Some people follow a method to hold themselves accountable in performing the obligatory prayers and regular Sunnahs. It consists of making a schedule. This schedule is an evaluation for performing prayers over a single week, where two boxes are placed in front of every prayer time, one for the obligatory prayer and the other for the regular Sunnah. If the person prays the obligatory prayer with the congregation, they put a mark for that prayer, and if they pray the Sunnah, they also put a mark. If they do not pray, they put nothing... and so on. At the end of the week, the total marks are calculated. The paper contains four schedules for one month. These people say: Such a method helps in maintaining the obligatory and Sunnah prayers. What is your eminence’s opinion on this method? Is it prescribed or not? And what is your opinion on distributing it, may Allah reward you?

Using a weekly schedule or tracker to check off obligatory and Sunnah prayers is considered an innovation (bid'ah). Such methods were never practiced by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ or his companions, and relying on them risks stripping worship of true devotion by turning it into a mechanical routine. Muslims are advised to worship with sincere energy and adapt to their daily circumstances rather than forcing rigid, unprescribed accountability charts.

This method is not prescribed; rather, it is an innovation (bid'ah). It may strip the heart of the meaning of true servitude and devotion ('uboodiyyah) to Allah the Exalted, turning acts of worship into mere routine actions, as they say. In the Sahihayn [Bukhari and Muslim], it is reported from Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) who said:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ entered the mosque and saw a rope stretched between two pillars. He asked: 'What is this?' They replied: 'It is a rope for Zainab; when she prays and feels tired or sluggish, she holds onto it.' He ﷺ said: 'Untie it. Let one of you pray when he has energy, and if he gets tired or sluggish, let him sit down.'

Sahih Bukhari & Sahih Muslim

Furthermore, a person might be presented with an action that is originally less virtuous, but it becomes more virtuous in his specific situation for a reason.

For example, if he is occupied with honoring a guest who has come to him rather than praying the regular Sunnah of Dhuhr, his being occupied with that guest is better than the Sunnah prayer.

I advise our youth against using these methods to stimulate worship, because the Prophet (ﷺ) warned against such things when he urged the following of his Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, and warned against innovations (bid'ah), explaining that every innovation is misguidance—even if its innovators consider it to be good.

There was nothing like this in his guidance, nor in the guidance of his Caliphs and Companions (may Allah be pleased with them).