Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 145
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 145 dream to the Holy Prophet, who observed that this was a divine direction and told Abdullah to teach the Call to Bilal. When Bilal called the Azan for the first time Umar, on hearing it, hastened to the Holy Prophet and told him that he too had heard the sa me words in his dream. Thus was the current Azan established. No one will question that the Islamic Call to Prayer is the most blessed and most attractive way of calling people to divine worship. Five times a day, from every mosque around the globe, in eve ry city and every village inhabited by Muslims, the announcement is made of the Unity of God and the Prophethood of Muhammad, peace be on him, along with a brief but comprehensive exposition of Islamic doctrine and teaching. The Salat had been made obligatory while the Holy Prophet was still in Mecca, but except in the case of the Maghrib prayer service, which comprised three raka’a s, the other services comprised only two raka’a s. After the Migration to Medina the Holy Prophet, under divine direction, prescribed four raka’a s for the three services other than Fajr and Maghrib, except that the old system continue in respect of services during a journey. The Holy Prophet, peace be on him, laid the greatest stress, of all forms of worship, on the Salat. He observed that during the Salat a worshipper is in communion with his Maker. In his own case he was so fond of Salat that in addition to the five prescrib ed services he stood in Prayer for a long time in Tahajjud, after midnight, so that sometimes his feet would become swollen. He often observed that the Salat was the greatest comfort of his soul. At this stage the Muslims in Medina belonged to two categories: those who had migrated to Medina from Mecca or