in a state of submission and lowliness, just as its recitation during a funeral procession is disliked, and most scholars dislike reciting it in a bathhouse. The period after the tashahhud (testimony of faith in prayer) is a time for supplication, prescribed through the Prophet’s practice and command, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Supplication at that point is superior; indeed, it is what is prescribed, rather than recitation or remembrance. Likewise, during circumambulation, at ‘Arafah and Muzdalifah, and when stoning the pillars, what is prescribed is remembrance and supplication. Scholars have differed over whether recitation during circumambulation is disliked, holding two well-known opinions.

(The second kind is when a servant is unable to perform the more excellent deed: either he cannot perform it at all, like someone who has not memorized the Quran and cannot memorize it—as in the case of the Bedouin who questioned the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace—or he cannot perform it fully, although he can perform the less excellent deed fully.

This explains why some have said that remembrance is superior to reciting the Quran: a person making such a statement may be describing his own condition. Most spiritual wayfarers—indeed, even those among them who possess spiritual insight—speak only of what they have tasted and experienced, rather than stating something applicable to everyone. For experiential knowledge concerns specific particulars, whereas knowledge encompasses what is general and universal.

Through remembrance, such a person may experience a collected heart, strengthened faith, the dispelling of intrusive whisperings, and increased tranquillity, light, and guidance that he does not experience when reciting the Quran. Indeed, when he recites the Quran, he may not understand it, or may fail to engage his heart and understanding, and he is beset by intrusive whisperings