Discussion regarding the hadith concerning the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) recitation of qunut in the Fajr prayer, which is not specific to Fajr.

The questioner: From Abu Hurayrah: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say, when he finished the recitation in the Fajr prayer and said the takbir and raised his head: .

The Shaykh: This hadith, my brother, which you cited from Muslim, is also found in al-Bukhari.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: Is there a specification here?

The questioner: He used to supplicate against Hisham and Abbas, and the second hadith is that he recited qunut after the first rak'ah in prayer for a month when he said: He would say in his qunut and supplicate against Ra'il and Dawkhan. Is this a specific incident or not?

The Shaykh: May Allah reward you, I am telling you, other than the text, is this specific to the Fajr prayer?

Another questioner: The confusion for him, Professor, is that it was only mentioned in Fajr. Are there other hadiths...?

The Shaykh: I know, we did not mention it now! He used to recite qunut in the Maghrib prayer, and this is also found in "Sahih al-Bukhari"!

The questioner: And this is a hadith.

The Shaykh: Allow me, may Allah reward you, let us understand each other a bit; does mentioning something negate its absence in others? Does mentioning something negate others?

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh: Meaning, if the Fajr prayer is mentioned here, does it negate that he recited qunut in, for example, the Maghrib prayer?

The questioner: ... But what is the specification here?

The Shaykh: Allow me a moment, allow me a moment, let us agree on a point. There may be a disagreement where there is no disagreement. You are now bringing a hadith that the Messenger recited qunut in the Fajr prayer in the incident; is that not so? Good; we did not deny this, on the contrary, we affirmed that qunut is prescribed in the five prayers. You said that the Messenger specified it, we told you: there is no specification. He recited qunut in Fajr for the incident and in the other prayers for the incident; so here Fajr is mentioned; does this negate that he did not recite qunut?

The questioner: No, it does not negate.

The Shaykh: So where is the specification you are claiming, my brother?

Another questioner: The hadith because Fajr is mentioned, and this is not understood from it... but this...

The questioner: Fajr is mentioned specifically.

Another questioner: Maghrib is mentioned in other hadiths.

The questioner: I understand... my brother.

Another questioner: The intended meaning is for a month.

The questioner: He recited qunut in Fajr, Dhuhr, and Isha, and he recited qunut in Dhuhr and Isha, and he recited, meaning in several narrations, in the...

Another questioner: The Companions saw that he recited qunut in Fajr so they transmitted from him Fajr; Companions saw him recite qunut in Maghrib so they transmitted from him thus; there is no specification.

The questioner: But also, it was reported in the book of Ibn al-Qayyim which you mentioned that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) recited qunut in the Fajr prayer, and Ibn al-Qayyim commented on that saying: He is reviving a Sunnah, and the one who leaves qunut also followed the Sunnah; both followed the Sunnah.

The Shaykh: Meaning you are going around something where there is no disagreement.

The questioner: There is no disagreement.

The Shaykh : Then?

The questioner: Abu Hurayrah, I say, recited qunut in Fajr alone, he was supplicating for the Muslims, and supplicating...

The Shaykh: My brother, when you say "alone"; do you mean he did not recite qunut in others? Glory to Allah! If the text comes to you from the Messenger of Allah or from a Companion of the Messenger of Allah that he recited qunut in a certain prayer, does it mean he did not recite qunut in others?

The questioner: It does not mean that, and also it does not negate that he...

The Shaykh: And who denied it?

The questioner: He recited qunut in Fajr.

The Shaykh: Who denied it?

The questioner: But I also do not see, for example, any obstacle to specifying a certain prayer like the Fajr prayer as people do here!

The Shaykh: ... I tell you, my brother, this was the basis of my speech with you on this point: how is it permissible for you to specify a prayer with qunut when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not specify it with qunut, but generalized it in all five prayers, just as if you said, for example: I want to specify a prayer from the prayers with reciting the salutation upon the Messenger (peace be upon him) in the tashahhud, for example; from where is this permissible for you? And we know that the Messenger (peace be upon him) prescribed for the Muslims to send salutations upon him in every tashahhud; so from where do you bring the specification? And then what are you seeking, may Allah reward you, from your saying: what is the obstacle to specifying the Fajr prayer with qunut for the incident?! What are you aiming at? If someone said to you, our brother this Shaykh Ahmad: I want to specify qunut for the incident with the Maghrib prayer, and a third said with the Dhuhr prayer, and a fourth with Asr, and so on; is this permissible in Islam? Why do you not leave the ruling as it came; recite qunut in the five prayers, and then what is qunut, is it not supplication? Good; why do you specify this supplication which is good for the Muslims with one of the five prayers? There is no need, my brother, for this specification, but I truly tell you with all frankness: what I fear most is that you are specifying qunut for the incident in the Fajr prayer—and I hope that is not the case—to please people, or to smooth out a function, or something similar, and this is not done by a Muslim like you; so why the specification? Let it be general; as the Messenger did, and it is also more beneficial for the Muslims.
Then let us also scrutinize the matter more and more; is the qunut that came in the madhhab which took the first rejected hadith of Anas; is it qunut for an incident? Or is it the supplication: "O Allah, guide me among those You have guided, and heal me among those You have healed"? Good; so this is not qunut for an incident, so when you want to recite qunut that corresponds to the incident of the Muslims, what is the latest calamity of the Muslims today? The occupation of Afghanistan by the Russians, before that was Palestine next to us, and so on, and Beirut, and thus calamities, unfortunately, so we supplicate in the five prayers with what corresponds to these incidents and these calamities, as for "O Allah, guide me among those You have guided"; I tell you something you may not read in a book, because this comes in reality from research and scrutiny of statements and evidence of men, from the wonders of coincidences that the researcher finds in the books of later fiqh =
-- Start with the right, Professor, start with the right... --
= The qunut of witr which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) taught to al-Hasan ibn 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Shafi'is transferred it to the qunut of Fajr, and this has no basis at all, and on the contrary; the later Hanafis transferred the qunut which 'Umar ibn al-Khattab used to recite in Fajr and others, in which he supplicated against the polytheists: "Indeed Your punishment" what is it?

Another questioner: "The severe with the disbelievers is connected."

The Shaykh: "Connected," so they transferred it and placed it where? In the place of the qunut of witr which the Messenger taught us to supplicate with... so the opposite is correct; if a caller today supplicated with the qunut which 'Umar ibn al-Khattab used to recite when he supplicated against the disbelievers around him like the Romans and others, if he supplicated with it today, he would have revived an 'Umaric Sunnah, and it would have been better than his supplication which he wants to impose from himself.