they bring the supplicant no answer and are not accepted from him. The hadith states: “Whoever performs a deed that is not in accordance with this matter of ours will have it rejected.”1

Fourth: Innovated supplications often contain something prohibited by Islamic law. That prohibition may involve means and avenues leading to shirk, for religious innovation leads to shirk and misguidance. Among the innovated supplications that lead to shirk is innovated tawassul (seeking a means of approach to Allah), which opened the door to invoking others besides Allah and seeking rescue and aid from them. The prohibition may also consist of transgressing in supplication, exceeding proper bounds, and showing poor manners when addressing and privately beseeching the Lord. It may also lie in the other innovations accompanying such supplications, such as assigning them specific times and particular forms; raising voices according to particular melodies, distinctive rhythms, and contrived rhymes; and using feeble constructions that offend the ear and that sound judgment finds distasteful.

Fifth: Those who commit themselves to innovated supplications and become accustomed to them rarely return to the prescribed supplications—unless Allah grants them success, assists them, and guides them to what is good. This is because once hearts become occupied with religious innovations, they turn away from the sunnah. Those committed to such innovated supplications believe them to be prescribed and defend them, refusing to listen to either proof or evidence.

Sixth: Using innovated supplications while abandoning the prescribed ones amounts to substituting the impure for the wholesome, the harmful for the beneficial, and evil for good. This is undoubtedly a grossly ruinous exchange, manifest recklessness, and devastating loss.