Islamic Fiqh > Prayer > The pillars and conditions of prayer > Saying "our master" in the prayer upon the Prophet (al-tasyid)
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Updated on 25 September 2026 at 3:23 PM
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The wording of the prayers upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is transmitted in the books of hadith and fiqh without the mention of "our master" before his name (peace and blessings be upon him); the early jurists have no discussion of this addition; the later ones diverged into 2 views. Opting for its recommendation were al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam, al-Ramli, al-Qalyubi, al-Sharqawi, Jalal al-Din al-Mahalli and other Shafi'is, as well as al-Haskafi, Ibn Abidin and al-Tahawi among the Hanafis, following al-Ramli. Al-Ramli (may Allah have mercy on him): the best is to come with the term of lordship, as Ibn Dhihira said, a group stating it explicitly, and al-Mahalli issued a firm fatwa on it: it comes with what we were commanded and with the added information of the real, which is good manners, making it better than leaving it, even if al-Isnawi hesitated over its preferability («Hashiyat al-Ramli ala «Asna al-Matalib»» 1/166). Al-Haskafi (may Allah have mercy on him): the lordship is recommended, for adding information of the real is the very essence of good conduct: leaving it is therefore worse; al-Ramli and others mentioned it («al-Durr al-Mukhtar» with «Hashiyat Ibn Abidin» 1/513). Ibn Abidin (may Allah have mercy on him): it is objected that this contradicts our school, given the imam's statement that adding to or subtracting from the tashahhud is disliked; I say: there is something to consider, for the prayer upon the Prophet is over and above the tashahhud and is not part of it; on this basis, however, one ought not to say "our master" in "and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger", and to come with the term concerning Ibrahim (peace be upon him) («Hashiyat Ibn Abidin» 1/513). Al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam (may Allah have mercy on him): this belongs to good manners, and observing good manners is better than literal compliance.
Two hadiths are argued with. The first: Sahl ibn Sa'd al-Sa'idi reports that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) went to the Banu Amr ibn Awf to make peace between them; the time of prayer came, the muezzin came to Abu Bakr and said: will you lead the people in prayer while I give the iqama? He said: yes. Abu Bakr led the prayer; the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came while the people were praying and made his way until he stood in the row; the people began clapping, and Abu Bakr would not turn around in his prayer; when they clapped much, he turned, saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), who gestured to him to stay in his place; Abu Bakr raised his hands, praised Allah for what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had commanded him, then moved back until he was in the row, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stepped forward and prayed; when he departed he said: "O Abu Bakr, what prevented you from standing still when I commanded you?" Abu Bakr said: it is not for the son of Abu Quhafa to lead the prayer before the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) (al-Bukhari 652, Muslim 421). One may however answer this evidence with what is also reported from Abu Bakr the Truthful: al-Bukhari (651) reports from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded Abu Bakr to lead the people in prayer during his illness, and he led them; Urwa said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) felt strength, went out, and there was Abu Bakr leading the people; when Abu Bakr saw him he began to move back, but he gestured to him to stay as he was; the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sat beside Abu Bakr, who prayed following the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) while the people prayed following the prayer of Abu Bakr: Abu Bakr himself complied with the Prophet's command, does that mean he lacked good manners here?
