a place or time for a gathering devoted to worship, just as the Lawgiver has singled out the prayer times, Fridays, and the Eids; and just as He has accorded Mecca its special distinction, and distinguished the three mosques and all other mosques by the prayers and various acts of worship He has prescribed in each, as appropriate.

This explanation makes clear how the scriptural texts and scholarly consensuses that constitute the evidence of Islamic law are reconciled. What is meant by innovation is the opposite of prescribed religion: whatever has not been prescribed as part of the religion. Whenever a scriptural text or scholarly consensus establishes that an act is something Allah and His Messenger love, that act thereby ceases to qualify as an innovation. I have explained this at length in a substantial treatise on one of the major principles.

He also said—may Allah have mercy on him:

“The Raghā’ib prayer” is an innovation by agreement of the leading scholars of the religion. Neither the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—nor any of his caliphs instituted it, nor did any of the leading scholars of the religion recommend it, such as Mālik, al-Shāfi‘ī, Ahmad, Abū Hanīfa, al-Thawrī, al-Awzā‘ī, al-Layth, and others. The hadith narrated concerning it is a fabrication, by consensus of the scholars versed in hadith.

The same applies to the prayer mentioned for the first Friday night of Rajab, the prayer on the night of the Ascension, the Alfiyya prayer on the night of mid-Sha‘bān, and the prayers on Sunday, Monday, and other days of the week. Although some authors have mentioned these in works of spiritual edification, there is no disagreement among scholars versed in hadith that all the reports concerning them are fabricated. None of the leading scholars of the religion recommended these prayers. And in Sahīh Muslim