1. Innovations in supplication. The Prophet said: "Whoever innovates something in the religion that is not in it, his innovation will be rejected." It is impermissible to innovate a certain way for invocation and adhere to it or ask others to adhere to it. Some of these innovations are:
• Collective invocation. Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said, "Among the mistakes that are committed by some pilgrims during Tawaaf (circumambulation) is that they gather and assign a leader to lead them in Tawaaf and dictate them invocation loudly and the entire group repeats after him. Their voices get loud and chaos prevails. This distracts the rest of the people performing Tawaaf and they lose track of what they are saying. This drives away humbleness and harms the slaves of Allah in that safe place."
• Specifying some places or some times with certain invocations. It is impermissible to specify a certain place or time with a certain invocation unless there is a Sharee‘ah (Islamic legislation) text for this. The opinions of the scholars regarding the impermissibility of specifying certain invocations for each turn in Tawaaf (circumambulation) or Sa‘y (going between As-Safa and Al-Marwah) were previously mentioned. Shaykh Bakr Abu Zayd said, "Any one who innovates any thing in Thikr and specified invocation that is not in it deeming it as an act to be followed, will bear sin from four perspectives:
1. Abandoning what is prescribed.
2. Modifying or correcting legislation.
3. Preferring what was not legislated.
4. Misleading people into thinking the permissibility of what he has done."
2. Obliviousness of the heart. Many people invoke Allah The Almighty with an oblivious heart as their mind is busy with other matters or they do not contemplate the words that they are saying. Shaykh-ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said, "The origin of invocation is the heart and the tongue is a follower of it. Thus, the one who concentrates on correcting his tongue weakens his heart. This is why the desperate one invokes Allah with his heart with an invocation that is not previously formulated. This is experienced by every believer in his heart. Invocation may be in Arabic or any other language as Allah The Almighty knows the intention of the invoker even if he does not correct his tongue, as Allah knows the sounds of voices however different the languages and the needs are."
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said, "One of the mistakes that some of those who perform Tawaaf make, is that they take the written invocations and say them without knowing their meanings. These invocations may include mistakes done by the publisher that change the meaning totally and turn it to be supplication against the person. Hence, he may supplicate against himself without knowing that he is doing so. We have heard many such strange stories."
3. Being impatient with the answer. Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet said: "The invocation of anyone of you is granted (by Allah) if he does not show impatience (by saying, 'I invoked Allah but my request has not been granted.'" [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
It is the duty of Muslims to invoke Allah The Almighty a lot and ask Him to accept their invocation. They should utilize the possible means for the acceptance of invocation while applying the etiquettes of invoking Allah The Almighty and observing the times during which invocation is accepted. Muslims should repent to Allah The Almighty and abandon sins and acts of disobedience, and ask Allah The Almighty for forgiveness as the one who keeps trying would ultimately achieve his aim. ‘Urwah bin Az-Zubayr used to maintain his daily invocations just as he maintained reciting his daily quota of the Quran. Muwarriq Al-‘Ijli said, "I invoked my Lord for something for twenty years and it was not achieved, but I did not feel desperate."
It was reported that Abu Ja‘far Muhammad bin ‘Ali and Adh-Dhahhaak said that there were forty years between the invocation and its acceptance in the verse in which Allah The Almighty says (what means): {[Allah] said, "Your supplication has been answered."} [Quran 10:89]
Pilgrims should know that they have the honor of the place, time and deed as they are in the most honorable place on earth, and on the best days and the most loved by Allah The Almighty. Moreover, they are performing one of the most honorable and elevated deeds, so they should seize this great opportunity to invoke Allah The Almighty, resort and submit to Him as they do not know whether they would have this chance once more or not.