The commentary on this question further clarifies: that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is the master of the sons of Adam on the Day of Resurrection is beyond doubt, the famous hadith stating: "I am the master of the sons of Adam on the Day of Resurrection, the first whose grave will split open, the first intercessor and the first granted intercession"; the controversy of the later scholars concerns using the term "our master" as a slogan in sermons, writings, exhortations, and even in the tashahhud of the prayer. Yet the religion is following, not innovating: "Say: if you love Allah, follow me, and Allah will love you" (Surah 3, 31); "Say: I warn you only by the revelation" (Surah 21, 45); "It is nothing but revelation revealed" (Surah 53, 4); "Follow what is revealed to you from your Lord"; the Prophet warns neither by reason nor by desire nor by opinion, but by revelation alone, and were he to say or do anything contrary to what Allah wills, the rebuke would descend upon him; Allah commands His messenger to follow what is revealed to him, and the Messenger commands us to follow him, for he does not speak from desire. When his Companions asked him how to pray upon him, he taught them, and in no sahih hadith is there that he taught them adding the word "our master", let alone making it a slogan placed before every mention of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). We firmly believe in this attribute for him, but it is not said in an act of worship: not in the prayer, not in the adhan as some states do; outside the prayer and the adhan, in an exhortation, a lesson or an article, saying "the master of the messengers (peace and blessings be upon him)" faces no objection, but not as an absolute commitment made a slogan. Venerating the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) occurs only by what came in al-Bukhari, Muslim and others such as Imam Ahmad: in the «Musnad» one never finds from Abu Hurayra "our master Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)"; the righteous predecessors knew the Prophet, loved him and esteemed him more than we do, without denying he is the master of the sons of Adam, but they did not use it as a slogan or title: we stop where they stopped. Moreover, the word "master" is used for any tribal chief: Abu Sufyan was called master of Quraysh, al-Aqra ibn Habis master of the Banu Tamim; there is thus nothing distinctive in the appellation; had the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said "our master Muhammad", it would have equalled the tribal titles, whereas the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is greater than that; when the delegations of the Persians came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who shaved their beards and let their mustaches grow, he said: who commanded you this? They said: our lord, meaning their king Kisra, the word also denoting the owner of a slave; what honors the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and distinguishes him is rather his perfect servitude to Allah and the completion of the message; the hadith moreover carries the restriction to the Day of Resurrection, a day whose state differs wholly from this world's: on that day the arrogant are gathered like ants trodden underfoot, all the prophets excuse themselves from intercession, then he (peace and blessings be upon him) rises and intercedes: that is the true lordship; "the master of the messengers" is likewise a clear preference, the messengers being the best of men, unlike the common people's "our master", which may evoke notables, princes and kings. Hence the worthier course is to say he is "the servant of Allah and His messenger".
The second hadith: the refusal of Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) to erase the Prophet's name from the document of al-Hudaybiyya; al-Bara ibn Azib said: the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed the 'umra in dhu al-qi'da; the people of Mecca refused to let him enter until a pact granted him 3 days there; when they wrote the document, they wrote: this is what Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), has agreed upon; they said: we do not accept it; had we known you were the Messenger of Allah we would not have barred you, but you are Muhammad ibn Abdallah; he said: I am the Messenger of Allah and Muhammad ibn Abdallah; then he said to Ali: erase: the Messenger of Allah; Ali said: no, by Allah, I shall never erase you; the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) took the document and wrote: this is what Muhammad ibn Abdallah has agreed upon (al-Bukhari 2552, Muslim 1783). Both hadiths are in the 2 Sahihs, and his confirmation (peace and blessings be upon him) of both behaviors is a declining of the command out of good manners, mindful of his precedence.
The Malikis, al-Shirbini and al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar among the Shafi'is: saying "our master" is not recommended, for it belongs to conforming to what is reported from him (peace and blessings be upon him), without addition to the remembrances and transmitted formulas. Al-Isnawi of the Shafi'is suspends judgment: the addition of "our master" before Muhammad is famous among most worshipers, and its being preferable is debatable; in my memory, Shaykh Izz al-Din built it on which prevails: good manners or compliance with the command; according to the first it is recommended, not according to the second. Al-Shirbini: the apparent sense of their words opts for the second view («Mughni al-Muhtaj» 1/176, «Awn al-Ma'bud» 3/191). Shaykh Ahmad al-Sawi (may Allah have mercy on him): confining oneself to what is transmitted is best, to the point that the best is to leave out the lordship, since it is transmitted without it («Bulghat al-Salik» 1/214).
Here is the view of al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, one of the great Shafi'i scholars combining hadith and fiqh: al-Hafiz Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Gharabilli (790-835), a constant attendant upon al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar, asked him, may Allah grant him long life, about the description of the prayer upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in prayer or outside it, whether held obligatory or recommended: is it required to describe him with lordship, as in saying "O Allah, pray upon our master Muhammad", or "upon the master of creation", or "the master of the sons of Adam", or to confine oneself to "O Allah, pray upon Muhammad"? And which is better: coming with the term of lordship as an established attribute of his (peace and blessings be upon him), or not coming with it since it is not transmitted? He answered (may Allah have mercy on him): yes, following the transmitted formulas is weightier; and it is not to be said that he (peace and blessings be upon him) left it out of humility, just as he did not say the honorific at his own name; and his umma is recommended to say it at every mention, for were it preferable, it would have come from the Companions then the Successors, and we never stop at any tradition of a Companion or Successor saying it, despite the abundance of what is transmitted from them. Imam al-Shafi'i, may Allah raise his rank, among the greatest of people in venerating the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), said in the introduction of his book, the mainstay of his school: "O Allah, pray upon Muhammad", to the extent his effort reached: "at every mention of those who remember, and every lapse of those who forget"; he may have derived this from the sahih hadith containing "Glory to Allah by the number of His creatures", for it is established that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the Mother of the Believers, seeing her multiply the tasbih and lengthen it: "I have said after you words which, weighed against what you said, would outweigh it", he being fond of comprehensive supplications.
