In this appendix, I present a number of innovations relating to voluntary prayers, without attempting an exhaustive survey.

[I have deemed it appropriate to append to the book a supplement listing the innovations associated with voluntary prayers. Many people are unaware of them and consequently fall into them, so I wished to offer them further sincere counsel by explaining these innovations and warning against them. This is because Allah, Exalted is He, accepts a deed only when it fulfills two conditions:

The first is that it be performed sincerely for His Countenance alone, Glorious and Exalted is He.

The second is that it be righteous; and it cannot be righteous unless it conforms to the Sunnah and does not contradict it.

It is well established among discerning scholars that every purported act of worship which the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—did not prescribe for us by his words, nor perform himself as a means of drawing near to Allah, is contrary to his Sunnah. This is because the Sunnah is of two kinds: the Sunnah of action and the Sunnah of omission. Thus, among such acts of worship, whatever he—peace and blessings be upon him—refrained from doing, the Sunnah is likewise to refrain from it.

Consider, for example, the call to prayer for the two Eid prayers or at the burial of the deceased. Although it constitutes remembrance and glorification of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, one may not use it as a means of drawing near to Allah, Glorious and Exalted is He. This is solely because it is a practice omitted by the Messenger