and therefore his statement in no way nullifies the recommended practice of adding the Prophet’s family (al) when invoking salat upon him ﷺ in the prayer. Do you not see that the very same Ibn Taymiyya—like the scholars before and after him—affirmed the legitimacy of mentioning the family in the Abrahamic formulae of salat, as can be seen in several passages we already quoted from his Majmuʿ al-Fatawa? Had I his Minhaj al-Sunna at hand, I would have checked his exact wording and we might have found even clearer evidence (see 4/594 and 606). That the family is not named in the Qurʾanic verse does not mean their inclusion is unlegislated, for the Sunnah has established it. It is common knowledge among Muslims that the Prophet is the clarifier of his Lord’s words, as Allah says: “We have sent down to you the Reminder so that you may explain to the people what has been revealed to them” (Q 16:44). The Prophet ﷺ therefore expounded how salat is to be offered for him, and in that explication he included his family; it is thus obligatory to accept it, in light of the verse: “Whatever the Messenger gives you, take it” (Q 59:7). He himself said, “Indeed, I have been given the Quran and something like it along with it,” a hadith authenticated in Takhrij al-Mishkat (nos. 163, 4247). The author introduces yet another specious argument that must be removed. After quoting the previous verse he writes: “What Arab—bright or dull—would not instantly grasp this speech, realising that salat is like the salam they said they already knew? How, then, could they ask about something they did not ignore? Would the Messenger of Allah command other than what Allah commanded?” With these words he tries to discredit the hadiths on salat for the family, because among them, as noted earlier, is the Companion’s question: “We already know the salam; so how do we invoke salat upon you?” He therefore deems it impossible that the Companions would ask such a question, for