّةٍ بِجَبَلٍ يُؤَذِّنُ لِلصَّلاةِ وَيُصَلِّي، فَيَقُولُ اللهُ : انظُرُوا إِلَى عبدي هذا، يُؤَذِّنُ وَيُقِيمُ الصَّلَاةِ يَخَافُ مِنِّي، فَقَدْ غَفَرْت لِعَبْدِي وَأَدْخَلْتُهُ الْجَنَّةَ
“Your Lord ya’jab (wonders/is amazed)* by a shepherd of a flock (of sheep) on a mountain-path who calls the adhān for prayer and prays. So Allāh says: ‘Look at this servant of Mine – he calls the adhān and establishes prayer, he fears Me. I have forgiven My servant and admitted him to Paradise.'”. [al-Nasā’ī 666, Ahmad 16861, 16989, and others. Authenticated by al-‘Allāmah al-Albānī in Sahīh al-Targhīb wa al-Tarhīb 247 and Imām al-Ithyūbī in Sharh al-Nasā’ī 8/216].
Shaykh al-Islām Abū Barakāt Majd ad-Dīn said: “In it is evidence that the adhān is recommended for the one praying alone, even if he is in a place where no one can hear him.” (Nayl al-Awtār 2/569)
Salmān narrated, who raised it [to the Prophet (ﷺ)]: “When a man is in a land of wilderness and he performs ablution, and if he does not find water, he performs tayammum, then he makes the call to prayer, then establishes it and prays it except that he leads (in prayer) some of Allāh’s soldiers in rows.“
In a variant from Salmān: “… except that there pray behind him from Allāh’s creation what he cannot see their two ends.”
In a variant from Salmān: “…They bow with his bowing and prostrate with his prostration.” (Musannaf of ‘Abdul-Razzāq 1955, al-Nasā’ī al-Kubrā 4503, Musannaf ibn Abī Shaybah 2291,2292 – Sahīh, Dar al-Hadīth print and others. See Talkhīs of Ibn Hajr 2/543-544)
Imām al-Shawkānī said: “The hadīth shows the legislation of adhān for the one praying alone, so it is suitable for refuting the statement of those who said: “The legislation of adhān is specific to congregation.”” (Nayl al-Awtār 2/570)
Imām al-Shāfi’ī said: “… I do not like the adhān to be left out for an obligatory prayer, whether its performer prays alone or gathers (with others)…
A man should not leave that out (i.e. giving adhān and iqāmah) whether he prays at home or in congregation…
A man’s adhān and iqāmah in his house are the same as outside his house in the ruling, and (it is) the same whether he hears the mu’adhdhins around him or doesn’t hear them. I do not like for him to leave out the adhān nor the iqāmah…. “(al-Umm 1/102-103)
Imām Abū Bakr ibn al-Mundhir al-Naysābūrī said: “I prefer that he call adhān and establish iqāmah when he prays alone, and iqāmah suffices him even if he doesn’t call adhān. If he prayed without adhān or iqāmah, repeating (the salāh) would not be obligatory upon him. I only preferred adhān and iqāmah for the one praying alone because of the hadīth of Abū Sa’īd al-Khudrī.
[“I see you liking sheep and the wilderness. So whenever you are with your sheep or in the wilderness and you want to pronounce Adhān for the prayer raise your voice in doing so, for whoever hears the Adhān, whether a human being, a jinn or any other creature, will be a witness for you on the Day of Resurrection.” Abu Sa’īd added, “I heard it (this narration) from Allāh’s Messenger (ﷺ) (Sahīh al-Bukhārī 609].” (Al-Awsat 2/197)
*Imām al-Ithyūbī said (regarding those who interpret ‘ajab, wonder/amazement, as “Allāh’s pleasure”, or “magnification”, or as a metaphorical and not literal meaning):
“(this interpretation) is not correct. Rather, al-‘ajab, wonder/amazement) is among the attributes (of Allāh) which the Prophet has (ﷺ) affirmed in this hadīth and other authentic ahādīth.
So it is established for Allāh, The-Most High, in the manner befitting His majesty, like the rest of the attributes which Allāh, The Most-High, affirmed for Himself in His Book or which came in the authentic Sunnah – such as ar-ridā (pleasure), al-mahabbah (love), al-dahk (laughter), an-nuzūl (descent), al-istiwā’ (rising), and others. All of them are established for Him in the meaning befitting Him, The-Perfect – free from deficiencies, and The Most-High.
It does not necessitate from our affirming the (attributes) that we liken Him to the creation, because that would only be necessary if we said: “‘ajab like our ‘ajab, and ridā like our ridā,” and so forth. But when we affirm them as He affirmed them for Himself, in the manner befitting His majesty, then nothing of resemblance is necessitated:
“ليس كمثله شيء وهو السميع البصير“
There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.” [Qur’ān 42:11] (Sharh al-Nasā’ī 8/213-214)
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