For Muslims living with ADHD, autism, or both, the struggle in worship is rarely a lack of love for Allah. It is a gap between intention and action. The Qur’an, the Sunnah and the classical scholars have more to say about that gap than many realise.
The gap between intention and action
The adhan for Zuhr sounds. A man hears it, fully intends to stand up and pray, and turns back to his screen to finish one small task. When he next looks at the clock, forty minutes have gone and Asr is approaching. He feels the familiar sinking guilt, and with it a question he has asked himself many times: why can he not simply do what he so clearly wants to do?
For many Muslims with ADHD, autism, or both, this scene is not occasional. It is the texture of daily religious life. The problem is rarely a lack of faith or love for Allah. More often it is a gap between intention and action, between knowing what to do and being able to start, sustain and finish it.
As adult diagnosis becomes more common, more believers are arriving at a name for experiences they have carried for decades. A diagnosis often brings relief. It also brings a new and pressing question: what does this mean for worship? Are the struggles a spiritual failing, a medical condition, or something in between? And does the Islamic tradition have anything to say to people whose minds work this way?
This article argues that it has much to say. The Qur’an and Sunnah speak directly to human capacity, forgetfulness, intention and consistency. The classical scholars of the inner life wrote at length about wandering minds and the discipline of returning. Read alongside what is now understood about ADHD and autism, these sources offer something rare: a path that takes both the obligation and the struggle seriously.
What AuDHD actually means
ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is diagnosed in three presentations: mainly inattentive, mainly hyperactive-impulsive, and combined, where both sets of traits are present. The older language of ADHD “types” has been replaced in current clinical manuals by the word “presentation”, which better reflects that symptoms can shift over a lifetime.
At its core, ADHD affects what psychologists call executive functions: the brain’s management system. These include starting tasks, holding information in working memory, sensing the passage of time, regulating attention, and managing emotions and impulses. A person with ADHD may know exactly what to do and genuinely want to do it, yet find the step from intention to action strangely blocked. At other times they may lock into a task so intensely, a state often called hyperfocus, that hours vanish unnoticed.
Autism affects social communication, sensory processing and the need for predictability. Many autistic people experience noise, light, smell or touch more intensely than others. Unexpected change can be deeply distressing, and routines provide real stability. Autism often brings deep, focused interests and a strong sense of what is right and fair.
AuDHD is an informal, community term for people who have both. It is not a separate diagnosis. Since the publication of the DSM-5 in 2013, clinicians have been permitted to diagnose autism and ADHD together, and it is now widely recognised that the two often occur side by side.
The combination produces a particular tension. ADHD tends to crave novelty and stimulation; autism tends to crave sameness and predictability. A person with both may desperately need a routine and, at the same time, resist it. Understanding this tension is the key to much of what follows.
No two people are alike. The patterns described here are possibilities to recognise, not a checklist that must apply to everyone.
Neither exempt nor lazy
When a Muslim receives an ADHD or autism diagnosis, two opposite errors lie in wait.
The first is to conclude that the condition removes responsibility: that someone whose brain works this way cannot be expected to pray on time or read Qur’an regularly. This quietly drops obligations that Allah has placed on every capable adult. ADHD and autism, in the vast majority of cases, do not remove legal capacity. Those who carry them remain addressed by the commands of the religion.
The second error is the reverse, and it is often the more common among sincere believers: the belief that struggling with salah, Qur’an or dhikr must mean laziness or weak iman. This confuses a difficulty in the brain’s self-management with a lack of love for Allah. It loads shame onto people who are often trying harder than those around them, and shame, as later sections show, makes worship harder rather than easier.
The balanced position sits between these two. The obligation stands. The struggle is real. The answer is better structure, honest self-knowledge and a great deal of self-compassion. This is not a modern compromise. As the next section shows, it is the shape of the religion itself.
A religion built for human capacity
Long before anyone spoke of executive function, the Qur’an and Sunnah addressed the realities of human limitation with remarkable directness. Eight principles stand out.
Allah asks according to capacity
The Qur’an states plainly that “Allah does not burden a soul beyond what it can bear” (2:286), and instructs believers to “fear Allah as much as you are able” (64:16). In the verses on fasting, Allah declares that He “intends ease for you, and does not intend hardship” (2:185), and elsewhere that “He has not placed upon you any hardship in the religion” (22:78).
