where r is the radius of the earth, Y is the height in meters, D is the dip of horizon in degrees of angle.
The fadl-i-dair (hour angle), H can be computed in, say, degrees and converted into hours and minutes as reckoned from midday (nisf-un-nehâr), using a scientific calculator. The operations on a solar Privilege calculator are as follows
H Sin - cp sin x S sin = ÷ cp cos ÷ S cos
Arc cos ÷ 15 = -->o,,,
where h is the angular altitude of the Sun during the night, cp is the latitude of the location and S is the declination of the Sun taken (-) if in the southern hemisphere.
The adhânî time of imsâk (in hours)= 12 + Zuhr - H - (1 ÷ 3). The time of ’ishâ’ (in hours) = H + Zuhr - 12. Prayer times anywhere can be determined in standard time utilizing the following operations[86] :
H + S – T = ÷ 15 + 12 – E + N = INV o,,, (3)
on a CASIO calculator where
H = hour angle (fadl-ı dâir), o of angle,
S = standard meridian, o of angle,
T = longitude of the location, o of angle,
E = equation of time, hours,
N = Tamkin, hours.
In these operations, the variables are to be substituted in degrees for H, S and Tand in hours for E and N. The signs of H and N are negative in a.m. and positive in p.m. times.
The period of Tamkin should be calculated as explained on page 130. For any location where the latitude is less than 44o and the height, Y of the highest place is less than 500 meters, the amount of Tamkin is obtained in hours with the operations,
0.03211 x Y \/ + 1.05 = sin ÷ cp cos ÷ S cos x 3.82 = INV o,,, (4)
[In the Mâlikî and Shâfi'î Madhhabs, during a long-distance journey and/or in case of illness and/or old age, early and late afternoon prayers, as well as evening and night prayers, may be performed in (a convenience termed) jem', which means to perform each pair in sucession at the time of one or the other making up the pair. (In other words, a Muslim in one of the aforesaid two Madhhabs and undergoing one or all the ,abovementioned three limiting situations is permitted to perform early and late afternoon prayers in succession within the time allotted to either, and/or to perform evening and night prayers likewise. This, however, should not be vitiated by also joining the two pairs. Nor should one indulge oneself into the eclecticity that all five daily prayers can be performed in succession in the name of enjoying the convenience offered by the aforesaid two Madhabs.)].
A computer programme can be developed which calculates the prayer times and which can be saved on a magnetic disk, and taken out of the computer and stored for years. The programme on the disk can be run on a compatible computer; if the longitude and latitude of a location are given, the prayer times for any given day or month or year can be computed within seconds and displayed on the screen of the monitor or printed as a list on paper. This list can be sent within seconds by fax coupled to a phone to the city where it is required.
WARNING: It is harâm to perform salâts before or after their due times. The time of a salât begins when the relevant edge of the Sun comes to the altitude peculiar to that salât. There are three reasons why the prayer times given by some calendars are different from those given by the calendar published by the daily newspaper Türkiye:
1- They take the altitudes with respect to true horizon, whereas the altitudes should be reckoned from the apparent line of horizon, that is, the shar’î horizon.
2- The place of the line of apparent horizon of a location changes with the altitude of the location. They convert the times they have determined in accordance to the true horizon to the apparent times calculated in accordance to the altitudes that are taken as per the apparent horizons of the lower points of that location. Therefore, the times thus found are different from the shar’î ones and are disputable. However, they should be converted to the times of the highest place of the location , that is, to the canonical times based on the canonical horizon.
3- They calculate the time when the Sun’s centre reaches the true altitudes, whereas the time when its relevant edge reaches those altitudes should be calculated, and the true times found thereby should be converted to the canonical times. The Muslim ’ulamâ have introduced the concept of Tamkin to correct these three errors. The time period of Tamkin is ten minutes for Istanbul. Tamkin time is a shield to protect the prayers and fasts against being fâsid (invalid). One single tamkîn is used to convert the calculated true times of all the prayers of namâz to their calculated canonical times. There are not different tamkîns for different prayers of namâz.
