the praises that are in the Quran, and the supplications that are in the Quran.
A correspondence then arises between the servant’s remembrance through the Quran, because it is God’s speech, and God’s remembrance of him in His words, “I will remember you” [al-Baqarah 2:152]. God also remembers the one who remembers Him, and His remembrance is His speech, so a correspondence arises between the two remembrances.
If the servant uses a remembrance he invents, that correspondence between God’s speech in remembering the servant and the servant’s remembrance is absent. The servant has neither remembered Him with the intention of what is in the Quran nor intended the Quran, even if his wording happens to coincide with it unintentionally.
Moreover, this remembrance through the Quran takes place in prayer and is joined to obligatory remembrances, which are more excellent with God. The servant is commanded to recite the Opening of the Book in prayer, which is why the scholars who hold it obligatory do so. Likewise, the servant is commanded to glorify during bowing and prostration with what was sent down in the Quran. This is his saying, may God bless him and grant him peace, “Put this in your bowing,” and “Put this in your prostration.” He commanded it. The worshipper is commanded to glorify God with the prescribed words three times or more in bowing and three times or more in prostration. That is the minimum, and his command is understood as imposing an obligation.
This is why one scholar, Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Rāhawayh, held it obligatory and held that prayer is insufficient if someone fails to glorify three times in bowing and prostration.
(Seeking Help Through Prayer)
God, exalted is He, said, “Seek help in remembering Me and thanking Me through patience and prayer.”[14] [al-Baqarah 2:153]. Had the Real not
Notes
[14]
(This is an explanatory statement in which the author brings together the meanings of the verses under discussion. It is not a separate verse in this wording.)
