Hazrat Umar Heard Word of Azaan In his Dream

A short while after his arrival in Madinah, the Holy Prophet instructed his followers to build a mosque so that the Prayer Services can be held in it. Although Five Daily Prayers had been established and the part of the day they were required to be offered were known, yet the worshippers were unaware of the exact time of their commencement. They used to come to the mosque for each Prayer according to their own estimate of the time of the Service. This was not a satisfactory arrangement and it was felt that a suitable means should be adopted for calling Muslims to the Prayers. A consultation meeting was held and various suggestions were made.

As the Jews use a horn and the Christians use bells for the purpose of calling worshippers to Prayer, some Companions  gave their opinion that one of these means should be adopted. Hazrat Umar R.A, however suggested that someone should be appointed to announce that the Prayer was about to begin. The Holy Prophet approved of this suggestion and  directed  Bilal, a freed slave who had accepted Islam, to carry out this duty.

One day a Companion of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Abdullah bin Zaid Ansaari came to the Holy Prophet and told him that the words of Adhan, the Call to Prayer, were taught to him in a dream. The Holy Prophet told him to teach those words to Bilal. Hazrat Bilal learnt those phrases, stood up and with a loud voice recited the Adhan for the first  time. Hazrat Umar listened to these words and hastened to the Holy Prophet and told him that he, too, had heard the same words in a dream. The Holy Prophet was convinced that this was a Divine scheme and thus the Call to Prayer was established in Islam.