Next in merit comes the second type: a statement of the servant’s worship, such as his saying:

“I have turned my face towards the One who created the heavens and the earth,” and so forth.

This also includes supplication. If the servant recites this after the preceding invocation when beginning the prayer, he combines all three types. This is the best form of opening invocation, as is explicitly stated in a hadith. It is the choice of Abū Yūsuf and the minister Ibn Hubayra, a follower of Ahmad and the author of Al-Ifsāh. This is how I myself begin the prayer.

Next comes the third type, such as his saying:

“O Allah, distance me from my sins as You have distanced the east from the west,” and so forth.

The same applies to the remembrance recited when bowing and prostrating: glorifying Allah in these positions is better than saying, “To You I have bowed, and to You I have prostrated.” This, in turn, is better than supplication. As far as I know, this ranking is agreed upon, for I know of no one who has said that supplication during bowing and prostration is better than glorifying Allah, although such a view has been expressed concerning the opening invocation.

If you say: “This ranking is the reverse of the ranking of the chains of transmission. In the two Sahīh collections, the only hadith from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, concerning the opening invocation in an obligatory prayer is this supplication: ‘O Allah, distance me from my sins.’ His saying, ‘I have turned my face,’ is in Sahīh Muslim, whereas the hadith beginning, ‘Glory be to You, O Allah,’ is in the Sunan collections and has been subject to criticism. It has also been narrated that this was used in the night prayer, as was his saying, ‘I have turned my face.’”