like praising Allah with a form of praise not prescribed for one. Something of this kind occurred among some of the Companions during the Prophet’s lifetime, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He did not rebuke the person for offering praise that had not been prescribed for him on that occasion; rather, he denied that he would receive any reward for it.

Some supplications are disliked without invalidating the prayer, while others invalidate it. Supplication thus falls into five categories:

The prescribed categories are the obligatory and the recommended. Permissible supplication is neither recommended nor does it invalidate the prayer. Disliked supplication is objectionable but does not invalidate it, just as turning aside during prayer does not invalidate it, nor does reciting the testimony of faith while standing or reciting the Quran while sitting. Prohibited supplication invalidates it because it constitutes ordinary speech.

This is the precise meaning of Ahmad’s position. He did not regard supplication not transmitted in the reports as invalidating the prayer, but neither did he recommend it, since what is not prescribed cannot be recommended. He explained that the freedom to choose concerns prescribed supplication. Such supplication may follow either the wording of the revealed text or its meaning, since the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not restrict supplication to a single wording, as he did Quranic recitation.

Thus, because the purpose of the funeral prayer is supplication, he did not prescribe a fixed formula for it. And because remembrance of Allah is superior, its wording was more closely regulated, as with the call to prayer, the talbiya (pilgrimage proclamation), and similar forms of remembrance.

As for my grandfather’s statement—may Allah have mercy on him—“except with what has been transmitted in the reports and what concerns his religious affairs,” this is open to question, for Ahmad mentioned only the reports; furthermore,