11 – AZÂN and IQÂMAT
The chapter about azân (adhân) has been translated from the book Durr-ul-mukhtâr and from its explanation, Radd-ul-mukhtâr, and summarized below:
Azân means ‘public announcement’ in certain Arabic phrases in prescribed order. It is not azân to say its translation. Even if it makes its meaning understandable, it cannot be recited in Persian or other languages. The first azân was performed in Mekka on the night of Mi’râj before the Hegira. In the first year of the Hegira, it became a command to call the azân to announce the time of salât. At district mosques, it is sunnat to call it at a high place, and the voice must be loud. But one should not exert oneself to shout aloud. [As it is understood, shouting is necessary as loud as to be heard in one’s own district. More than this is not permitted. There is no need to use a loud-speaker. It is a bid’at to practice the azân or iqâmat through a loud-speaker or radio broadcast. An ibâdat done with bid’at is not acceptable but sinful.] It is sunnat-i muakkada for men to call the azân for five prayers each day, for performing the omitted [qadâ] prayers that are fard, and towards the khatîb at Friday prayers. It is mekrûh for women to say the azân or the iqâmat. For it is harâm for them to raise their voice. The azân is said at a high place in order to announce the time to others. But the azân that is said for the ready jamâ’at or for oneself is said on the ground. [It is written in Tanwîr-ul-azhân, “It is tahrîmî mekrûh to say the azân while sitting. It has been understood through tawâtur[87] that it (must) be said standing”]. The azân or the iqâmat is not said for the namâz of witr, ’Iyd, tarâwîh or janâza. It is not acceptable to call the azân before the prescribed time, it is a grave sin. The azân or iqâmat which is said before the time (of prayer) begins must be repeated after the time begins. It is not permissible to call the azân like a song so as to add vowel points or letters or prolong the letters, or to listen to the azân said or the Qur’ân read in this manner.
[It is written in the section about Medina of the book Mir’ât-ul-harâmeyn[88], “Calling the azân commenced in Medîna in the first year of the Hegîra. Before that time only the words Assalâtu jâmi’a were uttered at prayer times. It was Bilâl-i Habashî who said the azân in Medîna first. And Habîb bin Abdurrahmân was first to say it in Mekka. The first azân at Friday prayer is a sunnat of hadrat ’Uthmân. Formerly it was said in the mosque, too. Hadrat Ebbân bin ’Uthmân, governor of Medîna in the time of Abdulmalîk, had it said on the minaret. In the year 700, Melik Nâser bin Mansûr had the salât-u-salâm called on minarets before the azâns of Friday prayers. Prophets of Isrâil would say the tesbîh before the azân of morning prayer. Maslama bin Mahled, one of the Sahâba, as he was governor of Egypt, being commanded by hadrat Mu’âwiyya, had the first minaret built in 58 A.H., and got the muazzin Sharhabîl bin Âmîr to say the salât-u-salâm before the morning azân.” It is written in Durr-ul-mukhtâr, “Saying the salât-u-salâm after the azân was first begun by Sultân Nasser Salâhuddîn’s command in Egypt in the year 781.” [It is not written in dependable books that deaths must be announced by saying salât-u-salâm on minarets. It is an ugly bid’at. It should not be practised.] It is written in Mawâhib-i ladunniyya, “In the first year of the Hegira, Rasûlullah consulted with the Sahâba. Some of them said, ‘Let’s ring a bell to announce prayer times as the Nasârâ did.’ Some suggested that a horn might be sounded like Jews. And others put forward the idea of making a fire and lifting it up. Rasûlullah would not accept these. Abdullah bin Zayd bin Sa’laba and hadrat ’Umar told about their dreams in which they had seen the azân being called. Rasûlullah ‘sallallahu alaihi wa sallam’ liked it and commanded that the azân be said at prayer times.” So is it written in the books Madârij-un-nubuwwa[89] and Tahtâwî[90], which inform also that putting lights on minarets, being something like that which was practised by fire-worshippers, is bid’at. [Hence it is inferred that it is a grave sin to light lamps on minarets in order to announce prayer times].
[It is written in the books Tabyîn-ul-haqâiq[91] and Tahtâwî that, “Rasûlullah ‘sallallâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ said to Bilâl-i Habashî, ‘Put your two fingers on your ears, so that your voice will be louder.’ It is better to put the hands on the ears. For, it is not a sunnat to do so to perform the azân. Yet it is a sunnat to do so to increase the voice. For the angel who said the azân in the (above-named Sahâbîs’) dream did not do so. It was made a sunnat not in order to recite the azân but in order to increase the voice . For the causal clause, ‘so that your voice will be louder,’ points to the hikmat in doing it. If the fingers are not put on the ears, the azân will be better. If they are put on the ears, the voice being louder will be better.” It is seen that to put the fingers on the ears is not a sunnat for the azân, although it increases the voice. But, because it has been commanded, it is not a bid’at, either. It is understood that the loudspeakers used in some mosques today, although they increase the voice, are not sunnat for the azân and are bid’at, and besides this, they cause the sunnat of raising the fingers to the ears to be ommitted. It is seen that minarets are not constructed for some mosques on which loudspeakers are placed. [It is stated in the three hundred and twenty-second page of the fifth volume of Fatâwâ-yi-Hindiyya, “It is permissible to build a minaret in order to have the quarter hear the voice. It is not permissible if it is impossible.” This comes to mean that using a loudspeaker is not permissible].