These verses do not cancel obligations. They establish that divine command matches real human capacity. For a person with ADHD or autism, the right question is therefore not “Am I excused?” but “What lies within capacity, and what systems can raise it?”
Forgetting is human, and the Prophet ﷺ shared it
At the close of Surah al-Baqarah, believers are taught to pray: “Our Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or make a mistake” (2:286). A hadith in Sahih Muslim (126) reports that Allah answered this prayer: “I have done so.”
Remarkably, the Prophet ﷺ himself once erred in the number of rak’at in a congregational prayer. When this was pointed out, he made two prostrations of forgetfulness and told his Companions that he was a human being who forgets as they forget (Bukhari 401). He also taught that whoever forgets a prayer or sleeps through it should pray it when they remember (Bukhari 597; Muslim 684).
Forgetting, in other words, is not rebellion. The Shariah already includes a repair system: pray when remembered, and make sujud al-sahw for mistakes within the prayer.
Intention counts before the action
The famous hadith “Actions are only by intentions” (Bukhari 1; Muslim 1907) offers particular comfort to those whose plans are regularly derailed. In another narration, whoever intends a good deed but does not carry it out still has a full good deed recorded (Bukhari 6491). And when a person falls ill or travels, they continue to be rewarded for the deeds they used to perform when well and at home (Bukhari 2996). Allah, the Prophet ﷺ taught, looks at hearts and deeds, not outward forms (Muslim 2564).
A sincere intention that ADHD derails is not worthless. It is recorded.
Small and consistent beats large and occasional
“The most beloved deeds to Allah are the most consistent, even if few” (Bukhari 6464; Muslim 783). “Take on only as many deeds as you are able to do” (Bukhari 1970; Muslim 782). “The religion is ease, and no one overburdens himself in religion except that it overwhelms him” (Bukhari 39).
Few teachings are better suited to the ADHD pattern of enthusiastic overcommitment followed by collapse. The prophetic model is the small habit kept on the worst day, not the grand plan abandoned in the second week.
Pray with energy, and do not force past it
The Prophet ﷺ once entered the mosque and found a rope tied between two pillars. He was told it belonged to Zaynab, who held on to it when she grew tired in voluntary night prayer. He had it untied and said that each person should pray while they have energy, and sit when they are tired (Bukhari 1150; Muslim 784). He also advised that someone who becomes drowsy in prayer should sleep first, lest they intend to seek forgiveness and end up saying something else entirely (Bukhari 212).
For voluntary worship, then, the Sunnah encourages working with one’s energy and attention rather than against them. This principle does not extend to delaying obligatory prayers past their time.
The form can change; the obligation stays
To Imran ibn Husayn, who suffered from a painful illness, the Prophet ﷺ said: “Pray standing; if you cannot, then sitting; and if you cannot, then on your side” (Bukhari 1117).
This hadith does not create a special ruling for ADHD. It shows a principle: genuine limitation changes how an obligation is performed, not whether it exists. Any specific concession for an individual’s circumstances is a question for a qualified scholar.
Struggle itself is rewarded
The Prophet ﷺ said that the one who is skilled in reciting the Qur’an will be with the noble, righteous scribes, while the one who recites it with difficulty, stumbling over it, receives a double reward (Bukhari 4937; Muslim 798).
For a person whose attention slides off the page, or whose memorisation is slow and effortful, this is a profound reassurance. The difficulty is not a sign of failure. It may be the very thing being rewarded.
Always return
“Every son of Adam errs, and the best of those who err are those who repent” (Tirmidhi 2499). In a hadith qudsi, Allah says that whoever comes to Him walking, He comes to them running (Bukhari 7405).
When the Companion Hanzalah feared he had become a hypocrite because his spiritual state rose in the Prophet’s company and fell at home, the Prophet ﷺ reassured him with three words: “an hour and an hour” (Muslim 2750). Fluctuating states are part of being human. The skill is not falling away; it is coming back quickly.
Where the struggle shows
Most of the difficulties people with AuDHD face in worship can be traced to a handful of underlying mechanisms. Naming the mechanism matters, because it points to the right remedy rather than to vague resolutions to “try harder”.
