The Jurisprudence of the Qunut Supplication and Its Conditions
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, there are many questions I would like you to provide the jurisprudence of the qunut supplication for, even if briefly.
Answer:
This issue has been much discussed and written about in newspapers and magazines, and it has become clear. First, qunut is a recommended practice (sunnah), not obligatory, according to those who hold that it is performed in times of calamity; for those who hold this view, it is a recommended practice, not obligatory. Second, the matter is not one of chaos where anyone who wants to perform qunut does so without consulting the scholars who can assess which calamities warrant qunut and which do not. The scholars are the ones who assess calamities and know about them. I mean the scholars who issue fatwas, to whom people turn for rulings. One should send questions to the Department of Ifta and ask, or the person himself should go and ask the mufti, or ask one of the shaykhs, and he will find the answer, if Allah wills. It is not the right of every person to perform qunut without a fatwa from the scholars who issue rulings and determine what is required. This is the concern of the people of judgment and decision (ahl al-hall wa al-'aqd). It is not a matter of chaos.
Because some independent legal reasoners (mujtahids) perform qunut for things that do not warrant qunut, and they may bring in a qunut that is outside the prescribed form, and use words that are outside the prescribed form. This affects the prayer and may invalidate it. Nothing is done in the prayer except with scriptural evidence and a valid fatwa. It is not for a person to act on his own, performing qunut whenever he wishes and leaving it whenever he wishes. Rather, there are references and sources to which one turns. If the matter were one of chaos, yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
Honorable Shaykh, there are many questions I would like you to provide the jurisprudence of the qunut supplication for, even if briefly.
Answer:
This issue has been much discussed and written about in newspapers and magazines, and it has become clear. First, qunut is a recommended practice (sunnah), not obligatory, according to those who hold that it is performed in times of calamity; for those who hold this view, it is a recommended practice, not obligatory. Second, the matter is not one of chaos where anyone who wants to perform qunut does so without consulting the scholars who can assess which calamities warrant qunut and which do not. The scholars are the ones who assess calamities and know about them. I mean the scholars who issue fatwas, to whom people turn for rulings. One should send questions to the Department of Ifta and ask, or the person himself should go and ask the mufti, or ask one of the shaykhs, and he will find the answer, if Allah wills. It is not the right of every person to perform qunut without a fatwa from the scholars who issue rulings and determine what is required. This is the concern of the people of judgment and decision (ahl al-hall wa al-'aqd). It is not a matter of chaos.
Because some independent legal reasoners (mujtahids) perform qunut for things that do not warrant qunut, and they may bring in a qunut that is outside the prescribed form, and use words that are outside the prescribed form. This affects the prayer and may invalidate it. Nothing is done in the prayer except with scriptural evidence and a valid fatwa. It is not for a person to act on his own, performing qunut whenever he wishes and leaving it whenever he wishes. Rather, there are references and sources to which one turns. If the matter were one of chaos, yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
Source
75-اللقاء الأسبوعي مع الشيخ صالح الفوزان - 14 — archive.org (30:39)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.