It is written in Radd-ul-muhtâr (Ibni ’Âbidîn) and in ’Uqûd-ud-durriyya that, “The azân called by several muazzins together on a minaret or during jumâ’ khutba is named the Azân-i Jawq. To call it together in order to increase the voice is a sunnat-i hasana and jâiz (permissible) because it is mutawârith, i.e. it has been practiced for centuries. Allâhu ta’âlâ likes what Muslims like.” It is also written in Barîqa’ on page 94 that, “What Muslims find nice is nice according to mujtahids, too. It makes no difference whether non-mujtahids like it or not.” See Endless Bliss, 5th fascicle, chapter 1, p. 28. Hence it is quite clear that some ignorant trendy avant gardes’ recommending the utility of loud-speakers in calling the azân is of no value. It is a bid’at, and therefore a grave sin, to change the acts of worship with the non-mujtahids’ approvals and practices].
Saying the iqâmat is better than (saying) the azân. The azân and the iqâmat must be said towards the qibla. One must not talk while saying them, nor acknowledge any speech of greeting. If one talks, one will have to say the both again.
What prayers of namâz do we say the azân and the iqâmat for? We will explain this in three different articles:
1 - For qadâ prayers: When performing qadâ prayers individually or in jamâ’at in the countryside, in fields, it is sunnat for men to say the azân and the iqâmat aloud. People, genies, rocks that hear the voice will bear witness on the Rising Day. He who performs a couple of qadâ prayers one after another should say the azân and the iqâmat first. Then, before performing each of the following qadâ prayers he should say the iqâmat. It will be all right if he does not say the azân for the following prayers of qadâ.
Women do not say the azân or the iqâmat when they perform the namâz individually whether they perform it in its time or they make qadâ of it.
He who makes qadâ in a mosque says the azân and the iqâmat only as loudly as he himself can hear. If a couple of people make qadâ of a namâz in jamâ’at in a mosque, they do not say the azân or the iqâmat. If all the people in a mosque are going to make qadâ of a namâz in jamâ’at, the azân and the iqâmat are said. But it is mekrûh to perform a namâz of qadâ in jamâ’at in a mosque. For, it being a grave sin to leave a namâz to qadâ (to postpone it till after its prescribed time is over), it is not permissible to announce it publicly. Performing a prayer of qadâ in jamâ’at requires that the imâm and the jamâ’at must be performing the same prayer of the same one day. For example, a person who is going to make qadâ of a certain Sunday’s early afternoon prayer cannot follow and be jamâ’at for a person who will make qadâ of, say, Tuesday’s early afternoon prayer or who performs early afternoon prayer of the present day even if it is Sunday, too.
He who makes qadâ in his home says the azân and the iqâmat only as loudly as to be heard in the room, so that the number of witnesses be more. [So does a person who performs qadâ of a fard prayer instead of a sunnat prayer.]
2 - He who performs the time’s namâz individually at home or in jamâ’at does not have to say the azân or the iqâmat. For the azân and the iqâmat said in mosques are counted as being said in homes, too. But it is better to say them. It is not necessary to hear the muazzin’s voice. If the azân is not said in mosques, or if it is not sahîh because they have not fulfilled its conditions, the person who performs namâz individually in his home says the azân and the iqâmat.
After the time’s namâz is performed in a local mosque or in a mosque whose jamâ’at are certain people, a person who performs it individually does not say the azân or the iqâmat. After each of daily prayers is performed in jamâ’at with the imâm on the mihrâb in such mosques, other jamâ’ats can be made again. While telling about being an imâm on the three hundred and seventy-first page, it says that if the imâms for the following jamâ’ats stand on the mihrâb, too, the azân and the iqâmat are not said. If the imâms do not stand on the mihrâb the azân and the iqâmat must be said as loudly as to be heard by the jamâ’ats.
In mosques on roads or in those which have no imâms or muazzins or certain jamâ’ats, various people who come in at various different times make various jamâ’ats for the namâz of the same prayer time. They say the azân and the iqâmat for each jamâ’at. Also, he who performs namâz individually in such a mosque says the azân and the iqâmat as loudly as he himself hears.