The qadi Iyad devoted in the «Shifa» a chapter to the formulas of the prayer upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), transmitting in it traditions raised to a group of Companions and Successors, none of which contains from any Companion or other the wording "our master". Among it, the hadith of Ali, who taught them the manner of the prayer upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "O Allah, You who spread out the flattened lands and create the interlocked forms, make the forerunners of Your prayers, the rays of Your blessings and the increase of Your greetings upon Muhammad, Your servant and Your messenger, the opener of what was closed". And from Ali: he used to say: "may the prayers of Allah, the Virtuous, the Merciful, of the angels brought near, of the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous, and of everything that glorifies You, O Lord of the worlds, be upon Muhammad ibn Abdallah, the seal of the prophets and the imam of the God-fearing", to the end. And from Abdallah ibn Mas'ud, that he said: "O Allah, make Your prayers, Your blessings and Your mercy upon the master of the messengers, the imam of the God-fearing, the seal of the prophets, Muhammad, Your servant and Your messenger, the imam of good and the messenger of mercy", to the end. And from al-Hasan al-Basri: whoever wishes to drink from the brimming cup of the Chosen One's basin should say: "O Allah, pray upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, his companions, his wives, his children, his descendants, the people of his house, his in-laws, his helpers, his followers and those who love him". This is what is preferred from the «Shifa» concerning the form of the prayer upon him, from the Companions and those after them; other things are mentioned there too. It is true that there comes in Ibn Mas'ud's hadith, in his prayer upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "O Allah, place the merits of Your prayers, Your mercy and Your blessings upon the master of the messengers", reported by Ibn Majah, but its chain is weak; as for the hadith of Ali mentioned, al-Tabarani reported it with a chain without fault but with singular wordings, explained in the «Fadl al-Nabi» of Abu al-Hasan ibn al-Faris. The Shafi'is report that a man who swore to pray upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with the greatest prayer should, for the righteous course, say: "O Allah, pray upon Muhammad whenever those who remember mention him, and whenever the heedless forget him". Al-Nawawi said: the sound position to affirm decisively is to say: "O Allah, pray upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, as You prayed upon Ibrahim", to the end of the hadith. A group of later scholars countered him that the 2 stated manners are equal, which proves the preference between the 2 from the standpoint of transmission; as for the standpoint of meaning, the preference is apparent in the first. The question is famous in the books of fiqh, and its aim is that every jurist who mentioned it, without exception, never wrote "our master"; were this addition recommended, it would not have escaped all of them until they all overlooked it; all good lies in following, and Allah knows best (transmitted from the «Description of the Prophet's Prayer» by Shaykh al-Albani 150, 152; the statement is also mentioned by al-Tahtawi in his «Hashiya ala Maraqi al-Falah» from al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar 1/181). Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him): the most complete and best prayer upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is: "O Allah, pray upon Muhammad..." («Rawdat al-Talibin» 1/265, «al-Adhkar» 76, «al-Durr al-Mukhtar» 1/513-514).
Seventeenth point. The jurists diverged over the prescribed sitting posture in prayer: is the sunna the iftirash in all the prayer's sittings, or the tawarruk absolutely, or the iftirash in the middle tashahhud and the tawarruk in the last tashahhud? The Hanafis distinguish between the man and the woman: the man's sunna is the iftirash and the woman's the tawarruk, whether in the first sitting, the last or the sitting between the 2 prostrations. Their evidence is what Wail ibn Hujr reports of the Prophet's prayer (peace and blessings be upon him), whose text says: "when he sat in prayer, he would erect his right leg and sit on his left" (sahih hadith: Abu Dawud 957, al-Nasa'i 1265); they add that his tawarruk (peace and blessings be upon him) is carried upon his old age and weakness, and that he performs the iftirash between the 2 prostrations («Hashiyat Ibn Abidin» 1/477, «Umdat al-Qari» 6/102-103, «Tabyin al-Haqa'iq» 1/122, «al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya» 1/72).
