I have a question about your article on the following link: https://islamicportal.co.uk/actions-and-supplications-for-pregnant-women/. You mention that it is from the Sunnah to recite the Adhān and Iqāmah in the right and left ear respectively. However, some people say that the narration of Abū Rāfiʿ in Sunan al-Tirmidhī is weak and the narration in Sunan al-Bayhaqī is very weak. Please can you clarify the matter.
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Answer
The companion Abū Rāfiʿ (d. ca. 40/660) (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “I saw the messenger of Allah ﷺ perform the Adhān of Ṣalāh in the ear of Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī when Fāṭimah gave him birth.” This narration has been transmitted in Sunan Abū Dāwuḍ (5105), Sunan al-Tirmidhī (1514), Muṣannaf ʿAbd al-Razzāq (7986) al-Mustadrak (4827) and other books. This narration has been categorised as ṣaḥīḥ (sound) by Imam Tirmidhī (d. 279/892) as well as Imam Ḥākim (d. 405/1014). This has been affirmed by ʿAllāmah Majd ibn Taymiyah (d. 652/1254) and Khaṭīb Tabrīzī (d. ca. 741/1340). Ḥāfiẓ Dhahabī (d. 748/1348), Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ṭāhir al-Maqdisī (d. 507/1113) (Tadhkirah al-Ḥuffāẓ, 1: 197) and other scholars disagree with this and categorise it as weak whilst some have categorised it as ḥasan (acceptable). Irrespective of the differing views, this narration has been accepted by scholars. Imam Tirmidhī (d. 279/892) mentions that the practice [of the Ummah] is on this narration.
Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī (d. 61/680) (may Allah be pleased with them) narrates that the messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whosoever has a newborn and performs the Adhān in his right ear and the Iqāmah in his left ear, Umm al-Ṣibyān (a disease or a particular Jinn) will not harm him.” This narration has been transmitted in ʿAmal al–Yawm Wa al-Laylah (623), Musnad Abī Yaʿlā (6780) and Shuʿab al-Īmān (11: 106). This narration is weak as mentioned by Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar (d. 852/1449), Ḥafiẓ Nūr al-Dīn Haythamī (d. 807/1405) and others. However, the scholars have deemed it acceptable to act on this narration as it supplements the narration of Abū Rāfīʿ (d. ca. 40/660) (may Allah be pleased with him). This is illustrated by the fact that scholars from the four schools of thought have deemed it mustaḥab (desirable) to perform the Adhān and Iqāmah in the right and left ear respectively. They include Imām Bayhaqī (d. 458/1066), Ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751/1350), ʿAllāmah Ibn Qudāmah (d. 620/1223), Imam Bahūtī (d. 1051/1641), Imam Nawawī (d. 676/1277), ʿAllāmah Ibn Ḥajar al-Makkī (d. 974/1567), Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī (d. 1014/1605), ʿAllāmah Ibn ʿĀbidīn al-Shāmī (d. 1252/1836). The Mālikī scholar Imam Ḥaṭṭāb (d. 954/1547) writes after quoting a narration from Imam Mālik (d. 179/795) who disliked the practice, “The practice of the people has continued upon this so there is no harm in practising this.” The benefits of this practice, as mentioned by Ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751/1350), include protection from Shayṭān as he flees during Adhān, and that the first words the new born hears are words that glorify The Creator, Almighty Allah. For further details and references, please refer to my Arabic book Tanshīṭ al-Ādhān Fī Kitāb al-Arbaʿīn Fī al-Adhān (p. 44).[1]
Allah knows best
Yusuf Shabbir
16 Shaʿbān 1437 / 23 May 2016
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Footnotes
[1] Information regarding this book is available on the following link: https://islamicportal.co.uk/book-release-kitab-al-arbain-fil-adhan/.