except one doomed to perish. Moreover, “There can be no doubt that remembrances and supplications are among the finest acts of worship. Acts of worship are founded upon revealed prescription and adherence, not caprice and innovation. The Prophetic supplications and remembrances are therefore the best that anyone seeking remembrance and supplication can pursue. Whoever follows them travels a path of safety and security, and the benefits and fruits they yield are beyond all expression and human comprehension. Other forms of remembrance may be forbidden, disliked, or even contain forms of associating partners with Allah that most people fail to recognize. This is a subject whose detailed treatment would be lengthy.”1

What is prescribed for a Muslim, then, is to remember Allah in the manner He has prescribed and to supplicate Him with the transmitted supplications. Allah has forbidden transgression in supplication, so we should follow what has been prescribed and established in the sunnah, just as we should in all other acts of worship, and not turn from it to anything else. “Among the most blameworthy of people is one who adopts a litany that has not been transmitted from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—even if it is the litany of one of the shaykhs, while abandoning the Prophetic litanies recited by the master of the children of Adam, the leader of creation, and Allah’s proof against His servants.”2 All goodness lies in following him, being guided by his guidance, and walking in his footsteps. He is the exemplar and model—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him—and he surpassed all people in remembering Allah and in supplicating Him, exalted is He.

Thus, when a servant combines adherence to the Prophetic remembrances and transmitted supplications with an understanding of their meanings and implications, and with an attentive heart during remembrance, his share of goodness is complete.