take the opposite approach: they allow greater latitude in supplication. This is the correct view, because the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“Then let him choose whichever supplication he likes best.”

He prescribed no fixed wording for supplication in the funeral prayer, nor did he prescribe a particular supplication for his Companions as he prescribed forms of remembrance for them. How, then, can one restrict the supplication that the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, left unrestricted, while leaving unrestricted the remembrance whose wording he prescribed? Moreover, remembrance is superior to supplication, as we have established elsewhere. For this reason, knowledge-bearing forms of remembrance entail what al-thunā’iyya do not.

This is also why the finest words after the Quran are the enduring righteous words:

“Glory be to Allah; all praise is due to Allah; none has the right to be worshipped but Allah; and Allah is the Greatest.”

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, instructed those unable to recite the Quran to say these words, and said:

“They are the finest words after the Quran.”

Likewise, the best opening invocation in prayer is the one that incorporates these meanings:

“Glory be to You, O Allah, and all praise is Yours. Blessed is Your name, exalted is Your majesty, and none has the right to be worshipped but You.”

The reasons for this have been explained elsewhere. We have mentioned that this is praise and is therefore superior to supplication. It is praise conveying the meaning of the finest words after the Quran, and this is conducive to having one’s supplication answered. This is illustrated by what al-Bukhārī narrated in his Sahīh from Abū Umāmah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: