comprises numerous branches—some sixty-odd or seventy-odd in all—and that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) purposely left them unspecified so that each believer would strive personally, combing through the texts of the Quran and the Sunnah to identify those branches and put them into practice. This occurs often: in both Revelation and Prophetic teaching there are matters left deliberately ambiguous by Allah and His Messenger as a trial, so that the diligent may be distinguished from the indifferent.

For instance, Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Decree) falls within the last ten nights of Ramadan—or, more precisely, the last seven—but no one knows on which exact night. This ambiguity spurs people to worship on every one of those nights in the hope of attaining it; had the night been named outright, they would have exerted themselves only then and grown lax on the other nights.

Another example is the ṣaʿah al-ijābah (the hour of answered supplication) on Friday: during that day there is a moment in which no Muslim servant happens to coincide with it while standing in prayer and asking Allah for something without receiving it. Its exact timing has likewise been concealed so that people will persist in seeking it and remain constant in worship. The same is true of each night, for in every night there is an hour of response in which whoever calls upon Allah, exalted is He, will have his prayer answered.

In the same manner, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us that Allah has ninety-nine