What are the prescribed supplications in gatherings of dhikr and after the prayers?

Q: A question from the brother: A. M. H. from Yemen, in which he says: There are people in our country who cling to invocations for which Allah has not sent down any authority, some of which are religious innovations and some of which involve associating partners with Allah. They attribute these to the Commander of the Faithful, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) and others, and they recite these invocations in gatherings of dhikr or in the mosques after the Maghrib prayer, claiming that they are a means of drawing near to Allah. For example, they say: "By the right of Allah, O men of Allah, help us with the help of Allah and be our support by Allah." And they say: "O poles, O pillars, O masters, answer us, O you who possess abundant aid. Intercede with Allah; this is your servant standing and waiting at your door, and he fears your rejection. Help us, O Messenger of Allah, for I have no recourse but to you, and from you the request is fulfilled. You are the best of the people of Allah, with Hamzah, the master of the martyrs, and from you we seek aid. Help us, O Messenger of Allah." And they say: "O Allah, send blessings upon the one You made the cause for the splitting of Your majestic secrets and the bursting forth of Your merciful lights, so that he became a deputy for the Divine Presence and a successor to Your essential secrets."
We ask for clarification of what is religious innovation and what is associating partners with Allah, and whether the prayer is valid behind an imam who makes this supplication.

A: Praise be to Allah alone, and blessings and peace be upon the one after whom there is no prophet, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance until the Day of Judgment. As for what follows:
Know, may Allah guide you, that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, created the creation and sent the messengers (peace and blessings be upon them) to be worshipped alone, with no partner, and none other. As He, the Exalted, said: [Surat al-Dhariyat: 56]. And worship is obedience to Him, Glorified and Exalted is He, and obedience to His Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) by doing what Allah and His Messenger have commanded and leaving what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, out of faith in Allah and His Messenger and sincerity to Allah in one's deeds. As He, the Exalted, said: [Surat al-Isra: 23], meaning He commanded and advised that He alone be worshipped. And He, the Exalted, said: الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ ۝ مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ ۝ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ [Surat al-Fatihah: 2-5]. By these verses, He, Glorified and Exalted is He, made it clear that He alone is worthy of being worshipped and sought for help. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: أَلا لِلَّهِ الدِّينُ الْخَالِصُ [Surat al-Zumar: 2-3]. And He, Glorified and Exalted is He, said: [Surat Ghafir: 14]. And He, the Exalted, said: [Surat al-Jinn: 18]. There are many verses in this meaning, and all of them indicate the obligation of singling out Allah for worship.
It is well known that supplication, in all its forms, is a type of worship. Therefore, it is not permissible for anyone to supplicate to anyone other than his Lord, nor to seek help or call for aid from anyone other than Him, in accordance with these noble verses and what has come in their meaning. This applies except for ordinary matters and physical causes that a living, present creature is capable of handling, for those are not part of worship. Rather, it is permissible by explicit text and scholarly consensus for a person to seek help from a living, capable person in ordinary matters that he is capable of handling, such as seeking his help or calling for his aid in repelling the harm of his child, his servant, his dog, or the like. It is also permissible for a person to seek help from a living, present, capable person, or an absent person through physical means such as writing letters or the like, in building his house, repairing his car, or the like. From this category is the saying of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in the story of Moses (peace be upon him): [Surat al-Qasas: 15].
This also includes a person calling for aid from his companions in jihad, war, or the like. As for calling for aid from the dead, the jinn, the angels, trees, or stones, that is major shirk (associating partners with Allah), and it is of the same kind as the actions of the first polytheists with their gods, such as al-'Uzza, al-Lat, and others. Likewise, calling for aid and seeking help from those believed to be awliya (close friends of Allah) among the living in matters that only Allah is capable of, such as healing the sick, guiding hearts, entering Paradise, and being saved from the Fire, is major shirk. The aforementioned verses and the verses and hadiths that came in their meaning all indicate the obligation of directing the hearts to Allah in all matters and being sincere in worship to Allah alone, for the servants were created for that and commanded to do so, as mentioned in the previous verses, and as in His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He: [Surat al-Nisa: 36]. And His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He: the verse [Surat al-Bayyinah: 5]. And the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the hadith of Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him): It is agreed upon as authentic. And his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) in the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him): It was narrated by al-Bukhari. And in the two Sahihs from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he sent Mu'adh to Yemen, said to him: And in another wording: And in a narration by al-Bukhari: . And in Sahih Muslim from Tariq ibn Ashim al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: There are many hadiths in this meaning.