Time and starting
Time blindness is one of the least understood features of ADHD. Time is not felt as a steady flow but as two states: “now” and “not now”. A prayer time that is forty minutes away does not register until it has nearly passed. Combine this with hyperfocus, and a person can be fully absorbed in a task while the window for Asr quietly closes.
Task initiation is a separate barrier. Someone may know they need to make wudu, want to make wudu, and still sit for twenty minutes unable to begin. From the outside, this looks like procrastination. From the inside it feels like pushing against an invisible wall.
Memory and attention in the prayer
Working memory is the mental notepad that holds information for a few seconds while it is used. When it is overloaded, a worshipper can lose count of rak’at or forget which surah was just recited. The Prophet’s own experience of forgetting in prayer, and the sujud al-sahw he taught, show that this is a human problem with a ready remedy, not a mark against a person’s sincerity.
Attention regulation shapes the experience of khushu’. Many people with ADHD find their minds wandering from the very first takbir. The common advice to “just concentrate” does not help, because the difficulty is precisely in directing concentration at will.
Hyperactivity can make standing or sitting still physically uncomfortable. Restlessness during long prayers, particularly tarawih, is common.
Plans, interests and burnout
Impulsivity and novelty-seeking produce a recognisable cycle. Inspired by a talk or the start of Ramadan, a person sets out a vast spiritual programme: tahajjud every night, a juz’ a day, a new study circle. Within two weeks the plan collapses, and guilt follows. The next plan is even larger, to make up for the last.
Autistic deep interest and ADHD’s interest-based motivation can also lead to intense, absorbing focus on one area of Islamic learning while other duties slip. This energy is a gift, but it needs a structure underneath it.
The masjid and the senses
For many autistic people, the masjid can be overwhelming. Crowded rows, shoulders touching, strong perfume and oud, bright lighting, an echoing sound system, and the noise of children can combine into sensory overload. Some quietly stop attending, not because they value congregation less, but because the experience is genuinely painful.
Need for predictability means that changes to routine, such as the shifting timetable of Ramadan, travel, or a different imam with a different pace, can be distressing in ways others do not see.
Emotion, doubt and exhaustion
Many people with ADHD experience intense emotional reactions to criticism, sometimes described as rejection sensitivity. A passing comment about how someone prays can land as a judgement on their whole worth.
Repeated doubt about whether wudu was valid, or whether a prayer was complete, is familiar to Islamic scholars as waswas. Clinicians note that obsessive-compulsive disorder is more common alongside autism, and the two can overlap. Persistent, distressing doubt deserves both scholarly guidance and clinical attention.
Finally, years of masking- the effortful hiding of autistic and ADHD traits in order to fit in- can lead to autistic burnout: a state of deep exhaustion in which even familiar tasks become hard. In such seasons, worship needs protecting, not intensifying.
The AuDHD tension in worship
The clash between ADHD’s need for novelty and autism’s need for sameness shows up clearly in religious life. A person may build a beautiful morning routine of Qur’an and adhkar, love it for a month, and then find themselves suddenly unable to face it. The routine has not stopped mattering. It has stopped being stimulating, while the need for it remains.
Old wisdom, new vocabulary
The scholars of the inner life, the masters of tazkiyah, never wrote about ADHD or autism. Those categories did not exist. Yet they wrote with great care about the human soul: its distraction, its boredom, its procrastination and its tendency to despair after failure. Their insights fit the AuDHD experience with striking precision. They offer these not as diagnoses, but as principles.
Al-Ghazali on the wandering mind
In the book on the secrets of prayer in his Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din, Imam al-Ghazali (d. 505 AH) analyses why the mind wanders in salah. He divides the causes into two kinds. External causes are what the eyes see and the ears hear; his remedies include praying in a plain place, close to a wall, with the gaze fixed on the place of prostration. Internal causes are the worries and preoccupations a person carries into prayer; his remedies include dealing with pressing matters beforehand and directing the mind to the meaning of what is recited.
Nine centuries later, this reads almost like modern advice on managing distractibility: reduce the sensory input, clear the mental load, and give attention something meaningful to hold.
In another part of the Ihya’, on arranging daily devotions, al-Ghazali divides the day into different kinds of worship. Among his reasons is that the soul tires quickly of a single activity, and moving between kinds of worship keeps it fresh. For the AuDHD believer caught between the need for routine and the need for novelty, this is a precious insight: keep the commitment fixed, and vary the form.
Ibn ‘Ata’illah on returning
Ibn ‘Ata’illah al-Iskandari (d. 709 AH), in his celebrated al-Hikam, offers aphorisms that speak with particular force to those who struggle with consistency.
The collection opens with the observation that one sign of relying on one’s own deeds, rather than on Allah, is losing hope when one slips. Despair after a lapse is therefore not humility. It is a subtle form of self-reliance. Hope and return are the true signs of trust.
He also advises against abandoning dhikr because one is not present with Allah in it. Heedlessness while not remembering Him is worse than heedlessness while remembering. Allah may raise a person from inattentive dhikr to attentive dhikr, and from there to remembrance with full presence. For the person whose mind drifts during every tasbih, this is liberating: the remembrance still counts, and it is the path to something deeper.
In another aphorism, he describes the habit of putting off good deeds until one has free time as an ego trick. Anyone who has waited for the “right moment” to begin a new habit will recognise the trap.
Al-Muhasibi and al-Qushayri on honest self-review
Al-Harith al-Muhasibi (d. 243 AH), one of the earliest systematic writers on the inner life, made self-examination (muhasabah) central to his teaching in al-Ri’ayah li-Huquq Allah. He aimed for honest review followed by correction and renewed effort, not self-punishment.
Imam al-Qushayri (d. 465 AH), in his Risalah, places repentance as the first station of the spiritual path and treats it as something the traveller returns to again and again. Tawbah is not a single dramatic event, but a rhythm.
Al-Nawawi and Ibn Rajab on moderation and intention
Imam al-Nawawi (d. 676 AH) gathered the prophetic teachings on consistency and avoiding excess under a dedicated chapter on moderation in worship in Riyad al-Salihin. In this framing, moderation is a principle of the religion, not a concession to weakness.
Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali (d. 795 AH), commenting on the hadith of intentions in Jami’ al-‘Ulum wa al-Hikam, explains that intention is the measure by which actions are judged, and that a sincere intention held by someone prevented from acting still carries reward.
Taken together, these voices form a coherent picture. The tradition expected human beings to be distracted, inconsistent and forgetful. It did not lower the goal. It offered a way back, again and again.
Building worship that lasts
If the problem is not a lack of love but a gap between intention and action, the solution is to close that gap with structure. The strategies with the strongest support for ADHD share a common logic: put reminders outside the head, reduce the friction of starting, tie new habits to existing ones, and decide in advance what will happen when a cue arrives. Psychologists call these advance decisions “implementation intentions”, plans of the form when X happens, I will do Y.
Three layers of worship
A useful way to organise a life of worship is in three layers.
The first layer is non-negotiable: the five daily prayers, Ramadan fasting for those able, and other personal obligations. These are never negotiated with mood. The environment, not willpower, does the remembering.
The second layer is a set of small daily anchors: perhaps a page of Qur’an after Fajr, the short morning and evening adhkar, and Ayat al-Kursi before sleep. Each anchor must be small enough to keep on the worst day of the month. Increase it only after it has held steady for several weeks.
The third layer is interest and depth: tafsir, seerah, hadith study, extra voluntary prayers, gatherings of knowledge. When interest and energy are high, people embrace this layer fully. When they fade, a person drops back to the second layer without guilt, knowing that the foundation still stands.
This structure mirrors the well-known hadith qudsi in which Allah says that nothing draws His servant closer than the obligations He has made binding, and that the servant then continues to draw closer through voluntary acts (Bukhari 6502).
Salah on time
The most effective single change for many people is an alarm for every prayer, followed by a second alarm shortly before the prayer window closes. Pairing each alarm with a pre-decided response, such as when the Zuhr alarm sounds, stand up before touching anything else, removes the moment of deliberation in which ADHD loses prayers.
Friction can be reduced in small, practical ways. A prayer mat, cap or scarf and clean clothing kept in each place a person spends time- at home, at work, even in the car- remove several small barriers. Making wudu at natural moments, before it is needed, means the prayer itself has one less step. Praying as soon as the time enters, wherever possible, avoids the dangerous word “later”. A simple tick-sheet for the five prayers turns invisible progress into something visible, which an ADHD brain responds to strongly.
When a prayer is missed, the prophetic instruction is clear: pray it when remembered, then carry on. One missed prayer should not start a spiral.
