Ijabat al-Nida

Ijabat al-Nida (Anwaʿun, wa-Fadaʾil, wa-Fawaʾid, wa-Adab, wa-Ijabah Qawliyyah wa-Fiʿliyyah, wa-Ahkam fi Dawʾ al-Sunnah al-Mutahharah, lit. 'Responding to the Call: Types, Virtues, Benefits, Etiquettes, Verbal and Practical Response, and Rulings in Light of the Purified Sunnah') is a concise treatise on the legal rulings, manners, and virtues of responding to the Islamic call to prayer (adhan), authored by the Saudi scholar Sa'id ibn Ali ibn Wahf al-Qahtani (d. 1440 AH / 2018 CE) Ijabat al-Nida+1.

Composition and Preface

Al-Qahtani completed the drafting of the treatise on Saturday afternoon, 12 Rabiʿ al-Thani 1429 AH (April 2008) Ijabat al-Nida. The work was prefaced with a commendation by Salih ibn Fawzan al-Fawzan, a member of the Council of Senior Scholars, dated 15 Rabiʿ al-Thani 1429 AH, who praised it as a beneficial treatise supported by textual evidence and authenticated scholarly sources Ijabat al-Nida.

In a clarification of the work's scope, the author notes that he restricted this treatise specifically to the virtues and rulings surrounding the verbal and practical response to the call, while addressing the remaining detailed regulations, conditions, and etiquettes of the call and the commencement announcement (iqamah) in his dedicated treatise al-Adhan wa-l-Iqamah, as well as within his broader work Salat al-Mu'min Ijabat al-Nida.

Contents and Structure

The book addresses the acts of responding to the adhan across several thematic sections:

• Virtues of the Call to Prayer (Fadaʾil al-Nida): Examines scriptural evidence highlighting the merits of calling the adhan, including the high rank of the caller on the Day of Resurrection and the flight of Satan upon hearing it Ijabat al-Nida.
• Types of Verbal Response (Anwaʿ Iiabat al-Nida): Outlines five forms of remembrance (dhikr) legislated for the listener during and following the call, drawing upon the framework established by Ibn al-Qayyim in Zad al-Ma'ad. These include repeating each phrase after the caller (substituting the hawqala— لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله —for the two calls to prayer and success), reciting the testimony of faith and pleasure with Allah, Islam, and the Prophet following the caller's shahadah, sending blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ, and supplicating for the Wasilah Ijabat al-Nida.
• Virtues and Benefits of Responding: Details the spiritual rewards promised to those who repeat the adhan sincerely, such as receiving forgiveness, earning intercession, following the prophetic example, and gaining admission into Paradise Ijabat al-Nida.
• Juridical Rulings on Verbal Response (Ahkam Ijabat al-Mu'adhdhin): Reviews scholarly opinions on the legal status of verbally repeating the caller's words. The author notes that the majority of scholars, as cited by Ibn Qudamah, al-Nawawi, and Ibn al-Mulaqqin, regard verbal repetition as recommended (mustahabb), while presenting the counterarguments of scholars who held it to be obligatory (wajib) based on the literal command in the prophetic hadiths Ijabat al-Nida.
• Practical Response (Ijabat al-Nida bil-Fiʿl): Discusses the physical response required upon hearing the call, establishing that it is an individual obligation (fard ʿayn) for capable adult men to attend the obligatory congregational prayer (salat al-jama'ah) in the mosques, supporting the ruling through Quranic verses and hadiths Ijabat al-Nida.