(al-Fātiḥah). Thus, supplication is itself an act of worship. This wording therefore implies that one should petition Allah Exalted be He and no one else, and that one should seek assistance from Allah alone, to the exclusion of all others.

Know that asking Allah rather than His creation is the only proper course, for supplication lays bare the asker’s humility, indigence, need, and poverty, while simultaneously acknowledging the power of the One petitioned to remove distress, secure the sought-after good, confer benefits, and repel harms. Such abasement and dependence are befitting only of Allah alone, for they constitute the very essence of worship.