Is it permissible to organize a contest involving three stages of remembrance (dhikr): seeking forgiveness (istighfar), sending blessings upon the Prophet (ṣalāt ʿalā al-nabī), and glorifying God (tasbīḥ)?

Competing in goodness and cooperating in righteousness and piety are praiseworthy. Informing someone about one's acts of worship with the aim of speaking about Allah's blessings and encouraging good deeds is permissible for one who is safe from ostentation (riya') and self-admiration. However, for one who is not safe from these, it is better not to inform.

It is preferred to encourage dhikr (remembrance of Allah) in ways other than this, for ostentation is a subtle disease from which most people are not safe. Allah Almighty has encouraged hidden dhikr, as He says: "And remember your Lord within yourself in humility and in fear without loudness in words in the mornings and in the afternoons" (Quran 7:205), and His saying: "Supplicate to your Lord in humility and secretly. Indeed, He does not like aggressors" (Quran 7:55).

Concealment is closer to sincerity and further from ostentation, which indicates that the default for supererogatory acts of worship is to be secret, unlike obligatory ones.