What do I say when I hear the adhan, and the du'a after it?

What to say while the adhan is being called

The Prophet ﷺ made this an instruction, not a suggestion: whoever hears the call should answer it by repeating the words. This is agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

"When you hear the muezzin, say the like of what he says."— Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri

So when he says "Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar," you say it too. When he says "Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah," you say it too. And so on through the adhan.

The two exceptions

At the hay'ala — the two lines "come to prayer" and "come to success" — you do not repeat his words. You say:

"La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah" — "There is no might and no power except with Allah."

The meaning, as the commentary explains it, is a confession of your own inability: you have no power to answer this call and no strength to do it except by Allah's help and His enabling. Shaykh Ibn Baz notes this was reported by Muslim from the narration of Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه, and that the Prophet ﷺ said whoever says this from the heart enters Paradise.

At the testimony of faith

Shaykh Ibn Baz adds a further recommended saying. When the muezzin reaches the two testimonies — "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah," "I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah" — you may say:

"Raditu billahi Rabban, wa bil-Islami dinan, wa bi-Muhammadin rasulan" — "I am pleased with Allah as my Lord, with Islam as my religion, and with Muhammad as a messenger."

He cites a hadith from Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas that whoever says this upon hearing the testimony has his sins forgiven.

In the Fajr adhan

When the muezzin says "al-salatu khayrun min al-nawm" ("prayer is better than sleep"), you say the same words back. Shaykh Ibn Baz notes this follows the general instruction to repeat what the muezzin says. He also notes, in a separate fatwa, that this phrase belongs in the second adhan — the one after dawn — because that is the call meant to wake people for the obligatory prayer; the first adhan before dawn serves to alert those praying tahajjud and those who still need to pray witr.

The du'a after the adhan

Once the muezzin has finished, the sunnah is to do three things in order: send blessings on the Prophet ﷺ, ask Allah to grant him al-wasilah (the station in Paradise), and then recite the du'a below.

"When you hear the muezzin, say the like of what he says, then send blessings on me, for whoever sends one blessing on me, Allah sends ten on him. Then ask Allah to grant me al-wasilah, for it is a station in Paradise that belongs to only one servant of Allah, and I hope to be that one. Whoever asks al-wasilah for me, my intercession becomes due for him."— Sahih Muslim 384, from Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As

The specific du'a, reported by al-Bukhari from Jabir ibn Abdullah رضي الله عنهما:

"Whoever says when he hears the call: 'O Allah, Lord of this perfect call and of the prayer that is about to be established, grant Muhammad al-wasilah and al-fadilah, and raise him to the praised station You promised him' — my intercession will be due for him on the Day of Resurrection."— Sahih al-Bukhari 614, from Jabir ibn Abdullah

In Arabic, this is the du'a known as "Allahumma Rabba hadhihi al-da'wati al-tammah..."

When exactly to say it

IslamWeb (fatwa 394486) notes that the scholars differed on this. Ibn Hajar, in Fath al-Bari, said the apparent meaning of "when he hears the call" is that you say it during the adhan, not restricted to after it — but he then favoured the view that "the call" means its completion, since an absolute term is carried upon the complete form. Al-Qastallani in Irshad al-Sari took the same position, and this is supported by the Muslim narration above, which explicitly places the blessings and the request for al-wasilah after the adhan ends. The majority position, and the one Shaykh Ibn Baz states plainly, is that it comes after the muezzin finishes.

The muezzin himself

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin was asked whether the muezzin also says this du'a. He answered that he does — because this du'a is not part of the adhan itself, so the muezzin says it after finishing, just as the listener does. He rejected the view that the muezzin should "answer himself" during the adhan, since the Prophet ﷺ distinguished the hearer from the muezzin: "When you hear the muezzin, say the like of what he says."

Two additions people make

"Wa al-darajah al-rafi'ah"

Some add "and the lofty rank" to the du'a. Shaykh al-Albani points out this is an addition not found in the prophetic text — and it is redundant, since the lofty rank is the wasilah. He urges leaving the du'a exactly as the Prophet ﷺ taught it.

"Innaka la tukhlif al-mi'ad"

Others close with "Indeed You do not break Your promise." Here the scholars differ. Shaykh Ibn Baz says it is correct to say it, because al-Bayhaqi reported it with a good chain from Jabir. Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin agrees, explaining that a trustworthy narrator's addition that does not contradict the base text is accepted by the scholars of hadith. Shaykh al-Albani, however, held that it should not be added, treating it as an unwarranted extension of the taught du'a.

What not to say

IslamWeb (fatwa 171437) states that saying "sadaqa Allahu al-'azim" in response to the adhan is not from the sunnah — the sunnah is what has been narrated from the Prophet ﷺ, and attaching a specific dhikr to a specific time without evidence makes it an innovated addition. The Permanent Committee (fatwa 10972) likewise ruled that saying "qurratu 'ayni ya Muhammad" after the testimony of faith is an innovation with no evidence, and that the sunnah is to repeat the muezzin's words without addition, except at the hay'ala.

Key takeaways

• Repeat the adhan phrase by phrase — this is an agreed-upon instruction from the Prophet ﷺ, not merely a recommendation.
• At "come to prayer" and "come to success," say "La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah" instead of repeating the muezzin.
• After the adhan ends, send blessings on the Prophet ﷺ, then recite the wasilah du'a beginning "Allahumma Rabba hadhihi al-da'wati al-tammah."
• The muezzin says the du'a too, after he finishes — it is not part of the adhan itself.
• Do not add "wa al-darajah al-rafi'ah"; the scholars are agreed it is not in the text. On "innaka la tukhlif al-mi'ad," Ibn Baz and Ibn Uthaymin permit it while al-Albani did not.

Further reading

• Fath al-Bari of Ibn Hajar, on the chapter of du'a at the call
• Irshad al-Sari of al-Qastallani
• Majmu' Fatawa wa Maqalat of Shaykh Ibn Baz

And Allah knows best.