This tawhid (the oneness of Allah) is the foundation of the religion of Islam, the basis of the faith, the head of the matter, the most important of the obligations, and the wisdom behind the creation of the two groups (humans and jinn), and the wisdom behind the sending of all the messengers (peace and blessings be upon them), as indicated by the aforementioned verses. Among them is His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He: [Surat al-Dhariyat: 56]. And among the evidence for this is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): [Surat al-Nahl: 36]. And His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He: [Surat al-Anbiya: 25]. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said about Noah, Hud, Salih, and Shu'ayb (peace and blessings be upon them) that they said to their people: [Surat al-A'raf: 85]. This is the call of all the messengers, as indicated by the two previous verses.
The enemies of the messengers admitted that the messengers commanded them to single out Allah for worship and to remove the gods worshipped besides Him. As He, Mighty and Majestic, said in the story of 'Ad, that they said to Hud (peace be upon him): [Surat al-A'raf: 70]. And He, Glorified and Exalted is He, said about Quraysh when our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) called them to single out Allah for worship and to leave what they worshipped besides Him, such as the angels, the awliya (close friends of Allah), idols, trees, and others: [Surat Sad: 5]. And He, Glorified and Exalted is He, said about them in Surat al-Saffat: وَيَقُولُونَ أَئِنَّا لَتَارِكُو آلِهَتِنَا لِشَاعِرٍ مَجْنُونٍ [Surat al-Saffat: 35-36]. There are many verses indicating this meaning.
From what we have mentioned of verses and hadiths, it becomes clear to you; may Allah guide me and you to understanding in the religion and insight into the right of the Lord of the Worlds:
That these supplications and the types of calling for aid that I have detailed in your question are all types of major shirk (associating partners with Allah), because they are worship of other than Allah and seeking from the dead and the absent matters that only He is capable of. This is uglier than the shirk of the first polytheists, because the first polytheists only associated partners with Allah in times of ease, but in times of hardship they were sincere to Allah in worship, because they knew that He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is the One capable of delivering them from the hardship, and no one else. As He, the Exalted, said in His clear Book about those polytheists: [Surat al-'Ankabut: 65]. And He, Glorified and Exalted is He, addressed them in another verse in Surat (Subhan): [Surat al-Isra: 67]. If one of these later polytheists were to say: "We do not intend that those people benefit by themselves, heal our sick, help us by themselves, or harm an enemy by themselves, but we intend their intercession with Allah in that."
The answer to them is: This is the intention and purpose of the first disbelievers, and their intention was not that their gods create, provide, benefit, or harm by themselves, for that is refuted by what Allah mentioned about them in the Qur'an. Rather, they intended their intercession, their status, and their bringing them closer to Allah. As He, Glorified and Exalted is He, said in Surat Yunus (peace be upon him): . Allah refuted them by His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He: [Surat Yunus: 18]. Thus, He, Glorified and Exalted is He, made it clear that He does not know any intercessor in the heavens or on earth in the way the polytheists intend, and what Allah does not know to exist does not exist, for He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is not unaware of anything.
And He, the Exalted, said in Surat al-Zumar: إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ فَاعْبُدِ اللَّهَ مُخْلِصًا لَهُ الدِّينَ ۝ أَلا لِلَّهِ الدِّينُ الْخَالِصُ [Surat al-Zumar: 1-3]. Thus, He, Glorified and Exalted is He, made it clear that worship is for Him alone, and that it is obligatory for the servants to be sincere to Him, Exalted and Majestic is He, because His command to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to be sincere in worship to Him is a command for everyone. The meaning of "religion" here is worship, and worship is obedience to Him and obedience to His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), as mentioned previously. It includes supplication, calling for aid, fear, hope, slaughter, and vows, just as it includes prayer, fasting, and other things that Allah and His Messenger have commanded.
