and everything that is obligatory or recommended in worship and supplication must have been prescribed by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, for his community. If he did not prescribe this for his community, then it is neither obligatory nor recommended, nor is it an act of drawing near to Allah or of obedience to Him, nor a means of having supplication answered. All of this has already been discussed at length. Whoever believes otherwise concerning either of these practices is misguided, and his innovation is among the blameworthy innovations. Authentic hadiths and an examination of the practice of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his rightly guided caliphs make it clear that this was not prescribed among them.

It has also become clear that this is petitioning Allah Most High on a basis that has no bearing on the answering of supplication. It is like petitioning Him by the Kaaba, Mount Sinai, the Kursī, mosques, or other created things. It is well known that petitioning Allah by created things is not prescribed, just as swearing by them is not prescribed; rather, it is forbidden. Thus, just as no one may swear by a created being, no one may adjure Allah by a created being or petition Him by a created being itself. Rather, one should petition Him only through means relevant to the answering of supplication, as explained in detail earlier. Reports and statements permitting this have, however, been transmitted from some scholars. Yet nothing transmitted from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, on this matter is established; rather, all such reports are fabricated.

As for reports from those whose statements do not constitute authoritative evidence, some are established and others are not. The hadith narrated by Ahmad and Ibn Mājah includes the words:

“By the right that those who ask of You have upon You, and by the right of