Credits: كيف بدأ الأذان؟
رأى عبد الله بن زيد رضي الله عنه كلمات الأذان في منامه، فقال النبي ﷺ إنها رؤيا حق وأمر أن يُلقيها على بلال رضي الله عنه فأذّن بها، فلما سمعها عمر رضي الله عنه قال: لقد رأيت مثل ما رأى.Abdullah ibn Zayd saw the words of the Adhan in a dream; the Prophet ﷺ called it a true vision and had him teach them to Bilal, who called them out, and when Umar heard it he said he had seen the same. A hand-made-style paper-collage animation, rendered live in your browser with plain JavaScript and canvas.
Sources for the story
- Sunan Abi Dawud 499 (Abdullah ibn Zayd, Hasan Sahih per al-Albani): the man carrying a nāqūs in the dream, the dialogue, the words of the Adhan and then the iqamah, «إنها لرؤيا حق إن شاء الله», «فإنه أندى صوتًا منك», Umar coming out dragging his cloak: «والذي بعثك بالحق لقد رأيت مثل ما رأى», and «فلله الحمد».
- Sunan Abi Dawud 498 (Abu 'Umayr ibn Anas from his Ansari uncles, Hasan per al-Albani): the Prophet ﷺ concerned with how to gather people for prayer; the horn and the nāqūs suggested; Abdullah ibn Zayd went home preoccupied with that concern.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 604 and Sahih Muslim 377 (Ibn 'Umar): the Muslims in Madinah estimated the prayer time with no call; some suggested a nāqūs like the Christians', others a horn like the Jews'.
- Sunan Ibn Majah 706 (Hasan per al-Albani): a nāqūs was ordered and carved; and Jami' at-Tirmidhi 189: the dream and the Adhan taught to Bilal.
- Sunan Abi Dawud 519: Bilal usually called from the roof of a tall house near the mosque. Sahih al-Bukhari 446: the mosque of mud brick with palm-trunk pillars and a palm-frond roof.
- Ibn Hisham, al-Sira al-Nabawiyya 2/111 (the wording «مثل الذي رأى»); commentary: Badhl al-Majhud 3/242-247, Fath al-Bari.
- Narration note: the narration is a script written for this reel. Where it simplifies the sources (Umar coming «ليشهد» the first Adhan; Abdullah slipping away from Companions «المُجمِعين على الناقوس»; «علّمها بلالًا» for «فقم مع بلال فألق عليه ما رأيت»), the picture shows only what the sources support and quotes their exact wording on screen.
Out of respect, the Prophet ﷺ is never depicted, and people are shown only from behind. The man in Abdullah ibn Zayd's dream is not drawn in any form.
Made with
- Narration: an Arabic script written for this reel, voiced with Gemini TTS (voice Algieba); the animation, captions and sound are timed to it word by word.
- Illustrations: Google Gemini 3.1 Flash Image (backgrounds) and OpenAI GPT Image 2.5 (cut-outs), art-directed and reviewed frame by frame.
- Typefaces (SIL Open Font License): Playpen Sans Arabic, Marhey, Caveat Brush, Caveat, Patrick Hand, Aref Ruqaa.
- Animation engine, sound design and mix: written for this series.
Sound
No music is used. All sound effects are CC0 unless noted.
- amb_desert_dusk_wind: #666175 "Wind in dry tall grass bulrush type, close recording with muffled air sometimes, gust of wind, far away tree, recorded in Arivaca Road desert in Arizona" by felix.blume, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 92.0-114.5 s; HPF 100 Hz; 20 s seamless loop (2 s crossfade), -26 LUFS
- amb_jm_lane_quiet: #653946 "Quiet breeze with bird singing softly, insect noises, a horse neighs far sometimes" by felix.blume, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 25.0-49.0 s (no horse/insect buzz in this window); HPF 150 Hz x2; 22 s seamless loop (2 s crossfade), -24 LUFS
- amb_market_murmur: Market in Africa, in the small village of Diafarabé (Mali) (Freesound) by felix.blume, CC0 1.0. Edits: source 32.6-78.6 s (even open-air murmur with a few far sheep/goat bleats; no shouts, bells, engines, music or words that can be made out in this window; the source has a hand bell after 2:00, excluded); HPF 180 Hz, LPF 12 kHz; 44 s seamless loop (2 s crossfade), -26 LUFS; 48k/16-bit
- amb_night: #522299 "Crickets At Night - Raw sound" by Defelozedd94, CC0 1.0; #165526 "Wind singing in the mountain, some night cricket in background" by felix.blume, CC0 1.0. Edits: mixed 55/45 (RMS matched), 20 s seamless loop (2 s crossfade), -26 LUFS
- amb_oasis_morning: house `amb_palm_wind.wav` (#423800) + Birds Desert Morn (Freesound) by klangfabrik + cyanidecup45, CC0 1.0 (both). Edits: palm-frond wind (45 s loop) + #732076 0.5-27.9 s (HPF 300, LPF 10 kHz; small birds and a cooing dove) looped 22.5 s x2, 6 dB under the wind; Madinah oasis morning; 45 s seamless loop, -26 LUFS; 48k/16-bit
- amb_oasis_palms: #640526 "Dried_Banana_Leaves.wav" by gokalp_gonen, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 55.00-79.20 s (bird-free stretch); HPF 120 Hz; -26 LUFS, 1.5 s fade-in/2 s fade-out
- amb_palm_orchard_breeze: #423800 "Wind through Palm Trees.wav" by klangfabrik, CC0 1.0; #517526 "dove calling with out other side noise" by idreesbari, CC0 1.0. Edits: palm wind src 4.0-78.5 s, HPF 120 Hz, LPF ~4.2 kHz, -3 dB high shelf, -4 dB at 560 Hz; 72 s seamless loop (2.5 s crossfade) with slow loop-periodic ±4 dB swells that darken in the lulls; 3 laughing-dove phrases (src 0.60-1.75, 6.15-7.60, 17.50-18.90 s; band-limited 250 Hz-3 kHz, short diffuse echo) placed at 11.0 / 34.5 / 55.0 s; -24 LUFS. Made for fasting-monday-thursday (Madinah palm orchard, late morning)
- amb_quiet_room_day: #837996 "windy roomtone ile callot" by bruno.auzet, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 190.0-216.0 s; HPF 40 Hz, LPF 14 kHz; 24 s seamless loop (2 s crossfade), -26 LUFS
- sfx_card_thud: #824385 "Softcover book hitting table" by nyxlitten, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 3.80-4.25 s; HPF 60 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_cloth_swish_1: #391448 "Shirt Whoosh 1.wav" by saturdaysoundguy, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 6.70-7.40 s; HPF 80 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -72); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_cloth_swish_2: #391448 "Shirt Whoosh 1.wav" by saturdaysoundguy, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 9.60-10.30 s; HPF 80 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -72); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_cloth_swish_3: #320144 "Blanket Movement 6" by OwlStorm, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.16 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_door_wood_creak_1: Big door creak.wav (Freesound) by jemburyturner, CC0 1.0. Edits: source 0.10-4.50 s; HPF 70 Hz; a heavy wooden door groaning open; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS; 48k/16-bit
- sfx_dream_shimmer_short: synthesized for this series: Same engine, 1.6 s dense sparkle sting.