The Malikis: the prescribed sitting in all the prayer's sittings is the tawarruk, with no difference between man and woman, according to Malik in the «Muwatta» from Abdallah ibn Omar: "the sunna of the prayer is to erect your right leg and bend your left" (al-Bukhari 793; Malik in the «Muwatta» 201). In his narration from al-Qasim ibn Muhammad: he showed them the sitting of the tashahhud, erected his right leg, bent his left, sat on his left hip without sitting on his foot, then said: "Abdallah ibn Abdallah ibn Omar showed me this, and told me his father used to do it" (reported by Malik in the «Muwatta» 52 and al-Bayhaqi 2/103 with a sahih chain). And from Abdallah ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him):
"When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sat in prayer, he would place his left foot between his thigh and shin, spread his right foot, place his left hand on his left knee and his right hand on his right thigh, and point with his finger"Reported by Muslim (579)
In another wording: "when he sat in prayer, he would place his left foot under his right thigh and shin, and spread his right foot" (Abu Dawud 988). This occurs only with resting the hip on the ground, as we said; because it gives fuller stability and greater dignity to the prayer; and because it is an act repeated in prayer in which imam and follower are equal, it must therefore have one single form, like the bowing; and because it is a prescribed posture during the sitting whose form does not vary, like placing the hands on the thighs («al-Ishraf ala «Nukat masa'il al-khilaf»» 1/283-284, case no. 200, «al-Istidhkar» 1/479, «al-Tamhid» 19/248, «Tafsir al-Qurtubi» 1/360, «Bidayat al-Mujtahid» 1/192-193).
The Shafi'is and the Hanbalis: the tawarruk is sunna in the last tashahhud, and the iftirash in the rest of the sittings, according to Abu Humayd (may Allah be pleased with him): "the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he sat in the 2 rak'as, sat on his left leg and erected the right; and when he sat in the last rak'a, he advanced his left leg, erected the other and sat on his buttocks"; in one version: "in the fourth, he rested his left hip on the ground and brought out both feet from one side" (al-Bukhari 794 without the last narration, which is with Abu Dawud 731). The wisdom in differing between the last sitting and the rest is that the worshiper is poised for movement there, unlike the last one, and movement from the iftirash is easier. The Shafi'is add: the tawarruk is sunna in every tashahhud followed by a salam, even if it is not the second, like the tashahhud of dawn and Friday, for it is a tashahhud whose lengthening is sunna, the tawarruk being sunna in it as in the second. As for the woman, she sits in whatever manner is most concealing for her («al-Hawi al-Kabir» 2/133, «Mughni al-Muhtaj» 1/172, «Kashshaf al-Qina'» 1/356, 363, «al-Mughni» 2/92-93, «al-Kafi» 1/141).
The Hanbalis: the man does the tawarruk only in the last tashahhud of a prayer containing 2 tashahhuds, for the hadith of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her): "the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said in every 2 rak'as the greetings, spreading his left leg and erecting his right leg" (Muslim 498); since the second tashahhud carries the tawarruk to distinguish the 2 tashahhuds, one containing only a single tashahhud admits no confusion, so there is no need for distinction. As for the woman among them, she may sit cross-legged, Ibn Omar ordering women to sit thus in prayer, or let her 2 legs hang down on her right side; the explicit text from Ahmad makes the hanging down better, being Aisha's constant practice (may Allah be pleased with her) and resembling more the man's sitting («al-Mughni» 2/92-93, «al-Kafi» 1/141, «Kashshaf al-Qina'» 1/356, 363).
The iftirash consists of erecting the right foot vertically on the tips of the toes, directed toward the qibla, and extending the left leg so its back touches the ground, sitting on its inner face. The tawarruk is like the iftirash, but one brings out one's left from the right side and presses one's hip to the ground (Ibn Abidin 1/477, «Umdat al-Qari» 6/102-103, «Tabyin al-Haqa'iq» 1/122, «al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya» 1/72, «al-Istidhkar» 1/479, «al-Tamhid» 19/248, «Tafsir al-Qurtubi» 1/360, «Bidayat al-Mujtahid» 1/192-193, «al-Hawi al-Kabir» 2/133, «Mughni al-Muhtaj» 1/172, «Kashshaf al-Qina'» 1/356, 363, «al-Mughni» 2/92-93, «al-Kafi» 1/141).
