and, in fact, it is recommended to avoid imitating them in whatever they have innovated and adopted as a defining emblem—as the madhhab explicitly states—such as placing a stone on top of the prayer-rug. Granted, all the imams agree that prostrating directly on natural ground is superior, and Ahl al-Sunnah allow prostration on carpets, fur, and the like; nonetheless, putting a stone or lump of clay on the rug is a bidʿa (innovation) they originated and has become a badge of their sect. It should therefore be shunned for two reasons: 1. Simply following them in an innovation, for the hadith says: “Differ from the Jews and Christians.” 2. To pre-empt suspicion; another report reads: “Avoid places that give rise to suspicion.”(*) An analogous case is stopping at al-Mustajar to make duʿaʾ, for that too has become one of their hallmarks, as is leaving Mecca for Yalamlam to assume ihram outside the sacred precinct—even though the act itself is agreed to be permissible by scholars and jurists—unlike practices they share with us as an ongoing sunnah, such as going to Tanʿim or Jiʿirrana to enter ihram for ʿumra. In short, opposing the innovators in otherwise lawful matters is commendable: it deters them and restores people to sound practice. The pointing gesture we are discussing, however, is firmly established on the correct path and does not fall under this ruling. Another proof for it is ijmaʿ (scholarly consensus): no opposition is known from the Companions or the early scholars regarding this matter, the permissibility of the gesture, or the soundness of the accompanying wording. It was endorsed by our Greatest Imam and his two chief disciples, as well as by Imams Malik, Shafiʿi, Ahmad, and all the scholars of the various lands and generations, in accordance with the authentic hadiths and reports, and our early shaykhs stated it explicitly. _________ (*) The wording “Avoid places that give rise to suspicion” has no authentic marfuʿ chain, as noted in al-Daʿifa, no. 113.