Hayya alaa Khayr-il-amal in Athaan

2-8-2006 | IslamWeb

Question:

Is it not bidah that 1. We perform Haj under a roof while Prophet offered it under open sky. 2. In Prophet's time the Fajr athan had 'Hayya Alaa Khairil Amal' which Umar (ra) substituted with 'As-salato Khairumminan Nawm'. (Muslim, Vol. 1, pg 48) 3. In Ramadan we perform Tarawih in congregation while the Prophet didn't. 4. Our mosques have minars & tomes while in Prophet's time there weren't any.

---

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

 

None of the matters referred to, by the questioner, are innovations, with the exception of saying, “hayya ‘alaa khayr-il-‘amal”. This is because the principle that governs determining a matter as an innovation is whether it rivals the legitimate way [of worship] or not, and whether what is intended in it is excessiveness in worship or not.

Accordingly, constructing buildings that have roofs in Hajj, for the purpose of shielding the pilgrims from heat and rain, is not an innovation because it neither rivals the legitimate way [of worship], nor is it intended for excessiveness in worship, rather this type of matters is called “masaalih mursalah” [referring to unrestricted public interest which secure a benefit or prevent harm but not mentioned in the Quran or the Sunnah]. In this case, the purpose of the buildings is to shelter from the heat of the sun which is something that is supported by the Sunnah. Um Al-Husayn said that I performed Hajj with the Prophet in his farewell Hajj, and I saw Usaamah and Bilaal; one of them holding the reins of the she-camel of the Prophet and the other one was raising his garment up to shelter the Prophet from the heat of the sun until he threw the pebbles at Jamra-tul-‘Aqabah [Muslim]. According to this report, the Prophet was seeking shelter from the heat of the sun. As a matter of fact, had the Prophet been able to roof the whole area of rituals he would have done it.

Concerning the saying of the questioner that ‘Umar is the one who changed the wording from “hayya ‘alaa khayr-il-‘amal” to “as-salatu khayrun min-an-nawm”, this is incorrect, and there is no support for such a claim neither in Muslim nor in any of the compilations of Sunnah. The one who legislated the wording “as-salatu khayrun min-an-nawm” was the Prophet as in the narration of Abu Mahthoorah . Please refer to Fataawa 84831 and 82436. Thus, it becomes evident that the wording “hayya ‘alaa khayr-il-‘amal” is, indeed, an innovation, because it is an innovated wording in the Athaan and was not in practice during the time of the Prophet .

Now, concerning the congregational prayer of Taraaweeh (night prayer in Ramadan), it is not an innovation because the Prophet did it when he led his companions two or three nights and then he stopped performing it in congregation fearing that it may become an obligation. For further details in this issue please refer to Fatwa 85638.

Finally, building minarets in mosques is not intended for worship or excessiveness in worship so that we may rule that it is an innovation. This is provided that they were built to allow Athaan to reach distant places, and were not constructed extravagantly. Accordingly, we see no preventive reason for their construction from lslamic law standpoint.  

Allaah Knows best.