Assalamu alaikum. Please let me know the correct pronunciation of takbir "Allahu akber Allahu akber" or "Allahu akberullahu akber' in Azan and Ikamah. Zazakallah. Md. Shahidullah

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

The scholars have held different opinions about the Takbeer, whether there should be a short pause after each two instances of Takbeer or after each single one. Some scholars held that it is an act of Sunnah (recommended) to pause shortly after each two instances of Takbeer as the Shaafi‘i scholar Ash-Shirbeeni said in Mughni Al-Muhtaaj: "Reciting (Tarteel) the Athaan means pronouncing its words slowly; he pronounces each two instances of Takbeer together and pauses after the other phrases of the Athaan."

Haashiyat Al-Jamal reads: "It is recommended to recite each two instances of Takbeer together given that they are easy to pronounce."

Al-Albaani preferred this view in his book As-Silsilah Adh-Dha‘eefah [1/172].

However, other scholars maintained that there should be a pause after each phrase of the Athaan because each phrase gives an independent meaning rather than confirms what precedes it. This was the view adopted by the Hanbalis. An-Najdi said: "The instances of Takbeer at the beginning of the Athaan should be recited in four sentences and at the end in two sentences, because the second instance of Takbeer is a new sentence and not a confirmation. So, he should say, 'Allaahu Akbar' then pause, and likewise for the rest of the instances of Takbeer." [Commentary on Ar-Rawdh Al-Murbi‘]

Shaykh Bakr Abu Zayd considered this the most valid opinion in his book Tas-heeh Ad-Du‘aa’ (385–392), and he reported a refutation of the first scholarly opinion from early jurists.

The correct opinion is that both modes of recitation are valid. Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah wrote, "Among the people there some who recite the four instances of Takbeer in the Athaan in two sentences, articulating the inflection of the first instance of Takbeer. This is correct according to the early Muslim generations and the majority of late scholars, whether the Mu’aththin recites each instance of Takbeer as one sentence followed by a pause or makes a pause after each two instances of Takbeer."