This brings us to a fundamental juristic question: which is superior—adab (courteous reverence) or strict following and compliance? The majority give preference to the latter; indeed, some even state that true adab is nothing but following. I (the author) note: this very opinion is cited by Shaykh al-Tahthawi in Maraqi al-Falah, p. 158, quoting al-Shihab’s commentary on al-Shifa. Al-Suyuti records something similar in al-Hirz al-Mani, p. 66, on the authority of the philologist al-Majd. I am frankly puzzled that such a difference ever arose among scholars. I cannot imagine adab being better than obedience, for that would imply that obedience lacks the propriety due to the Prophet ﷺ—an obvious contradiction. Moreover, the view carries grave implications that would alter the very fabric of the sharia. Consider, for example, the twin testimonies of faith in the adhan, the iqamah, and the tashahhud during prayer. On that reasoning, the most virtuous wording would become: “I bear witness that our master Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” If adab toward the Messenger of Allah ﷺ were preferred to complying with his explicit directives, one could—by even stronger logic—claim that adab toward Allah Himself outweighs compliance with His commands. People might then say, “I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah, Sublime is He,” and invent similar phrases to signal exaltation and transcendence. No intelligent scholar would ever license such tampering with Allah’s religion. The only sound course is to reject that opinion and embrace its opposite: compliance is better than adab; indeed, compliance is adab in its highest form. May Allah have mercy on Ibn Masud, who said: “Moderation while adhering to the sunnah is better than strenuous effort in innovation.” As the maxim runs: “Every good lies in following those who have passed, and every evil in the innovations of those who came later.”