is due to Allah.’”
In al-Muwatta and elsewhere, Talhah ibn Abd Allāh ibn Kurayz reports that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
“The best words that I and the prophets before me have said are: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah alone, with no partner. To Him belongs sovereignty, and to Him belongs all praise, and He has power over all things.’”
The Sunan collections contain the hadith about the man who said, “O Messenger of Allah, I am unable to learn any of the Quran, so teach me something that will suffice for me in my prayer.” He replied:
“Say: ‘Glory be to Allah; all praise is due to Allah; none has the right to be worshipped but Allah; and Allah is the Greatest.’”
For this reason, the jurists have said that whoever is unable to recite the Quran in prayer should turn instead to these words, which are enduring good deeds. The virtues of these words and others like them are many, but this is not the place to discuss them. Our concern here, however, is with forms of remembrance and supplication that are not of a prescribed kind, or that are forbidden in themselves or in the manner in which they are performed.
As Allah Most High says:
“Call upon your Lord humbly and in secret. Indeed, He does not love transgressors.”
And Allah Most High says:
“To Allah belong the most beautiful names, so call upon Him by them.”
Thus, He is to be invoked only by His most beautiful names.
Among the forbidden forms is what people used to say in their talbiyah—the pilgrimage response—in the days of ignorance:
“Here I am at Your service. You have no partner, except a partner who belongs to You: You own him and all that he owns.”
Another example is what some Bedouins said to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him:
“We seek Allah’s intercession with you.”
The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, replied:
“Allah’s majesty is far greater than that. Allah is not to be invoked as an intercessor with any of His creation.”
Another example is what they used to say in the early days of Islam: