Is It Permissible to Give Recorded Adhan from Radio? 

What Is the Proper Way to Give Adhan?

If the Adhan is given from a cassette recorder, or from the radio, or from one place and conveyed by mechanical means to other mosques, this is an innovation (Bid`ah).

Why Must the Adhan Be Given Live?

The scholars of the Standing Committee were asked:

Is the Adhan Sunnah for the prescribed obligatory prayers, and what is the ruling on giving it from a cassette recorder if there is no Mu’adhdhin who can do it properly?

They replied:

The Adhan is a communal obligation, in addition to it being an announcement that the time for prayer has begun and an invitation to come and pray. It is not sufficient to play a recording of the Adhan when the time for prayer comes. The Muslims in all areas in which regular prayer is established have to appoint someone who can do it properly when the time for prayer begins. (Shaykh `Abd Al-`Aziz ibn `Abdullah ibn Baz, Shaykh `Abd Ar-Razzaq `Afifi and Shaykh `Abdullah ibn Ghadyan)

They were also asked:

I have heard that some people in Muslim countries record the Adhan from the Two Holy Sanctuaries and broadcast that by loudspeaker instead of the Mu’adhdhin giving the Adhan. Is the prayer permissible (if this is done)? Please quote evidence from the Quran and Sunnah, with simple commentary.

They replied:

It is not sufficient for the Adhan which is prescribed for the obligatory prayers to be given by means of a tape on which the Adhan is recorded. Rather the Mu’adhdhin has to give the call to prayer himself, because it was proven that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded that the Adhan be given, and the basic principle concerning a command is that it is obligatory. (End quote from Fatawa Al-Lajnah Ad-Da’imah, 6/66, 67)

Proper Methods for Giving Adhan

The Islamic Fiqh Council of the Muslim World League issued a statement, during its ninth conference in Makkah Al-Mukarramah in 1406 AH, as follows:

Broadcasting the Adhan from the mosques when the time for prayer begins by means of a recorder and the like is not sufficient and is not permissible with regard to this act of worship. This does not count as the proper Adhan as prescribed in Shari`ah.

The Muslims must give the Adhan directly for each and every time of prayer, in each mosque, in the manner that has been passed down from generation to generation among the Muslims from the time of our Prophet and Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) until the present.

And Allah knows best.