and reciting some remembrances aloud in prayer, as ʿUmar recited the opening supplication aloud and Ibn ʿAbbās recited al-Fātihah aloud. The same applies to occasionally reciting “In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful” aloud. Some cases in this category fall under the first category, so that the particular form itself is enjoined, as with the qunūt supplication during calamities. Others are ruled out altogether. Performing an act of obedience commanded in general is good, whereas making something obligatory without a basis in the Sunnah is disliked.

This principle is beneficial when its parallel cases are considered together. It distinguishes innovations within forms of worship whose general category is prescribed, such as prayer, remembrance, and recitation. Such acts may have a particular characteristic that renders them disliked or forbidden, as with fasting on the two Eid days or praying at prohibited times. Equally, they may have a particular characteristic that renders them obligatory or recommended, as with the five daily prayers and the regular Sunnah prayers.

Thus, someone whose disposition inclines toward worship in general and encouraging it may fall into instituting as religion what Allah has not authorized. Likewise, someone whose disposition inclines toward abstract knowledge may fall into forbidding certain recommended acts or failing to encourage them.

This is why Allah reproached the polytheists for instituting as religion what He had not authorized and for prohibiting what He had not prohibited. This occurs frequently: among those who pursue Sufism are some whose innovative prescriptions lead them to institute religious law, while among those who pursue jurisprudence are some whose innovative prohibitions lead them to disbelief.