Khushu’ and the wandering mind
Khushu’ for a person with ADHD is better understood as returning than as an empty, perfectly still mind. Attention drifts; the worshipper notices; attention returns. That repetition, prayer after prayer, is itself a form of spiritual striving.
Three slow breaths before the opening takbir, and a moment to recall which prayer this is and before Whom one stands, can help settle the mind. Rotating a small set of surahs whose meanings you understand gives attention something to hold. Looking at the place of prostration and praying in an uncluttered space, as al-Ghazali advised, reduces distraction. For persistent distraction, the Prophet ﷺ taught the Companion Uthman ibn Abi al-As to seek refuge in Allah from the whispering and to lightly spit, without saliva, to the left three times (Muslim 2203). For doubts about the number of rak’at, the prophetic rule is to build on what seems most likely and then make the prostrations of forgetfulness (Bukhari 401).
Qur’an
A daily anchor of one page, or one ayah on the hardest days, keeps the connection alive. Keeping the mushaf on the prayer mat means it is in hand the moment the prayer ends. Audio recitation with the text on screen holds attention for many, as does listening while walking or driving. Word-by-word translation apps help when the mind needs meaning to stay engaged. For memorisation, very short portions repeated many times through the day, and recited in salah, suit ADHD far better than long sessions. And always, the hadith of the double reward is worth remembering.
Dhikr
Dhikr is perhaps the most ADHD-friendly form of worship. You can attach it to activities that already happen: after each salah, while driving, walking, queuing, or waiting for the kettle. Short, rhythmic phrases such as SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, Allahu Akbar, istighfar and salawat on the Prophet ﷺ suit restless minds. A tasbih or counter gives the hands something to do. Keeping the morning and evening adhkar on a phone lock screen or a card by the door puts the cue where it will be seen.
Movement as worship
Channel hyperactivity rather than fight it. Walking to the masjid, walking dhikr, volunteering, serving family and helping at a local charity are all acts of worship that use physical energy well. They supplement the prayer; they never replace it.
The masjid
If the masjid feels overwhelming, gradual familiarity helps. Quieter prayers such as Fajr, Isha or a midweek Zuhr are a gentler starting point. Standing at the end of a row or near an exit can make crowds manageable. Ear defenders or noise-reducing earplugs between prayers are reasonable if the sound is painful, but remove them if they prevent you from following the imam. For Jumu’ah, arriving early, when the hall is calmer, often helps. Where there is a trusted imam, a quiet word about one’s needs can make a great difference.
Ramadan
Ramadan brings a complete change of routine, which can be harder for autistic people than the hunger itself. Planning the new timetable a week in advance softens the shift. Those taking ADHD medication should discuss dose timing around suhoor and iftar with their prescriber before the month begins. If fasting would genuinely harm health, the exemption for illness in the Qur’an (2:184–185) may apply, but that judgement belongs to a doctor and a scholar together, not to self-diagnosis in either direction.
One carefully chosen goal beyond the fast, rather than ten, is more likely to survive the month. Build rest into the day. Tarawih in a crowded masjid every night may not be sustainable, and it is sunnah, not obligatory.
Night prayer and study
Tahajjud and extra voluntary prayers belong to the third layer. If you cannot realistically wake at night, two rak’at before sleeping, with witr, is a valid and beloved start. The hadith of Zaynab’s rope applies directly: pray while you have energy, and sit when you’re tired.
Islamic study works best in short sessions of fifteen to twenty-five minutes with breaks, using active formats: notes, discussion, audio with text, and study with a partner. Many people with ADHD find that simply having another person present, sometimes called “body doubling”, makes it easier to begin, although formal research on this is still limited. Deep interests are a gift to be followed, with reliable teachers and books as guides.
Dealing with guilt
Guilt that leads to repair is healthy. Guilt that hardens into the conclusion that one is simply a bad Muslim usually leads to avoidance, and avoidance makes worship worse. A short four-step script, in the spirit of al-Muhasibi’s honest self-review, can break the cycle:
- Name it. Describe what happened plainly, for example, that Asr was missed because time slipped away.
- Repair it. Make up the prayer and make istighfar.
- Adjust the system. Add a second alarm, move the prayer mat, change the cue.
- Return. Pray the next prayer as normal.
