Miftah-ul-Janna (Booklet for way to Paradise)

together is called Azân-i-jawq. A touching human voice will be
heard from afar, move hearts and souls, and freshen people’s îmân.
[The muazzin performs the Azân and the imâm performs the qirâat
with their natural voices loud enough only to be heard by the
Muslims around the mosque and by the jamâ’at inside the mosque,
respectively. It is makrûh for them to exert themselves so that their
voices should be heard from afar. That also shows the frivolity of
using a loud-speaker.] In short, the sound issuing from the horn
called a loud-speaker is not the Azân. The Azân-i-Muhammadî is
the voice coming out from the muazzin’s mouth. A hadîth-i-sherîf
quoted in the book entitled Hilya-t-ul-Awliyâ and written by the
great Islamic scholar named Abû Nuaym Isfahânî (Ahmad bin
’Abdullah) ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ (336 [948 A.D.] – 430 [1039]) reads
as follows: “Voice of azân that comes out of a musical instrument is
the Satan’s voice. People who (use a loud-speaker to) perform it
are the Satan’s muazzins.”
It is stated as follows in hadîth-i-sherîfs: “As Doomsday draws
near the Qur’ân al-kerîm will be read (and recited) through
mizmârs. It will be read (and recited) not for the grace of Allah, but
for pleasure.” “There are many people who read (and recite) the
Qur’ân al-kerîm, but the Qur’ân al-kerîm condemns them.” “A
time will come when muazzins will be the meanest ones of
Muslims.” “A time will come when the Qur’ân al-kerîm will be
read (or recited) through mizmârs. Allâhu ta’âlâ will condemn
those people (who do so).” Mizmâr means all sorts of musical
instruments and pipes. The loud speaker is a mizmâr, too.
Muazzins should fear these hadîth-i-sherîfs and avoid performing
(their acts of worship) through loud-speakers. Some religiously
unlearned people claim that the loud-speaker is useful because it
carries voices to distant places. Our Prophet stated: “Perform acts
of worship as you see me and my Sahâba perform them! People
who make changes in acts of worship are called ‘ahl-i-bid’at’
(people of bid’at, bid’at holders). Holders of bid’at shall definitely
go to Hell. None of their acts of worship shall be accepted.” It is
not right to say, “We are adding useful things to acts of worship.”
Statements of this sort are lies fibbed by enemies of religion.
Islamic scholars, alone, know whether a change will be useful.
These profound scholars are called mujtahids. Mujtahids do not
make a change on their own. They know whether a certain
addition or change will be a bid’at. There is a consensus that it is a
bid’at to call the Azân by using a ‘mizmar’. It is a person’s heart
that will make them attain grace and love of Allâhu ta’âlâ. The
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