The Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—said:

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“There are three kinds of opening formulas for prayer.”

These are also the categories of remembrance in general, apart from the Quran. The highest consists of praise of Allah, followed by statements in which the servant declares his worship of Allah. The third consists of supplication on the servant’s behalf. Speech is either declarative or non-declarative, and the finest declarative speech concerns Allah. Statements concerning Allah are superior to statements concerning anyone else and to non-declarative utterances. This is why

“Say: He is Allah, the One”

is equivalent to one-third of the Quran: it contains statements concerning Allah. Likewise, the Verse of the Throne is the greatest verse in the Quran because it speaks about Allah. Thus, remembrance of the same kind as this surah and this verse is the finest kind.

Making requests of the Lord ranks below remembrance devoted solely to Him, as in the hadith of Mālik ibn al-Huwayrith:

“Whoever is so occupied with remembering Me that he does not ask Me, I grant him better than what I grant those who ask.”

This is why al-Fātihah consists of two halves: half praise and half supplication. And the half