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Adhan is the Islamic call to prayer, one of the five pillars of Islam. It consists of eight repeated lines, combining a declaration of faith with calling the faithful to the path of salvation. In the Dar al-Islam, the Islamic world, the adhan is pronounced from the minarets of the mosques five times each day.

The adhan always opens with the takbir, which is simply the declaration: God is most great. In the Muslim world, the takbir is many things, from an expression of praise or gratitude to a cry for justice, because all things derive from God. The takbir is repeated four times.

The next two lines of the adhan are the shahada kalima, the Islamic declaration of belief: I bear witness that there is no God but God. I bear witness that Muhammad is his prophet. A single sincere declaration of the shahada in the Arabic language is all that is needed to convert to Islam. Each line is repeated twice.

The next two lines summon the faithful: Hasten to prayers! Hasten to success! The word used for success is falah, which can be translated as bringing out one's best potential through one's own efforts.

Sunni and Shi'a recitation of the adhan differ in the next line. The Shi'a add: Hasten to the best act. In the early morning prayer, the Sunni version uses Prayer is better than sleep instead, which was added by Umar ibn al-Khattab (as collected by Muwatta Imam Malik). Otherwise the Sunni version omits this line entirely.

Because it is permissible to speak in the middle of the adhan, some Shi'a adherents choose to add an extra line of testimony at this point: I bear witness that Ali is the vice regent of God. All Shi'a testify to this, but most do not speak it in the middle of the adhan. It is understood that this testimony is not part of the adhan, but a separate affirmative statement. For exactly this reason, unlike every part of the adhan, it is only said once. If a second line is added testifying about Ali, it must be different. A common variant is to testify that Ali is the rightful successor to Muhammad as the judge (umma) among those who have submitted to God.

The adhan closes by repeating the takbir and the first line of the shahada. The takbir is always repeated twice. The first line of the shahada is repeated twice by the Shi'a, while the Sunni version closes with only a single iteration.

Although the adhan sounds musical to western ears, it is not appropriate to consider it music. Music is what is created by humankind. In Islam, the adhan is the divine word.

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