- sfx_footsteps_sand_walk: Footsteps wearing sneakers and jeans walking on dry sand in the desert (Freesound) by felix.blume, CC0 1.0. Edits: source 0.45-9.30 s; HPF 70 Hz; calm walking steps on dry sand (10 steps); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS; 48k/16-bit
- sfx_needle_punch_1: #188178 "Sewing/stitching up some fabric" by pfranzen, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.05-0.30 s; HPF 150 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_needle_punch_2: #188178 "Sewing/stitching up some fabric" by pfranzen, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 1.85-2.12 s; HPF 150 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_page_turn_1: #136778 "Page Turn" by davidbain, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.98 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_palm_stalk_rasp: #403653 "Wood_Sliding_Various-Objects.wav" by LamaMakesMusic, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 10.20-11.95 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_paper_rustle_3: #449127 "Rustling Paper" by HarpyHarpHarp, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 1.45-2.15 s; HPF 80 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -60); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_paper_slide_1: #464302 "PaperSlide.wav" by eyesonlegs, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.64 s; HPF 60 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -55); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_paper_slide_2: #444431 "Sliding Envelope.wav" by MTJohnson, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.20-1.10 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -3 dBFS
- sfx_paper_tear_1: #272028 "Ripping Paper" by aldenroth2, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.96 s; HPF 60 Hz,FFT denoise 8 dB (floor -60); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_paper_tear_2: #342541 "Fast Paper Rip" by sgrowe, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-0.89 s; HPF 60 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_paper_tear_3: #170311 "Tearing paper" by ludde44, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.20-1.52 s; HPF 60 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_pen_tick_1: #85703 "Pencil_scibble.aif" (via house `sfx_pencil_scribble_2.wav`) by tmkappelt, CC0 1.0. Edits: one tick cut from sfx_pencil_scribble_2 at 0.545-0.785 s; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_pen_tick_2: #85703 "Pencil_scibble.aif" (via house `sfx_pencil_scribble_2.wav`) by tmkappelt, CC0 1.0. Edits: one tick cut from sfx_pencil_scribble_2 at 1.245-1.505 s; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_pencil_scribble_1: #257518 "Scribble_short.wav" by waldram, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.27 s; HPF 150 Hz,FFT denoise 12 dB (floor -50); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_pencil_scribble_2: #85703 "Pencil_scibble.aif" by tmkappelt, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-3.20 s; HPF 150 Hz,FFT denoise 12 dB (floor -62); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_pottery_set_down_1: Ceramic clank and sliding over wooden table.wav (Freesound) by kessir, CC0 1.0. Edits: source 32.20-32.95 s; HPF 70 Hz, LPF 7 kHz; an earthy ceramic bowl set down (soft thud, no ring); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS; 48k/16-bit
- sfx_rope_creak: #231438 "hamp rope creaks" by 6polnic, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 6.64-7.38 s; HPF 90 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS (true peak about +0.3 dBTP)
- sfx_thread_pull: #408578 "27.Needle_thread.wav" by miguelab1998, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 1.24-1.76 s; HPF 150 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_thread_pull_1: #646586 "Sewing cloth.wav" by heifabaisi, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 92.55-93.30 s; HPF 100 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -60); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_thread_pull_2: #646586 "Sewing cloth.wav" by heifabaisi, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 29.15-30.10 s; HPF 100 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -60); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_tick: synthesized for this series: A short synthesized key click for typing in the Qaf app screen (made for this series). Non-instrumental.
- sfx_whoosh_soft_synth: synthesized for this series: White noise through a time-varying log-Gaussian band-pass sweeping 300 Hz -> 2.2 kHz, swell envelope, slow L->R pan.
- sfx_window_open: #669069 "window click and slide open and close.wav" by vestibule-door, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.20-2.10 s (latch click, then soft slide); HPF 100 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_wood_lid_knock: #475294 "Wooden Box: Open / Close 2 (Compilation)" by Sheyvan, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 7.98-9.00 s; HPF 60 Hz, LPF 17 kHz (removes a 19 kHz whine); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS