Ruling on talking to the muezzin while calling the azan

2-5-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

Is it permissible to interrupt the muezzin and talk to him due to an important matter while he is calling the azan?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Your talking to the muezzin entails that he will speak, and this is not a wrong action according to some scholars. Other scholars restrict the permissibility of such an action to cases where there is an interest, while others absolutely dislike it. Imam Ash-Shaafi‘i said in his book Al-Umm:

I dislike speaking while calling the azan when that involves no benefit for people, and if the muezzin speaks about something that involves no benefit, then the azan is invalid. (He also said:) I recommend that the muezzin refrains from speaking until he finishes the azan. If he speaks during the azan, then he does not have to repeat the statements of the azan that preceded his speech whatever this speech might have been.

Ibn Abi Shaybah said in Al-Musannaf that ‘Ata’ reported that Al-Hasan and Hajjaj found nothing wrong with the muezzin speaking while calling the azan. Moreover, he said that this was also the view of Qatadah, who had perhaps even done so.

On the other hand, Ibn Abi Shaybah also mentioned that Al-Muzani, Ibn Seereen and Ash-Sha‘bi disliked doing this. According to the Maaliki scholars, greeting the Muazzin with the salaam is disliked because it entails that he answers the greeting, which results in the azan being interrupted. So what then if he were to speak due to a reason other than answering the greeting of peace?

Hence, you should not talk to the muezzin if this will cause him to answer you, unless there is a need, in which case doing this is not disliked provided that the speech is limited to what is needed.

Allah knows best.