aaa

Can Muslim Women Call the Adhan?

25 January, 2020
Q Dear scholar, thank you for answering our questions. Please answer my question. Is it permissible for Muslim women to say the adhan?

Answer

Dr. Jasser Auda
25 January, 2020

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. 

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

In this fatwa:

Muslim women can call the adhan amongst women. In the general mosques, the sunnah is that males give the adhan not women.

Answering your question about if women can call the adhan, Dr. Jasser Auda, Professor and Al-Shatibi Chair of Maqasid Studies at the International Peace College South Africa, states:

Yes, Muslim women can call the adhan amongst women. This is what Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) used to do. She used to call the adhan and the iqamah and lead other women in prayer.

However, there is no evidence that women can call the adhan for men and women except in a family setting, where women can call the adhan and even lead the prayer.

Umm Waraqah, daughter of Abdullah ibn al-Harith (may Allah be pleased with her) used to lead her family in the family setting including males. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to visit her at her house. He appointed a muezzin to call adhan for her; and he commanded her to lead the members of her house in prayer. (Abu Dawud)

In the general mosques, the sunnah is that males give the adhan not women.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Can women say adhan conditions of adhan who can say adhan women leading family members in prayer
About Dr. Jasser Auda
Jasser Auda is a Professor and Al-Shatibi Chair of Maqasid Studies at the International Peace College South Africa, the Executive Director of the Maqasid Institute, a global think tank based in London, and a Visiting Professor of Islamic Law at Carleton University in Canada. He is a Founding and Board Member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, Member of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, Fellow of the Islamic Fiqh Academy of India, and General Secretary of Yaqazat Feker, a popular youth organization in Egypt. He has a PhD in the philosophy of Islamic law from University of Wales in the UK, and a PhD in systems analysis from University of Waterloo in Canada. Early in his life, he memorized the Quran and studied Fiqh, Usul and Hadith in the halaqas of Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo. He previously worked as: Founding Director of the Maqasid Center in the Philosophy of Islamic Law in London; Founding Deputy Director of the Center for Islamic Ethics in Doha; professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada, Alexandria University in Egypt, Islamic University of Novi Pazar in Sanjaq, Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, and the American University of Sharjah. He lectured and trained on Islam, its law, spirituality and ethics in dozens of other universities and organizations around the world. He wrote 25 books in Arabic and English, some of which were translated to 25 languages.