Where shame, low mood or anxiety are heavy and persistent, speaking to a GP or specialist team is itself an act of care for the body and mind, which are an amanah from Allah.
A simple daily rhythm
- Fajr, followed by one page of Qur’an and the morning adhkar
- Zuhr, followed by two minutes of dhikr
- Asr
- Maghrib, followed by the evening adhkar
- Isha
- Before sleep: Ayat al-Kursi, the three Quls, salawat and istighfar
What families, friends and imams can do
People with AuDHD rarely struggle alone; they struggle in front of others. How families, friends and communities respond can either deepen the shame or open a path back.
From the outside, ADHD can look like carelessness: lateness for prayer, forgotten promises, grand plans left unfinished. Autism can look like aloofness or rigidity: leaving the masjid early, avoiding gatherings, distress at a change of plan. What is usually happening underneath is very different. The brain struggles to start tasks, track time, hold information, or filter noise and crowds. Often, the person cares deeply and is frustrated that intention doesn’t turn into action as easily as it seems to for others.
Several simple responses help.
- Gentle reminders without judgement. A quiet “it’s time for Asr” is a gift. A sigh or a remark about lateness is not.
- Company. Praying together, or simply being nearby while someone prays or reads, makes it much easier to start.
- Advance notice. Warning of changes to plans or routines, especially in Ramadan and during travel, reduces distress.
- Permission to step out. Allowing someone to leave a noisy or crowded space for a few minutes, without comment, can keep them in the community rather than driving them from it.
- Patience with strong reactions. Criticism often lands far harder than intended. Advice is best given privately, kindly and sparingly.
Some responses, however well-meant, do harm. Telling someone to “just try harder”, suggesting their iman must be weak, or comparing them with siblings or friends adds shame, and shame makes worship harder.
For imams and masjid committees
Masajid can do a great deal with modest changes. A quieter room or corner, clear signage, predictable timetables published well in advance, a gentle approach to the sound system’s volume, and an imam known to be approachable all signal that neurodivergent worshippers belong. Khutbahs that speak of human limitation with the same mercy found in the Qur’an and Sunnah can lift a weight from many people in the congregation who have never said a word about their struggle.
Above all, communities can remember that the Prophet ﷺ met human frailty with gentleness. The rope was untied. The forgetful were taught to repair, not shamed. The struggling reciter was promised a double reward.
Returning, again and again
The man at his desk, who looked up to find Zuhr slipping away, does not need to be told that prayer matters. He already knows. What he needs is a way of living that closes the gap between what he believes and what he manages to do: an alarm that does the remembering, a prayer mat within reach, a habit small enough to survive a bad week, and a theology of return that meets him with hope rather than despair.
The Islamic tradition offers exactly this. It holds the obligation firmly while recognising, with great tenderness, that human beings forget, tire, wander and fail. It rewards intention. It prizes consistency over intensity. It doubles the reward for those who struggle. And it insists, through the words of the Prophet ﷺ and the long line of scholars who followed him, that the door of return is always open.
For the believer with AuDHD, worship may never feel effortless. But the effort itself is seen. As Ibn ‘Ata’illah reminds his readers, despair after a slip is not humility. Hope, and the decision to stand up again for the next prayer, is the truer sign of faith.
This article is intended for general guidance and is not a fatwa or medical advice. For questions about specific rulings, such as combining prayers, exemptions from fasting, or managing persistent doubts, consult a qualified scholar. Take questions about diagnosis, medication, or mental health to a GP or specialist team.
Sources and further reading
Qur’an: 2:184–185, 2:286, 22:78, 64:16. Translations in this article are meaning-based.
Hadith (numbering as on Sunnah.com): Sahih al-Bukhari 1, 39, 212, 401, 597, 1117, 1150, 1970, 2996, 4937, 6464, 6491, 6502, 7405; Sahih Muslim 126, 2203, 2564, 2750; Jami’ al-Tirmidhi 2499.
Classical works: al-Harith al-Muhasibi, al-Ri’ayah li-Huquq Allah; Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri, al-Risalah al-Qushayriyyah; Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din (books on the secrets of prayer and on arranging daily devotions); Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi, Riyad al-Salihin; Ibn ‘Ata’illah al-Iskandari, al-Hikam; Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Jami’ al-‘Ulum wa al-Hikam.