3 – Travellers[92], when they make jamâ’at or when each performs namâz individually, say the azân and the iqâmat. If a person who is performing namâz individually has friends with him who are performing namâz, too, he may not say the azân. A safarî (traveller) says the azân and the iqâmat when he performs namâz individually in a house, too. For the azân said in the mosque does not include his namâz. If some of the safarî people say the azân in a house, those who perform the (same) namâz later on at the same place, do not say it. At least three people ought to set out for a travel, and one of them must be their emîr (commander).
The azân said by an ’âqil (mature in wisdom) boy, a blind man, a bastard, or an ignorant villager who knows prayer times and how to say the azân, is permissible without any karâhat. It is tahrîmî mekrûh for a junub person to say the azân or the iqâmat, for a person without an ablution to say the iqâmat, for a woman, a sinner, a drunk person, a child who is not ’âqil to say the azân, or (for anyone) to say the azân sitting. In such cases, it must be repeated. The azân’s being sahîh requires the muazzin’s being an ’âqil Muslim knowing the prayer time and his words should be dependable, that is, he must be an ’âdil person. (By ’âqil we mean one who has reached the age of wisdom). [Likewise, one must be sure that the calendars giving the prayer times have been prepared by such a Muslim, and at least a Muslim should witness their accuracy. The prayer times on the calendars which were prepared by sâlih Muslims and followed by all Muslims for centuries should not be altered.] For a namâz being sahîh (acceptable) one should know the exact time for performing it. The reason why the azân of a sinner, – that is, he who drinks alcohol, gambles, looks at nâmahram women, allows his wife and daughter to go out without covering themselves –, is not sahîh is because his word on worships is not dependable.
[As it is seen, it is not permissible to say the azân through the radio or with loudspeakers on minarets or to say it before its prescribed time or to listen to it as azân. It is not acceptable, plus the fact that it is sinful. It must be said again compatibly with its conditions. For it is a sound made by electricity caused by the voice of an unknown, unseen person; especially, sound made by a record is not azân at all. Furthermore, ourProphet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) declared, “Those who do not worship as we do are not in our community.” Azân must be said at a high place by a pious Muslim as he (theProphet) had it said. For instance, when the azân for the early afternoon prayer is said before its prescribed time, the early sunnat of the early afternoon prayer is performed at a karâhat time. Insisting on smaller sins develops into a grave sin.
It is sunnat for a person who hears the azân to repeat the azân silently what he hears, even if he is junub or reading the Qur’ân. He does not say anything else, does not respond to a speech of greeting, does not do any work. It is wâjib for men to stop working and go to the mosque when they hear the azân. One can make jamâ’at with one’s household at home. Yet it is better to go to the mosque [if there is a pious imâm in the mosque].
[It is written in the book Jawhara[93], “It is written in the commentary of Kerhî that the azân said in the Persian language is not sahîh. This is a clear and a truest statement.” It is written in Marâqifalâh[94] that it is not permissible to say the azân in any language other than Arabic even if it would be understood that it is the azân.]
The azân cannot be repeated while listening to the Khutba, while one’s awrat parts are exposed, while eating, or studying a lesson on dîn or while reading Qur’ân al-kerîm in a mosque. But, if the azân is not being said compatibly with the sunnat, e.g. if some of its words are changed or translated or if it is being said partly melodiously, – or if the sound of azân is coming from a loudspeaker –, he who hears it does not repeat any of its words.
[On the 1031st and 1062nd pages of Berîqa, it is written: “One who does not know the times of namâz or commits taghannî or elhân, that is, says it with musical notes, is not eligible for calling the azân. It is not permissible but gravely sinful to appoint such an ineligible person as a muezzin. It is written in Bezzâziyya that it is harâm by unanimity to recite the Qur’ân, dhikr or prayer (du’â) with elhân. So is the case with calling the azân and saying it before its time. Taghannî[95] is permitted in the azân solely while saying the two ‘Hayya alâ...’ The taghannî permitted in reciting the Qur’ân al-kerîm means that it should be recited fearing Allâhu ta’âlâ and is done according to the science of tajwîd. Otherwise, taghannî by altering sounds or words or spoiling the meaning or verse is unanimously harâm. Tarjî’, that is, recitation by repetitively magnifying and lowering the voice, in the Qur’ân and azân is prohibited by the Hadîth. Listening to such recitations is also harâm.”] Also, he who hears the azân said before its prescribed time or by a junub person or a woman does not repeat it. If a person hears and repeats the azân said at some place, he does not repeat it again when he hears it said at some other place. Upon hearing the parts of “Hayya alâ...”, you do not repeat them, but say, “Lâ hawla walâ quwwata illâ billâh.” After saying the azân you say the salawât and then say the prescribed prayer of azân. After saying Esh’ hadu anna Muhammadan Rasûlullah the second time, it is mustahab to kiss the nails of both thumbs and rub them gently on the eyes. Though the hadîth stating this fact is written in Tahtâwî’s Hâshiyatu Marâqi’l-falâh, this hadîth is reported to be da’îf in Radd al-mukhtâr and Hazînat ul-ma’ârif[96](page 99). This is not done while saying the iqâmat. It is not sunnat but it is mustahab for a person who hears the iqâmat to repeat it. A person who enters the mosque while the iqâmat is being said sits down. He does not wait standing. He stands up as all the others do as the muazzin says, “Hayya-alal-felâh.”
