Q. In my home country, people read the supplication known as qunoot in every Fajr prayer, and if the imam omits to read it, he will offer two prostrations at the end of his prayers in compensation for it. According to a friend, this is a bid’at or innovation. Please advise.
Khaleel, Dammam
A. The qunoot is a supplication that is said normally after rising from the position of rukoo’ in the last rak’ah of an obligatory or recommended prayer. It has two or three standard forms, to which other supplications may be added. schools of Islamic fiqh have different rules about the qunoot with regard to its timing and form. The differences are based on what they learned from earlier scholars and the companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) who reported how they prayed with the Prophet. We must remember that we learned the form of prayer from the Prophet who advised his companions and all Muslims to “pray as you have seen me pray.” This is a very important Hadith that sets the form of prayer for all time. The Prophet varied his prayers to indicate that different methods in doing certain parts of the prayer are permissible, acceptable or recommended. We cannot imagine that every one of his companions offered all prayers with the Prophet at all times. This is impossible. People attended prayers in the mosque with the Prophet as their circumstances allowed. Hence some of them learned certain things that others did not. This accounts for the differences they reported. Moreover, it accounts for the different rules we find in schools of fiqh because each took the reports of the Prophet’s companions who were close to it.
When such differences are in matters of detail, they have no effect on the validity of prayers. They simply indicate that the Prophet did certain aspects of his prayers differently at different times. Take, for example, the practice of putting the right hand over the left hand when standing up in prayer before rukoo’. Neither the Maliki school nor the Shiite Jaafari school upholds this. Both prefer that one’s arms remain placed in their normal positions on the opposite sides of one’s body. This means that today Muslims in most African countries, as well as the Shiites in Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and elsewhere follow this practice, while other Muslims place their hands on their abdomen, with the right hand on top of the left hand. Can anyone suggest that either practice is a bid’at or innovation? If they do, then they do not know what they are talking about.
The same is the case with the Qunoot. We know that the Prophet did the qunoot at different times. We also know that when the Muslim community faced a calamity, he read the qunoot in all five prayers. At one time, he maintained this for a whole month, and he included in his supplication a prayer for certain persons and a prayer against certain others, mentioning both groups by name. This is known as Qunoot Al-Nawazil.
The Shafie school of fiqh recommends saying the qunoot in the second rak’ah of Fajr or dawn prayer, while the Hanafi school recommends it before rukoo’ in the last rak’ah of witr. The Hanbali school recommends it in witr also but after rukoo’. The form chosen by the Hanafi school is different from that of the other two. All these are acceptable. When you pray with an imam, do as he does. If he says the qunoot then you do likewise, and if he leaves it out, you leave it out too. Your prayer is perfectly valid in either case. You will either be doing a Sunnah or omitting it. If anyone suggests that what you do is a bid’at, you may tell him that he needs to study better.
