that is straight {6}, the path of those You have blessed, not those who have incurred Your wrath, nor those who have gone astray {7}.’ Allah says: ‘These are for My servant, and My servant shall have what he asks for.’”

Thus the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, reported that his Lord said: “I have divided the prayer between Myself and My servant into two halves.” Prayer, in its linguistic sense, has been said to mean supplication, and supplication is of two kinds, as explained above. The half belonging to the Lord, glorious and exalted, consists of praising Him. What is sought thereby is He Himself, glorified and exalted be He: He is worshipped, sought and invoked for His own sake. The other half, belonging to the servant, consists of asking and seeking something from Him. In this case, He is approached for that purpose, and requests and petitions are addressed to Him.

He is the One to whom all turn in both matters; neither form of turning is rightly directed to anyone else. He is also One in both respects: no other can rightly be the one worshipped, nor the one relied upon, whose help is sought and to whom requests are addressed. Thus He is the One to whom all turn in the half belonging to Him, as in “You alone we worship”; and He is the One to whom all turn in the half belonging to the servant, as in “And You alone we ask for help” {5}.

This is why some of the early generations said that Allah, glorified be He, sent down one hundred and four books, gathering their meanings into the four; all the meanings of the four into the Quran; all the meanings of the Quran into the Mufassal section; all the meanings of the Mufassal into the Mother of the Quran; and the meanings of the Mother of the Quran into His words: “You alone we worship, and You alone