Then he said, (peace and blessings be upon him) after that: That is, they say: So Allah responded to them by saying, (Glorified and Exalted is He): [Surah al-Zumar: 3] Thus, the Exalted made it clear in this noble verse that the disbelievers did not worship the awliya (close friends of Allah) other than Him except to bring them closer to Allah. This is the objective of the disbelievers, both in the past and the present. And Allah has refuted this by saying: Thus, the Exalted made clear their lie in their claim that their gods bring them closer to Allah, and their disbelief in the worship they directed to them. By this, it becomes known to anyone with the slightest discernment that the disbelief of the first disbelievers lay in their taking the prophets, the awliya, trees, stones, and other created things as intercessors between them and Allah. They believed that these beings fulfill their needs without the permission of the Exalted or His satisfaction, just as ministers intercede with kings. So they compared the Mighty and Majestic to kings and leaders, saying: "Just as one who has a need with a king or leader seeks intercession through his intimates and ministers, so we seek nearness to Allah by worshipping His prophets and His awliya."
This is the refutation of falsehood; for the Exalted has no likeness, is not compared to His creation, and no one intercedes with Him except by His permission. He does not permit intercession except for the people of tawhid (the oneness of Allah). He, (Glorified and Exalted is He), is All-Powerful over all things and All-Knowing of all things, and He is the Most Merciful of the merciful. He does not fear anyone, nor does anyone fear Him; for the Exalted is the Subjugator above His servants, and He disposes of them as He wills. This is unlike kings and leaders, for they are not able to do everything, nor do they know everything. Therefore, they need those who assist them with what they may be unable to do, such as their ministers, intimates, and soldiers. They also need those to convey to them the needs of those whose needs they do not know. And because kings and leaders may commit injustice or become angry without right, they need those who soften them and please them from among their ministers and intimates. As for the Lord, (Mighty and Majestic), He is free of need of all His creation, and He is more merciful to them than their mothers. He is the Just Judge who places things in their proper places according to His wisdom, knowledge, and power. So it is not permissible to compare Him to His creation in any way.
For this reason, the Exalted made it clear in His Book that the polytheists acknowledged that He is the Creator, the Provider, and the Manager, and that He is the One who answers the distressed, removes evil, gives life, and causes death, among other actions of the Exalted. The dispute between the polytheists and the messengers is only regarding the sincerity of worship to Allah alone, as He said, (peace and blessings be upon him): [Surah al-Zukhruf: 87] And the Exalted said: [Surah Yunus: 31] And there are many verses in this meaning. It has been previously mentioned that the verses indicating that the dispute between the messengers and the nations is only regarding the sincerity of worship to Allah alone, such as His saying, (Glorified and Exalted is He): the verse [Surah al-Nahl: 36] and the verses that come with its meaning.
And the Exalted explained in many places of His noble Book the matter of shafa'ah (intercession). So the Exalted said in Surat al-Baqarah: [Surah al-Baqarah: 255] And He said in Surat al-Najm: [Surah al-Najm: 26] And He said in Surat al-Anbiya, describing the angels: [Surah al-Anbiya: 28] And the Mighty and Majestic informed that He is not pleased with disbelief from His servants, but He is pleased with gratitude from them. And gratitude is tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and acting in obedience to Him. So the Exalted said in Surat al-Zumar: the verse [Surah al-Zumar: 7].
Al-Bukhari narrated in his Sahih from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "O Messenger of Allah, who is the most happy of people with your intercession?" He said: Or he said: And in the Sahih from Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: And there are many hadiths in this meaning. All that we have mentioned in the verses and hadiths indicates that worship is the right of Allah alone, and that it is not permissible to direct any of it to other than Allah, neither to the prophets nor to anyone else. And that shafa'ah (intercession) is the property of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), as the Exalted said: the verse [Surah al-Zumar: 44] And no one deserves it except after His permission to the intercessor and His satisfaction with the one for whom intercession is sought. And the Exalted is not pleased except with tawhid (the oneness of Allah), as previously mentioned. As for the polytheists, they have no share in intercession, as the Exalted said: [Surah al-Muddaththir: 48] And the Exalted said: the verse [Surah Ghafir: 18] And injustice, when used in its general sense, is shirk (associating partners with Allah), as the Exalted said: [Surah al-Baqarah: 254] And the Exalted said: [Surah Luqman: 13].
