Repeating the Words in Iqāmah, Twice

Answered by Shaykh Yūsuf Badāt

Question:

Could you provide the Ḥadīths that indicate, when iqāmah is called, that each of the wordings can be repeated twice. For example: like in the adhān. Please provide the reference of the ḥadīth book and any other details for the evidence.

Answer:

In the Name of God, Most Kind, Most Merciful

Thank you/ Jazāk Allāh Khayr for your question.

There are several references in the authentic ḥadīth for the words in the “iqāmah” to be repeated twice. This method of calling the iqāmah has been preferred and adopted by the Ḥanafī school [of jurisprudence]. It may also be noteworthy to mention that this was also the practise of numerous Companions (may God be pleased with them). The Mālikī school prefers the repetition of the ‘Allāh Akbars’ twice at the beginning and also at the end of the iqāmah.

The Shāfʿīe and Ḥanbalī schools only pronounce the words of iqāmah once.

As per your query, here below are some of the references denoting the words of iqāmah to be repeated twice:

1. “Abū Mahdhūrah may God be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings upon him) taught him the iqāmah with seventeen words.” (Tirmidhī, Abū Dāwūd)

2. ʿAbd Al-Raḥmān Ibn Abī Layla (may God’s mercy be upon him) says, the Companions of Muḥammad (peace and blessings upon him) stated that, “ʿAbd Allāh Ibn Zayd Al-Anṣārī (may God be pleased with him) came to the Prophet (peace and blessings upon him) and said, “O Prophet of God, I seen in a dream a man stood clad in green garments, standing on a wall, he gave the adhān repeating the words twice and thereafter he gave the iqāmah, saying the words twice.” (Ibn Abī Shaybah)

3. ʿAbd Allāh Ibn Zayd Al-Anṣārī (may God be pleased with him) saw the adhān in a dream and came to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him) to inform him. The Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings upon him) ordered, “Teach it to Bilāl (may God be pleased with him)”. Thus Bilāl (may God be pleased with him) gave the adhān repeating the words of the adhān twice and gave the iqāmah repeating the words of the iqāmah twice. (Ṭahāwī)

4. ʿAbd Allāh Ibn Zayd Al-Anṣārī (may God be pleased with him) says, “I heard the adhān of God’s Prophet (peace and blessings upon him). The Prophet’s adhān and iqāmah were such that the words were repeated twice”. (Tirmidhī, Nasaʾī, Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Awānah, Dāramī)

5. Abū Mahdhūrah (may God be pleased with him) says, “The Prophet of God (peace and blessings upon him) taught him the iqāmah with seventeen words as follows; Allāh Akbar, Allāh Akbar, Allāh Akbar, Allāh Akbar, Ashhadu Al Lā Ilāha Illallāh, Ashhadu Al Lā Ilāha Illallāh, Ashhadu Anna Muḥammadar Rasūlullāh, Ashhadu Anna Muḥammadar Rasūlullāh, Ḥayya ʿAlaṣ Ṣalāh, Ḥayya ʿAlaṣ Ṣalāh, Ḥayya ʿAlal Falāḥ, Ḥayya ʿAlal Falāḥ, Qad Qā Matiṣ Ṣalāh, Qad Qā Matiṣ Ṣalāh, Allāh Akbar, Allāh Akbar, Lā Ilāha Illallāh”. (Ibn Mājah, Abū Dāwūd, Āthār Al Sunan)

6. Aswad Ibn Yazīd (may God be pleased with him) narrates that, Bilal (may God be pleased with him) repeated the words of the adhān twice and also repeated the words of the iqāmah twice. (Muṣannaf ʿAbd Al-Razzāq, Ṭaḥāwī, Dār Quṭnī)

And Allāh Knows Best