Eighteenth point. The rest sitting is the one the worshiper makes when he finishes the first or third rak'a and rises for the second or fourth: a brief sitting after the second prostration, before standing for the next rak'a. The jurists diverged: is this sitting legislated and a sunna of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or not? The Hanafis, the Malikis and the Shafi'is according to the soundest view, and the Hanbalis according to the madhhab: when he rises from the second prostration, he does not sit for rest and stands on the fronts of his feet; Abu Humayd al-Sa'idi reports that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he raised his head from the prostration, stood up, with no mention of sitting (sahih hadith, mentioned above, though it is also established in his hadith that he sat, as will come). In the hadith of Rifaa ibn Rafi concerning the instruction of the Bedouin: "then prostrate until you are at rest prostrating, then stand", without commanding him the sitting (sahih hadith, mentioned above). Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi establishes this view too: they agree that one returns from prostration with the takbir, saying no other takbir for standing; were the sitting prescribed, the transition from it to standing would occur with a remembrance, as in the other transitions; and because it is a rising toward standing, it would not be his sunna to separate the 2 with another act, the basis being the rising from sitting toward the third rak'a; and because it is a transition from one pillar to a pillar contrary to it, no intermediate sitting is prescribed there, like the transition from standing to prostration («Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar» 2/65, «Tabyin al-Haqa'iq» 1/119, Ibn Abidin 1/340, «al-Tamhid» 19/254-255, «al-Ishraf ala «Nukat masa'il al-khilaf»» 1/281-282, case no. 198, «al-Qawanin al-fiqhiyya» 68, «Nihayat al-Muhtaj» 1/518, «Mughni al-Muhtaj» 1/177, «al-Majmu'» 3/403, «al-Mughni» 2/81, 83).
The Shafi'is according to the soundest view among them, and Imam Ahmad in a narration chosen by Khalal: the rest sitting is sunna after the second prostration of every rak'a one rises from, according to Malik ibn al-Huwayrith: "when he raised his head from the second prostration, he sat leaning on the ground, then stood" (al-Bukhari 790). In one narration from Malik ibn al-Huwayrith (may Allah be pleased with him): "he saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) praying: in each odd-numbered rak'a of his prayer, he would not stand until he sat fully upright" (al-Bukhari 789). And from Abu Humayd in the description of the Prophet's prayer (peace and blessings be upon him): "...he raised his hands until level with his shoulders, then bowed and placed his palms on his knees, leaning without drooping or raising his head, upright; then he said: Allah hears the one who praises Him, raised his hands until level with his shoulders until every bone returned to its place, then descended to the ground, keeping his hands away from his sides; then he raised his head, bent his left leg, sat upon it and spread the toes of his feet when prostrating; then he prostrated, then said the takbir and sat on his left leg until every bone returned to its place, then stood, doing the like in the other rak'a" (sahih hadith, mentioned above). It is said that Ahmad returned to this view, abandoning the first; Khalal: Abu Abdallah returned to this, meaning he left his view of not sitting. Ibn Qudama (may Allah have mercy on him): it is also said that if the worshiper is weak he sits for rest, needing to sit; if strong, he does not sit, having no need of it; and the Prophet's sitting (peace and blessings be upon him) is carried upon the end of his life, his old age and weakness; this reconciles the reports and takes the middle between the 2 views.
The sunna with the Malikis and Shafi'is is to rise taking support on the hands from the ground, according to Abu Qilaba: Malik ibn al-Huwayrith came to us and prayed in this mosque of ours, saying: I shall pray with you though I had no intention of prayer, but to show you how I saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) pray; Ayyub said to Abu Qilaba: how was his prayer? He said: like the prayer of this shaykh of ours, meaning Amr ibn Salama; Ayyub: this shaykh completed the takbir, and "when he raised his head from the second prostration, he sat leaning on the ground, then stood" (al-Bukhari 790); and because this is fuller of humility and lowliness, more helpful to the worshiper and safer against his toppling.
