9 – It urges one to keep the company of scholars and righteous people—those who increase a person in beneficial knowledge, strengthen his faith, and draw him nearer to his Lord.
10 – If someone is unable to manage the larger number of prescribed repetitions, or is pre-occupied by something else, performing the smaller number is a permissible concession, for the Sacred Law came with leniency in situations of travel and other valid excuses. Allah knows best.
11 – The remembrances contained in these sound texts are the ones that are legislated. Whatever litanies have been newly devised, together with the particular forms and descriptions invented for them, are innovations. Concerning such matters the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever introduces into this affair of ours something that does not belong to it, it is rejected.” (Muslim 1718). Examples include: seeking forgiveness collectively in one voice after the salām; following it with the phrase, “O Most Merciful of the merciful, have mercy on us”; rotating the outstretched fingers of the right hand over the head; bringing the fingertips of both hands together and placing them on the eyes after the prayer; reciting three verses from Sūrat Āl ʿImrān; sending blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ after Fajr and Maghrib; and any other remembrance for which no Sunnah exists. Such practices are impermissible; one must confine himself to what has been authentically reported, for the worship of Allah Most High is to be performed only in the manner He has legislated.
12 – One therefore asks Allah for assistance in attaining these three aims—remembering Him, thanking Him, and worshipping Him in the most excellent way. They are ends in realizing obedience to Allah, the purpose for which He created His servants, and they are means to securing His bounty and mercy.
Scholarly Disagreement:
The scholars have differed regarding whether a person may exceed the specified number in these remembrances. Some maintained that if he goes beyond the stated count he will not receive the particular reward attached to it, for those numbers may carry a wisdom and a distinctive property that is lost when the limit is surpassed. Al-Qarāfī, in al-Qawāʿid, even went so far as to say that among the disliked innovations is to add to