belongs in purely customary matters. Our issue, however, is one that has both a customary and a devotional dimension. Were it purely customary, the case for empirically proven treatment would prevail, since people know best the affairs of their worldly lives. Perhaps this is the crux of the disagreement. By Allah, I fear that one who abandons the sunnah in favor of something established by experience may fall under the Prophet’s warning, peace and blessings be upon him: “Whoever turns away from my sunnah is not of me.” (1) There are numerous hadiths concerning this matter. I will not abandon all of them for an invocation that some deem commendable or a practice that they have tried.

It should also be borne in mind that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was granted concise, comprehensive speech and its finest opening formulas. There is no doubt that supplicating with transmitted formulas is more beneficial. In a supplication transmitted from him, peace and blessings be upon him, you will find a light unlike anything found in the words of anyone who came after the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Al-Shāfiʿī, may Allah have mercy on him, said: “The Muslims unanimously agree that when the sunnah has become clear to someone, he may not abandon it for the opinion of any person.” (2)

A full discussion of this principle could fill volumes. I have merely alluded to it briefly, sufficiently to make the intended point clear, and perhaps I have examined it fully elsewhere. I shall now begin presenting what I had written concerning envy and its treatment. Success comes from Allah.