Aslam

Praise be to Allah.It is not permissible

to sing the adhaan, but this is not like the prohibition of singing

itself; it varies between being makrooh or being haraam, unless the

meaning is altered, in which case it becomes haraam.

Zayn al-Deen al-‘Iraaqi said:

It is mustahabb to elongate

the vowels slightly in the adhaan, but it is makrooh to elongate them

too much in the manner of singing, because it was narrated that a man

said to Ibn ‘Umar, “I love you for the sake of Allaah,” and he replied,

“I hate you for the sake of Allaah, for you overstep the mark in your

adhaan.” Hammaad said, he meant singing.

Wali al-Deen al-‘Iraaqi said:

Al-Shaashi

said in al-Mu’tamad: the correct way is for the voice to have

a soft and sad tone, not harsh like the speech of the Bedouins or soft

like the voice of one who is dying… The author of al-Haawi said:

Overstepping the mark means speaking in an emphatic and exaggerated

manner. He said, it is makrooh to make the adhaan like singing because

it makes it incomprehensible, and because the salaf did not do that,

rather it is something that was innovated after their time.

(Tarh al-Tathreeb,

3/118-120)

Ibn al-Haaj said:

Chapter on the prohibition

of making the adhaan like singing

One must be careful to

avoid giving a tune like singing to the adhaan, and one must also tell

others not to do things that they have innovated by making it resemble

singing, whereby it is given a joyful tune like singing until one cannot

tell what they are saying in the words of the adhaan, and it is just

voices going up and down. This is a repulsive recently-invented bid’ah

(innovation) which some governors introduced in a school that they had

built, then it spread from there. This adhaan is done in Syria at this

time, and it is a vile innovation, because the purpose of the adhaan

is to call people to prayer, so the words must be made understandable

to the listener – but in this adhaan nothing can be understood, because

the words have been changed into something that resembles singing. It

was narrated in the hadeeth that the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever innovates

something in this matter of ours (i.e., Islam) that is not part of it,

will have it rejected.” Imaam Abu Taalib al-Makki (may Allaah have mercy

on him) said in his book: one of the things that they have innovated

is modulation (varying the tone) in the adhaan, which is a kind of exaggeration

and overstepping the mark. One of the muezzins said to Ibn ‘Umar, “I

love you for the sake of Allaah,” and he replied, “But I hate you for

the sake of Allaah.” He asked, “Why, O Abu ‘Abd al-Rahmaan?” He said,

“Because you exaggerate in your adhaan, and you accept payment for it.”

Abu Bakr al-Aajurri (may Allaah have mercy on him) used to say, I left

Baghdaad and I cannot stay there because of the innovations that they

have introduced into everything, even in Qur’aan recitation and the

adhaan – meaning that they accepted payment for it and they had introduced

modulation (varying the tone or pitch, like singing). (al-Madhkal

2/245, 246)

4. It was said in al-Mudawwanah:

it is makrooh to sing in an emotional tone in the adhaan. And

it was said in al-Tiraaz that singing in an emotional tone means

making the voice go up and down, which stems from the loss of equilibrium

which happens when a person experiences extremes of happiness or grief;

it is a kind of confusion or panic.

It was said in al-‘Atbiyah

that giving an emotional tone to the adhaan is munkar (to be denounced).

Ibn Habeeb said: (it is also makrooh) to give it a grieving tone without

singing. The letters should not be altered or sung. The Sunnah is to

enunciate it clearly in a loud voice.

Ibn Farhoon said: singing

in en emotional tone means making short vowels long and long vowels

short. ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umar heard a man doing this in his adhaan, and

he said, “If ‘Umar were alive, he would break your jaw!” Ibn Maaji said,

Singing the adhaan in an emotional tone is makrooh, because it goes

against humility and dignity, and takes the pattern of singing. The

degree to which it is makrooh depends on the type, if it does not reach

the level of promiscuous singing; if it does reach that level, then

it is haraam. Ibn Habeeb made a connection between a sad tone and a

joyful tone, as narrated by Abu Muhammad.

From this it may be

understood that it is mustahabb for the muezzin to have a pleasant and

loud voice, and for his voice to resonate. It is makrooh for him to

have a harsh and unpleasant voice, and to give the adhaan a joyful or

a sad tone; if that reaches extreme levels, then it is haraam.

(Mawaahib al-Jaleel

by Hattaab, 1/437, 438)

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem (may Allaah have mercy

on him) said:

One should not elongate

excessively in the adhaan, and if doing so distorts the meaning, then

it invalidates the adhaan. If the elongated letters (huroof al-madd)

are made longer than necessary, this should not be done, and if regular

vowels are elongated in a manner that changes the meaning, this invalidates

the adhaan, otherwise it is makrooh.

(Fataawa al-Shaykh

Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem, 2/125)

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him)

said:

The mulahhan or the

one who introduces modulation into the adhaan is the one who gives the

adhaan in the manner of singing, as if he is singing the words of a

song. His adhaan is valid but it is makrooh.

The malhoon is the

one who makes grammatical mistakes, i.e., he goes against the rules

of the Arabic language. But this falls into two categories, those which

invalidate the adhaan, which are those which alter the meaning, and

those with which the adhaan is still valid, but it is makrooh, which

do not alter the meaning. So if the muezzin says “Allaahu akbaar”,

the adhaan is not valid, because he is changing the meaning. Akbaar

is the plural of kabar, just as asbaab is the plural of

sabab. Kabar is a kind of drum  (Al-Sharh al-Mumti’,

2/62, 63)

And Allaah knows best.