Abd Allah ibn zyad had a dream.
A dream whose effects would remain running through the air long after its owner passed away.
A dream whose effects would last as long as the Earth remained in rotation.
A dream which followed so:
A man with top and bottom, a pair in heaven green
Bell in hand, the catalyst for congregation
“With that, may I proclaim that the pious be present to fill in rows of submission?” The dreamer questioned.
“Shall I not present something saliently superior?”
Repeat:
Allah is Greater
ٱللهُ أَكْبَر
Allah is Greater
ٱللهُ أَكْبَر
Allah is Greater
ٱللهُ أَكْبَر
Allah is Greater
ٱللهُ أَكْبَر
I bear witness that there is no God but Allah
أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱلله
I bear witness that there is no God but Allah
أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱلله
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah
أَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ ٱلل
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah
أَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ ٱلل
Come to Salah
حَيَّ عَلَىٰ ٱلصَّلَاة
Come to Salah
حَيَّ عَلَىٰ ٱلصَّلَاة
Come to Success
حَيَّ عَلَىٰ ٱلْفَلَاح
Come to Success
حَيَّ عَلَىٰ ٱلْفَلَاح
Allah is Greater
ٱللهُ أَكْبَر
Allah is Greater
ٱللهُ أَكْبَر
There is no God but Allah
لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱلله
The legacy of this dream still breathes today,
In all 7 continents,
Uniting the Ummah one by one, five times a day.
~An explanation (to the best of my abilities)~
First of all, I just want to let the people who don’t know, that the Adhaan is the one and only call to prayer in Islam. It is spoken/said 5 times a day, for each prayer, and it is called to/for each Muslim, no matter if you’re Sunni or Shia (Shiite).
This post is based on quite a popular, factual, Islamic event that occurred a little less than 1400 years ago. This may be the first poem conversion of it to ever exist. Let me go through what happens in each line:
Line 1: This is not too difficult to understand, but for some background information, let me inform you that Abd Allah ibn zyad was a friend of the prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.). He is the main figure for this piece, and the individual who possessed the dream.
Line 2: This entire poem is about the Adhaan, the call for prayer in Islam, which “runs through the air” since it is spoken through a microphone 5 times a day, every day, in every direction, in every continent. This will literally last forever, or at least until there are humans on the surface of the Earth. This is thousands, millions, maybe even billions of years after Abd Allah ibn zyad’s death date.
Line 3: This line intends fundamentally the same as line two.
Line 4: A dream which occurred accordingly (in the following sequence):
Line 5: In the dream, there was a man clothed in two parts of clothing, both green in colour.
Line 6: The man in the dream was holding a bell, and it was similar to what Christians used, and still use, as the call for prayer.
Line 7: The dreamer, Abd Allah ibn zyad, asks whether he can utilize the bell to call Muslims to prayer, in the way that Christians do.
Line 8: The man whose name is unknown replies with a sort of rhetorical question that asks whether or not he should show Abd Allah ibn zyad something better that can be used to call Muslims to prayer.
Line 9: The unknown man tells the dreamer to repeat the following:
Lines 10-24 are the exact lines of the Adhaan that you hear, translated quite accurately into English. As you can see, the actual call for prayer is quite powerful and direct. For example, lines 18/19 and 20/21 are undeviatingly speaking to the listeners and telling them that this is the path to success, proceed, for your own good. If you do not understand what I mean, I suggest that you read it all once more.
Each individual line has been talked about by various scholars in extreme depth, if you wish to learn more about this, just search something similar to “The meaning of the Adhaan” or “The meaning of (insert exact line/phrase).”
The structure of this poem is set to follow the primary structure of the Adhaan (Call for prayer) itself. Not all events that occurred are present in this piece, and I have only included a few major events, excluding events that happened prior and after this one. There is also alliteration present in almost every line and this corresponds to the Adhaan and its repetitious structure. I couldn’t repeat every line twice, so I repeated multiple letters, multiple times.
Reference:
(Narrated by Ahmad, 1588; al-Tirmidhi, 174; Abu Dawood, 421, 430; Ibn Maajah, 698).
Dear Unas,
Wow. This is so well written and meaningful that I had to read it three times before coming to words for this comment. I read the title “a call to prayer” and I just knew what you were going to talk about, but I had no idea it’d be written in the way you wrote it, and wow it is great! You did such an excellent job explaining the adhan, and for someone who does not know the meaning of it, you explained it in a way they would understand the beauty of our call to prayer. I also like how you added that the adhan is called 5 times a day on speakers, and it reminded me of how back home, there is a speaker throughout our villages where the adhan is called for every prayer. It’s also nice how you talked about the back story, and the dream that Abd Allah ibn zyad had, and how it all lead to our beautiful call to prayer.
There is nothing I could say for improvement because you wrote this excellently, but I feel like as a stylistic choice you could add the adhan in Arabic on the other side of each translation. It is always nice to see what sentences look like in different languages, but that is just personal preference.
All in all, I absolutely loved this piece so much because of how I relate to it and the way it was written was great!
Love, Sarah <3
Dear Sarah,
First of all, I just want to thank you for reading my piece and enjoying it. Honestly speaking, I completed this piece as quickly as possible because I wanted to get at least a few hours of sleep before school! I myself only learned where the Adhaan originated from a week ago, so I wanted other people to know where this unique and symbolistic call to prayer originally came from. There aren’t many people in our class who have gone to a country they know so well and have heard the Adhaan in its whole, raw beauty, so I love the fact that you were someone who read my post and gave me feedback. Speaking of feedback, I will definitely add the original Arabic variant of the Adhaan. Once again, thanks for your reply and by the time you read this, I will have updated my post (Also, I just found out that it’s Adhan and not Adhaan so just ignore all the times I said that).
Sincerely,
Unas
Dear Unas,
I am left utterly speechless. This piece holds so much beauty that can not be explained through words. As a person that has been listening to the adhan every day, five times a day, I had never seen it as so meaningful. For me, it had always just been a simple call to prayer, “okay, time to go pray”. All the Arabic words used in it were just a blur and I never really thought of what they meant, but after reading your piece, my view of the adhan has completely changed. Now, when I do hear it, I will see the true meaning and story behind it, thanks to your piece. I really like how you included a line by line translation of the story behind each line. It opens up a greater perspective on the meaning behind simple Arabic words put together to form the call to prayer.
There’s not much improvement that can be done to this piece because it’s already so well-written, but I was a little disappointed after the piece ended after the Adhan was done. It would be better if you added a bit of a conclusion. A “and so then …” type of thing. At the end you could’ve said something like, “the legacy of this call still breathes as each Muslim rises to prayer”. It could just be one line, or just a few words, but a concluding sentence/words would make this piece much more powerful and impactful than it is now.
I’m so glad I stumbled upon this piece as I was searching for a pieces to comment on. Thank you for helping me broaden my own knowledge of Islam! The title struck out to me and I was so intrigued to read it. I look forward to reading other upcoming pieces! Well done!
Sincerely,
Faryal
Dear Faryal,
I appreciate the fact that you took time out of your day to read my writing and give me feedback, thank you. I’m glad I could help you see the deeper meaning to this not-so-ordinary call to prayer. It really has a unique origin, coming from a dream whose effects are, to this day, still seen in all seven continents. For your advice, I think it is perfect and it’s the one thing I’m lacking in this piece, so by the time you read this, it has been already done. Once again, I’m glad you read this piece because not everyone who reads it can get a true understanding of it. Thanks!
Sincerely,
Unas