With the Hanafis and the Hanbalis, one does not lean on the ground, according to Ibn Omar (may Allah be pleased with them) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) "forbade a man to lean on his hands when rising in prayer" (weak hadith: Abu Dawud 992). One stands on the fronts of the feet, according to Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him): "the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would rise in prayer on the fronts of his feet" (weak hadith: al-Tirmidhi 288); except if that is hard upon him, then he leans on the ground, for Ali's saying (may Allah be pleased with him): "part of the sunna, in the written prayer, when a man rises from the first 2 rak'as, is not to lean with his hands on the ground, unless he is an aged man unable to do otherwise" (reported by Ibn Abi Shayba in his «Musannaf» 3998; «Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar» 2/65, «Tabyin al-Haqa'iq» 1/119, Ibn Abidin 1/340, «Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari» of Ibn Batal 2/440, «al-Tamhid» 19/254-255, «al-Qawanin al-fiqhiyya» 68, «al-Ishraf ala «Nukat masa'il al-khilaf»» 1/281-282, case no. 198, «al-Majmu'» 3/406, 408, «Nihayat al-Muhtaj» 1/518, «Mughni al-Muhtaj» 1/177, «al-Majmu'» 3/403, «al-Mughni» 2/81, 83, «Matalib Uli al-Nuha» 1/454, «Manar al-Sabil» 1/113).
The jurists diverged over the ruling of the qunut in the dawn prayer into 3 opinions. The first: it is not legislated and not a sunna in it; this is the view of the Hanafis and the Hanbalis. Imam Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy on him): it is an innovation; the Hanbalis in the sound position: it is disliked. Their evidence: Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) "made the qunut in the dawn prayer for a month, supplicating against tribes of Arabs, then left it off" (reported by al-Bukhari 2/386 and Muslim 677; the cited wording is composite, drawn from several narrations of the 2). They say: the qunut was therefore abrogated, the leaving being evidence of abrogation; and it is reported that he "used to make the qunut in the dawn and the maghrib" (Muslim 678), the qunut of the maghrib having been abrogated by consensus, so that of the dawn likewise. And by what Abu Malik al-Ashja'i reports: I said to my father: O my father, you prayed behind the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), behind Abu Bakr, Omar and Othman, and behind Ali ibn Abi Talib here in Kufa for about 5 years: did they make the qunut in the dawn? He said: "O my son, it is an innovation"; in another wording: "O my son, an innovation" (sahih hadith: al-Tirmidhi 402, al-Nasa'i 1080, Ibn Majah 1241); and were the qunut of the dawn prescribed, its transmission would be mutawatir.
Al-Jassas: widespread reports relate that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made the qunut in the dawn, the maghrib and the isha; then Abdallah ibn Mas'ud, Abu Hurayra and Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr (may Allah be pleased with them) report that he left it off after doing it. The narration from Anas diverged: Amr ibn Ubayd reports from al-Hasan from Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) "never ceased making the qunut in the dawn prayer until he left the world"; likewise Abu Ja'far al-Razi from al-Rabi ibn Anas from Anas; and Humayd reports from Anas: "the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) made the qunut for 20 days"; Ayyub reports from Ibn Sirin from Anas: "the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) made the qunut briefly in the dawn prayer"; Abu Nu'aym reports from Hisham al-Dastuwa'i from Qatada from Anas (may Allah be pleased with him): "the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) made the qunut after the bowing, supplicating against a tribe of Arabs, then left it off, and he used to supplicate against Ri'l and Dhakwan". Anas's reports (may Allah be pleased with him) thus contradict one another over the qunut's abandonment or its practice until his death: they fall away as if never received, and there remain to us the reports of the others on his leaving the qunut after doing it; these therefore have the stronger title, being his last act (peace and blessings be upon him). And when the jurists all agreed to leave off what is reported of the qunut in the maghrib and the isha, the qunut of the dawn is likewise: the qunut in all of them was made at one time, and what is besides the dawn prayer was abrogated by the leaving, so its ruling at the dawn must be so too.
