the student of knowledge. Moreover, this was an action of the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, not a command. He did not say, “Place your fingers upon your eyes and ears,” such that we would say it is necessary to carry out the Messenger’s command. Rather, as appears to us, his purpose was to affirm the attributes of hearing and sight, not to prescribe this as an act of worship. So why should we impose this upon ourselves and repeatedly ask about it merely in order to do it before ordinary people?

In sum, the student of knowledge should be both a teacher and an educator. Anything that may lead to tribulation, and is not an indispensable obligation, should be avoided.

More serious still is what some people do when they cite the hadith: “The hearts of the children of Adam are between two fingers of the Most Merciful” (1). They then illustrate this by bringing some of their fingers together, thereby depicting the heart as being between two of Allah’s fingers. This is grave audacity and a fabrication against the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, for he did not illustrate it in this manner. How does this poor man, who makes such a representation, know that the hearts’ being between two of Allah’s fingers is in this particular manner? Let him fear Allah, his Lord, and not go beyond what is conveyed by the Quran and hadith.

The author, may Allah have mercy on him, says: If one recites according to a variant reading outside the Uthmanic codex, the prayer is invalid.

An example of this is Allah’s saying in the verse concerning the expiation for an oath: “...oaths: their expiation is to feed ten needy people from the average of what you feed your own families, or”