Ibni Âbidîn, while explaining the sunnats of namâz, states that it is sunnat for the imâm to raise his voice so as to be heard by the jamâ’at when beginning the namâz, when passing from one rukn to another, when performing the salâm (to finish the namâz). It is mekrûh to raise it too loud. For beginning the namâz the imâm must say the tekbîr (Allahu akbar) and must not think of having it heard by the jamâ’at. Otherwise, his namâz will not be sahîh. When all the jamâ’at do not hear the imâm, it is mustahab also for the muazzin to raise his voice as loud as to be heard by the jamâ’at. If the muazzin does not think of beginning the namâz but shouts only in order to get the jamâ’at to hear, his namâz will not be sahîh, nor will the namâz of those who do not hear the imâm but begin the namâz by the muazzin’s voice only. For in that case they will have followed someone who is not performing the namâz. It is mekrûh also for the muazzin to shout more loudly than enough for the jamâ’at to hear. As informed unanimously by the savants of the four Madhhabs, while all the jamâ’at hear the imâm’s voice it is mekrûh and nastily bid’at for the muazzin to repeat the tekbîr aloud. In fact, it is written in Bahr-ul-fatâwâ, by the Mufti of Erzurum, Qadizâda, in Fath-ul Qadîr[97], and toward the end of the booklet Ustuwânî[98], which is written on the margins of the book (Miftâh-ul-Cennet İlmihâl)[99], “In small masjids, if the muazzin says the tekbîr aloud though the imâm’s tekbîr can be heard, his namâz will be nullified.”
[In addition to the fact that it is sinful to raise the voice more than necessary, what is produced by the loud-speaker is not the imâm’s or the muazzin’s voice. Their voice turns into electricity and magnetism. So what is heard is the sound produced by electricity and magnetism. It is necessary to follow the voice of a person who is performing the same namâz. The namâz of those who follow the voice of someone who is not performing the same namâz, or the sound produced by any apparatus, is not sahîh. It is written on the five hundred and seventeenth page of the first volume of the book Radd-ul-muhtâr, “If a hâfiz’s voice spreads out and gets multiplied on mountains, in desert, in forests or through any other means, these second sounds will not be the Qur’ân. It is not necessary to perform sajda[100] with the âyat of sajda heard from them.” It is written in Halabî-yi-kebîr that these recitals are not human recitals, but they are like human recitals. These clear statements by specialists of Islam show that it is wrong to say or read or listen to the azân or the Qur’ân al-kerîm through radios or loud-speakers or to perform namâz by following them. It is written in detail on page 2361 of the third volume of the book of Tafsîr written by Muhammad Hamdi Efendi of Elmalı that it is not permissible to call the azân or to recite the Qur’ân al-kerîm through a loudspeaker or on the radio. In especial, it is both not sahîh and an abominable bid’at to follow an imâm in another building through a loudspeaker. It is a grave sin. Please see the third page of the seventy-second chapter and also the fifty-second chapter in the first part.
The loud-speaker put on minarets has become a means of laziness for some people and caused them to say the azân sitting in dark rooms without following the sunnat. It is written in Fatâwâ-yi-Hindiyya, “It is mekrûh to call the azân before the prayer time comes, to say it inside the mosque, to say it sitting, to raise the voice more than one’s normal puissance, not to say it in the direction of qibla, or to say it melodiously. A person who arrives as the iqâmat is being said, sits down. Then he stands up together with all the others as the muazzin says ‘hayya-alal-felah.’ ” Ibni Âbidîn states at the beginning of the subject about namâz, “The azân called at its prescribed time is the Islamic azân. The azân called before its time is no more than a talk. It means to make fun of Islam.” And minarets, our