If the imam is informed that the qunut in the Fajr prayer is a religious innovation and evidence is presented from the Sunnah to that effect, but he persists in the qunut, is he considered mistaken or deliberate?

The Shaykh: Come on, Abu Abd al-Rahman, what do you have?

The questioner : O Shaykh.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And beware of that.

The questioner: In a case like this, I do not know. Is there not a difference between an imam who sat down because he was ill, and naturally the followers should pray behind him sitting as we said, but here this is deliberate? Is it considered a mistake, meaning it contradicts the Sunnah? Evidence is brought to him that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not perform the qunut, and I do not know, some scholars said, I read, I do not know, that the qunut in Fajr is a religious innovation. Some said it is a religious innovation. So, is this considered a mistake or deliberate?

The Shaykh: No, it is a mistake. The deliberate one is the one who is stubborn. The deliberate one is the one who is stubborn. You know, today, as we hinted at earlier, most Muslims are far from the Sunnah, not out of malice toward the Sunnah.

The questioner: But out of ignorance of it.

The Shaykh: Rather, it is ignorance of it. Therefore, these people who are very far from the Sunnah are not said to be deliberately fighting the Sunnah and opposing it, never. Rather, they are ignorant, unfortunately. They may make mistakes and be deliberate in not giving weight to the opinion of Zayd, Bakr, or 'Umar among the scholars who support the Sunnah.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: This comes to them from sectarian fanaticism. But this sectarian fanaticism, in reality, requires tremendous efforts from the people of the Sunnah to eliminate it. And from these tremendous efforts is that there is a lot of it, because most people do not take me to task, meaning, if it is said that Shaykh Al-Albani said such and such, they will say to you, who is Al-Albani? And I excuse him, right or not?

The questioner: Correct. The one who does not know you ignores you.

The Shaykh: He does not know anything about Al-Albani. So, excuse him. If you tell him, Shaykh Al-Albani said this hadith is authentic, or said this is a Sunnah, and he says to you, who is Shaykh Al-Albani? Excuse him. He has never heard a word, nor has a report reached him, and so on. Therefore, I think that these people, due to their ignorance and heedlessness of the Sunnah, when you advise them, they do not listen to your words. Why? Because they do not know you, and they know who the fathers and grandfathers found them upon. Then, on top of this, they find support from someone they know to be a scholar. Then they may bring you a book, and this exists, and say to you, from the Sunnah, one performs the qunut in the Fajr prayer. And then, you must remember the saying of the one who said, "Can the perfumer repair what time has spoiled?" Therefore, we always say to our brothers, O our brothers, the word of truth is heavy upon people , and then this word becomes heavier than its reality when it is accompanied by the method of delivery, in its heaviness, in its severity, in its harshness, contrary to His saying - Exalted is He - : So I cannot say that this imam, yes, performs the qunut despite the Sunnah. I do not think this is the case. If he were convinced that this is not from the Sunnah, he would not do it. But how can he be convinced? How can he be convinced? There is no way for him to be convinced, because as it was said:
"You hope for salvation but have not taken its paths *** For the ship does not run on the dry land"
Meaning, he has not taken the path of knowledge so that he may learn. So I ask Allah to teach us.