Mahdhūrah to teach him Islam, not to teach him the call to prayer.” The correct view is that he made it part of the call to prayer. This is how Abū Mahdhūrah understood it, and both he and his descendants practised it, with the Muslims accepting their practice in Mecca and elsewhere. Some regarded the call to prayer without tarjīʿ as disliked. This too is mistaken, for the established form of Bilāl’s call to prayer contains no tarjīʿ. Another group regarded tarjīʿ in it as disliked. Some regarded prayer in circumstances of fear as disliked unless performed according to the hadith of Ibn ʿUmar, while others regarded the form prescribed by that group as disliked. The correct view in all these matters is that no form established in the Sunnah is disliked; rather, all are permissible. This has been discussed at length elsewhere.

Our concern here is the second perspective: when the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, practised something in different forms, then—even if some of those forms are considered superior—following his example by practising one form on some occasions and another on others is better than adhering to one and abandoning the other.

An example is the opening supplication. In the two Sahīh collections, Abū Hurayrah said:

“I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, during your silence between the opening takbīr and the recitation, what do you say?’ He replied, ‘I say: O Allah, distance me from my sins as You have distanced the east from the west. O Allah, cleanse me of my sins as a white garment is cleansed of dirt. O Allah, wash away my sins with snow, water and hail.’”

Al-Bukhārī included no report concerning the opening supplication other than