Adhan Irab (diacritics) Query

When the the phrases “Allāhu Akbar Allāhu Akbar” are said in the Adhān, how should the letter Rāʾ in the first “Akbar” be recited and joined with the subsequent word?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم

Answer

The Rāʾ in the second “Akbar” will be pronounced with a Sukun. However, there are five views regarding how the Rāʾ of the first “Akbar” will be pronounced:

1. The Rāʾ will be pronounced with a Sukūn. This is the dominant position of the Mālikī, Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī schools of thought. Ḥanafī scholars who are inclined to this include: ʿAllāmah Sarakhsī (d. ca. 490/1097), ʿAllāmah Kāsānī (d. 587/1191), ʿAllāmah Fakhr al-Dīn al-Zaylaʿī (d. 743/1343), ʿAllāmah Shurunbulālī (d. 1069/1659), ʿAllāmah Anwar Shāh Kashmīrī (d. 1352/1933), Shaykh Muḥammad Yūsuf Binorī (d. 1397/1977) and Mufti Maḥmūd Ḥasan Gangohī (d. 1417/1996). This is also attributed to Imam Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī (d. 96/714-5).
2. The Rāʾ will be pronounced with a Fatḥah. This is the view of the linguist Imam Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Mubarrad (d. 286/899), ʿAllāmah Badr al-Dīn al-Damāmīnī al-Mālikī (d. 827/1424) and ʿAllāmah Ibn al-Muqrī al-Shāfiʿī (d. 837/1433-4). Ḥanafī scholars who are inclined to this include: ʿAllāmah Ḥaṣkafī (d. 1088/1677), ʿAllāmah Ibn ʿAbīdīn (d. 1252/1836) and Mawlānā ʿAbd al-Ḥayy Laknawī (d. 1304/1886).
3. The Rāʾ will be pronounced with a Ḍammah. This is the view of the linguist Ibn Hishām (d. 761/1360), ʿAllāmah Quhustānī al-Ḥanafī (d. ca. 953/1546-7) and ʿAllāmah Ibn Ḥajar al-Makkī (d. 974/1567).
4. The Rāʾ can be pronounced with either a Fatḥah or Sukūn. This is the view of Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ganī al-Nāblūsī (d. 1143/1731), Mufti Rashīd Aḥmad Ludyānwī (d. 1422/2002). The Shāfiʿī scholar ʿAllāmah Ibn Raslān (d. 844/1441) and Mālikī scholar Imam Māzrī (d. 536/1141) is also inclined to this.
5. The Rāʾ can be pronounced with either a Ḍammah or Sukūn. This is the view of ʿAllāmah Yūsuf ibn ʿUmar ibn Yūsuf al-Ṣūfī al-Kādūrī al-Ḥanafī (n.d.) and ʿAllāmah Ṭaḥṭāwī (d. 1231/1816).

The first position is the most famous position followed by the second one. (For references, refer to Tanshīṭ al-Ādhān min Kitāb al-Arbaʿīn fī al-Adhān, p. 124).   

Allah knows best

Yusuf Shabbir

21 Shaʿbān 1438 / 19 May 2017

Approved by: Mufti Shabbir Ahmad Sahib