The Meaning of the Hadith: “The Best of Prayer is Lengthening the Standing”
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you with good and do you well. A message from Libya, signed by one of the sisters, says: The sender, Hana, asks and says: I heard a hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in which he said, “The best of prayer is lengthening the standing (qunut).” I ask for a detailed explanation of the word “qunut.” May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
The term qunut means standing, specifically prolonging the standing in prayer, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do. Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) says:[Al-Baqarah 2:238] Therefore, the term qunut is used for many meanings, one of which is prolonging the standing in prayer. Allah the Exalted says: [Az-Zumar 39:9]
May Allah reward you with good and do you well. A message from Libya, signed by one of the sisters, says: The sender, Hana, asks and says: I heard a hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in which he said, “The best of prayer is lengthening the standing (qunut).” I ask for a detailed explanation of the word “qunut.” May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
The term qunut means standing, specifically prolonging the standing in prayer, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do. Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) says:
Maintain with care the [obligatory] prayers and [in particular] the middle prayer and stand before Allah, devoutly obedient.
حَافِظُوا عَلَى الصَّلَوَاتِ وَالصَّلَاةِ الْوُسْطَىٰ وَقُومُوا لِلَّهِ قَانِتِينَIs one who is devoutly obedient during periods of the night, prostrating and standing [in prayer], fearing the Hereafter and hoping for the mercy of his Lord, [like one who does not]? Say, "Are those who know equal to those who do not know?" Only they will remember [who are] people of understanding.
أَمَّنْ هُوَ قَانِتٌ آنَاءَ اللَّيْلِ سَاجِدًا وَقَائِمًا يَحْذَرُ الْآخِرَةَ وَيَرْجُو رَحْمَةَ رَبِّهِ قُلْ هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّمَا يَتَذَكَّرُ أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 4353- معنى حديث "أفضل الصلاة طول القنوت" - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.