No one is exempt from a Sunnah prayer. It applies to every body. However, by definition, a Sunnah is not obligatory. A person has the choice whether to offer it or not. Once Omar ibn al-Khattab offered only one rak’ah in a Sunnah prayer in the mosque. He was asked about it. His answer was that it was only voluntary: people may reduce or increase it as they wish. It is not right that we question or criticize people on their practice of Sunnah. Had it been absolutely necessary to offer a particular prayer, God would have made it obligatory.

It is true that this practice is quite common in many parts of the Muslim world. We have no authentic report that the Prophet ever did this after having finished congregational prayer. He certainly finished prayer with glorification of Allah and praising Him, but he did that privately and he instructed his companions to do likewise. The best time to supplicate is after one finishes Tashahhud and just before finishing prayer altogether. If he says a couple of short supplications at that time, then he follows the Sunnah. He may lengthen that supplication as much as he wishes, if he is praying alone.

However, supplication by the imam during the prayer, with the congregation confirming the supplication with the word 'Amen', which means 'Answer our prayer, our Lord,' is acceptable. This form is known as 'qunoot.' The Prophet did that in Witr prayer and in other prayers in times of urgent need facing the Muslim community or when some of its members or the whole community were in distress. Therefore, qunoot in Witr is a Sunnah, while it is recommended in times of distress.

May I first begin by commenting on the analogy with a company assigning the management of a particular section of its factory or enterprises to its assistant manger or indeed to a manager of any description. That comparison is absurd. We cannot apply human standards to Allah. Far be it from Him to be subject to our conventions or to our limitations. A company assigns the management of a section of its work to a particular person simply because no human being can supervise a big enterprise, especially when it has numerous activities. As human beings, we have our limitations of ability, time, intelligence, comprehension, etc. A successful businessman who runs his own business increasing its scope of activity all the time will come to a stage when he can no longer cope with the demands of the business. Therefore, he seeks the help of assistants. If his business is more successful and grows bigger, he needs to appoint managers. They run their sections and refer to him for guidance. He resorts to such measures because one cannot handle the whole gamut of operations.

Can anyone who believes in Allah imagine that the same sort of limitations apply to the Creator of the universe? Allah forbids that any of us may entertain such an absurd thought. Allah knows everything, hears all and sees all that happens in the whole universe and He has power over all creatures. His will is free, absolute. His power is limitless, infinite. He is the Lord of all, Who creates all and controls all. He assigns none of His power to anyone, because He is in no need of partners. Our faith of Islam is based, in its entirety, on the Oneness of Allah and the inadmissibility of associating any partners with Him.

Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is the last of a long line of prophets and messengers who have preached the same message of the Oneness of Allah and that people are required to submit to His will. He never claimed to have any status other than that of a servant and messenger of Allah. He taught us that we must never assign to him any other quality. We follow his teachings because he has conveyed to us what Allah wants of us. Those who try to elevate the Prophet, peace be upon him, to a position of partnership with Allah no longer believe in his mission. They do not follow his teachings. Yet people claim to love the Prophet, peace be upon him, and extol his praises.

How can anyone who contradicts the teachings of the Prophet, peace be upon him, claim to love him? If you profess to love your father and every time he asks you to do something, you simply assert that you love him but do not do what he wants of you, your claims of love are false. I give you another example of someone who lives abroad and receives a letter from his father telling him that he is ill and is in need of a medicine which is not available in his home country. He asks his son to dispatch that medicine without delay. If the son goes straightforward to a chemist and buys the medicine and posts it, or even sends it by special delivery, then he demonstrates his love of his father. If, on the other hand, he reads the letter and says some words expressing his sorrow for his father's illness and puts away the letter without buying the medicine or sending it, he does not love his father, no matter how strongly be professes to do so. This applies to the teachings of the Prophet, peace be upon him, in every respect. We can only demonstrate our love of the Prophet, peace be upon him, by following his guidance, not by singing his praises. It is action, not lip service, which counts. That action must follow the Prophet's guidance and his teachings.

Those verses of the Qur'an which speak of the Prophet, peace be upon him, praying Allah to forgive his followers are quoted out of context. These verses do not sanction what some people do of praying Allah to grant them their wishes for the sake of one person or another. That form of supplication is known as "wasilah" which is totally rejected by Islam. Indeed, one of the great aspects of our faith is our direct appeal to our Lord, Allah, the Creator of the universe. We do not need to address Him through any intermediary. We put our supplication to Him directly and we expect that He will answer us. Indeed, He has committed Himself to answering our prayer when we pray to Him with sincerity and do not associate any partners with Him. When we pray to Him to do something for us for the sake of a human being, we are simply elevating that human being to a position which Allah gives to no one. He says in a Qudsi Hadith: "I am in no need of partners. I abandon anyone who associates a partner with me to that partner." That means when someone prays Allah to grant his requests for someone's sake, He refers him to that person to grant his wish. If that person is dead, as it is normally the case, then certainly he can do nothing for the supplicant. Nor indeed can he do so when he is alive.

These verses speak of something else. The Prophet's companions used to go to him and request him to pray to Allah for their sake. He used to address Allah and pray to Him to grant their wishes. That is indeed possible. Moreover, any one of us can do it for his relatives, friends or Muslim brothers. Indeed, when you pray to Allah for your brother in his absence, your prayer is certain to be answered. When you do that, you are not positioning yourself between that person and Allah. Indeed, you are joining him in praying Allah to alleviate his problem or grant him a favor.

Let me go back to the verse which you have stated: "Your Lord says: Pray Me and I will answer you." That is indeed a great favor which shows how much of Allah's grace we enjoy. He has promised to answer our prayers, when we address Him. This is due to the fact that when we address our prayer to Allah directly, we are acknowledging His Lordship. When we do [so], He answers us.

What we have to realize is that in the Islamic concept, the relationship between Allah and His servants is direct, personal and never severed unless man distorts it by adding into it some arbitrary invention of his own. This is what we understand from the Qur'anic verse which states: "When My servants ask you about Me, I am near: I answer the prayer of one who addresses his supplication to Me. Let them, then, respond to Me and believe in Me so that they may be rightly guided."

If we pray to Allah for Muslims who lived in earlier generations, they benefit by our prayer and we are rewarded for it. Martyrs who sacrificed their lives for Islam in the battle of Badr and Uhud are indeed in heaven. If we pray to Allah for them that is well and good, but they do not need our prayer since Allah has forgiven them their sins because of their martyrdom. But if we make that prayer for them a means to address Allah with our prayer, thinking that by doing so, we stand a better chance of having our prayers answered, then we are grossly mistaken. We must never do that. We should address our prayer to Allah directly and He would certainly answer us as He has promised.