As for what you mentioned in the question regarding the saying of some Sufis in the mosques and elsewhere: "O Allah, send blessings upon the one You made a cause for the splitting of Your majestic secrets and the bursting forth of Your merciful lights, so that he became a deputy for the Divine Presence and a successor to Your essential secrets..." etc.
The answer is: It should be said that this speech and its like are among the affectedness and exaggeration that our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) warned against, as Muslim narrated in the Sahih from Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: He said it three times. The Imam al-Khattabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The one who is affected (mutanatti') is the one who delves deeply into a matter, who is affected in seeking it according to the schools of the people of kalam (theology), who enter into what does not concern them, and who delve into what their minds cannot reach.
And Abu al-Sa'adat ibn al-Athir said: They are the ones who delve deeply and exaggerate in speech, speaking to the utmost of their throats. It is derived from "nat'" which is the upper cavity of the mouth, and then it was used for every deepening in speech and action.
And by what these two Imams and other Imams of language have mentioned, it becomes clear to you and to anyone with the slightest insight that this manner of sending prayers and peace upon our Prophet and our Master, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), is among the affectedness and exaggeration that is prohibited. And what is prescribed (mashru') for the Muslim in this matter is to seek the manner established from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in the description of sending prayers and peace upon him, and in that is sufficiency over others.
And among that is what al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated in the two Sahihs, and the wording is al-Bukhari's, from Ka'b ibn Ujrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) said: "O Messenger of Allah, Allah has commanded us to send prayers upon you, so how do we send prayers upon you?" He said: "Say: ."
And in the two Sahihs from Abu Humayd al-Sa'idi (may Allah be pleased with him) that they said: "O Messenger of Allah, how do we send prayers upon you?" He said: .
And in the Sahih of Muslim from Abu Mas'ud al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: Bashir ibn Sa'd said: "O Messenger of Allah, Allah has commanded us to send prayers upon you, so how do we send prayers upon you?" So he was silent, then he said: . So these words and their like, and others established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), are those that the Muslim should learn and use in his prayers and peace upon the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is the most knowledgeable of people about what is fitting to be used in his right, just as he is the most knowledgeable of people about what should be used in the right of his Lord from words. As for the affected and newly invented words, and the words that are likely to be interpreted with an incorrect meaning, like the words mentioned in the question, it is not befitting to use them because of the affectedness in them, and because they may be interpreted with false meanings, while they are contrary to the words that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) chose and guided his ummah (the Muslim community) to. He is the most knowledgeable of creation, the most sincere, and the furthest from affectedness. Upon him be the best of prayers and peace from his Lord.
And I hope that what we have mentioned of evidence in explaining the reality of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and the reality of shirk (associating partners with Allah), and the difference between what the first polytheists and the later polytheists were upon in this matter, and in explaining the prescribed manner of sending prayers upon the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), is sufficient and convincing for the seeker of truth. As for one who has no desire to know the truth, then he is a follower of his desire. And Allah, (Mighty and Majestic), said: [Surah al-Qasas: 50] Thus, the Exalted made it clear in this noble verse that people, with regard to what Allah sent His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) with of guidance and the religion of truth, are of two types:
One is the one who responds to Allah and His Messenger, and the second is the one who follows his desire. And the Exalted informed that there is no one more misguided than the one who follows his desire without guidance from Allah.
So we ask Allah, (Mighty and Majestic), for safety from following desire, and we ask the Exalted to make us and you and all our brothers among those who respond to Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and those who honor His Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) and warn against everything that contradicts His Shari'ah from bid'ah (religious innovation) and desires. Indeed, He is Generous and Noble. And may Allah send prayers and peace upon His servant and Messenger, our Prophet Muhammad, and his family, and his Companions, and his followers with excellence.
Deputy President of the Islamic University of Madinah al-Munawwarah.