Were it said: why should the leaving not be a choice rather than abrogation? He is answered: the qunut being a sunna of the prayer while he did it, his leaving it shows it ceased to be among its sunnas; we find that in the rest of the prayer's sunnas the worshiper is not given the choice of doing or leaving them, like the 2 prostrations of forgetfulness, the tashahhud, the tasbih of bowing and prostration and the opening praise; were the sunna of the qunut remaining, leaving it would not be permitted. Do you not see that leaving the qunut in the maghrib and isha is not for anyone a matter of choice, but one of abrogation? Likewise the qunut of the dawn. Further, were the qunut prescribed in the dawn, its transmission would have to be mutawatir and known to most of the Companions, given the universality of the need, like the tashahhud, the takbir of bowing and prostration; yet we find Abdallah ibn Mas'ud, Abdallah ibn Abbas, Omar in one narration and Ibn Omar (may Allah be pleased with them) did not hold it in the dawn: we thus know it was abrogated by the Prophet's leaving it (peace and blessings be upon him). Ibn Mas'ud and Ibn Omar (may Allah be pleased with them) had transmitted the hadith of the qunut; then Qatada reports from Abu al-Mujalid who said: "I prayed behind Ibn Omar (may Allah be pleased with them): he did not make the qunut; I said: does old age prevent you? He said: I retain nothing of it from any of my companions"; Abu al-Sha'tha' reports the like from him regarding the dawn prayer. Abd al-Baqi ibn Qaniya reports, chain up to Zayda from al-Ash'ath from Abu al-Sha'tha' from his father: Ibn Omar (may Allah be pleased with them) was asked about the qunut of the dawn and said: "I did not use to see anyone make the qunut at dawn". Abd al-Baqi also reports, chain up to Bishr ibn Harb: I heard Ibn Omar (may Allah be pleased with them) say: "Do you see your standing after the imam finishes the recitation, this innovation? By Allah, it is an innovation: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did it only for a month, then left it". Al-Aswad and Amr ibn Maymun: "we prayed the dawn behind Omar (may Allah be pleased with him): he did not make the qunut"; and al-Aswad: "Omar made the qunut when he waged war, and did not otherwise". Alqama: "I met Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) in Syria and asked him about the qunut: he did not know it". Ibrahim al-Nakha'i: "the first to make the qunut here in the dawn was Ali (may Allah be pleased with him); they held he did it only because he was at war, supplicating against his enemies in the qunut of the dawn and the maghreb". Abd al-Baqi ibn Qaniya reports, chain up to Anbasa ibn Abd al-Rahman from Abdallah ibn Nafi' from his father from Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) "forbade the qunut in the dawn prayer"; this hadith decides over what is reported of the qunut, for it contains a prohibition that rules out interpreting the leaving and doing as a choice («Mukhtasar al-Tahawi» of al-Jassas 1/669, 674).
If the imam makes the qunut in the dawn prayer, the one behind him stays silent according to Abu Hanifa and Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on them. Abu Yusuf (may Allah have mercy on him): he follows him, for he is the follower of his imam, and the qunut is a matter of juristic effort. According to the first 2 it is abrogated and no one is followed in it; it is then said: he stands, to follow him in what requires following; and it is said: he sits, to mark the divergence firmly, the silent one being the associate of the supplicant; the first is the more apparent. The Hanafi who is being led follows a Shafi'i imam who makes the qunut in the witr, even after the bowing («Mukhtasar Ikhtilaf al-Ulama» 1/215, «Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar» 1/244, 253, «Sharh Fath al-Qadir» 1/431, «al-Hidaya» 1/66, «al-Inaya» 2/188, «al-Bada'i'» 1/273, «al-Bunyayya» 2/494-495, «Majma' al-Anhar» 1/193, «Fath Bab al-Inaya» 1/385, «al-Ifsah» 1/186, «al-Mughni» 2/350, «Kashshaf al-Qina'» 1/421, «al-Insaf» 2/174, «Nayl al-Awtar» 2/394, 398).
The second opinion: the qunut in the dawn is a recommended sunna; this is the view of the Malikis and the Shafi'is. The qadi Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him): the qunut is made in the dawn prayer, contrary to Abu Hanifa, for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made it according to Abu Hurayra, Khuffaf ibn Ima, al-Bara and Anas ibn Malik; Anas said: "he never ceased making the qunut in the dawn until he left the world" («al-Ishraf ala «Nukat masa'il al-khilaf»» 1/294, case no. 211). Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him): know that the qunut is legislated with us in the dawn, an emphatic sunna («al-Adhkar» 1/49). Their evidence is Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him): "the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) never ceased making the qunut in the dawn until he left the world" (weak hadith: Ahmad in the «Musnad» 12679, al-Tahawi in «Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar» 1/224, al-Daraqutni 2/39, al-Bayhaqi in «al-Sunan al-Kubra» 2/201); and because the qunut is a prescribed supplication in a non-obligatory prayer, the witr: it must therefore be prescribed in an obligatory prayer, as in his saying "O Allah, forgive the believing men and women"; and because the dawn is a day prayer in which recitation is aloud: it must therefore be singled out by a remembrance no other prayer shares, as Friday is singled out by the sermon. Al-Mawardi (may Allah have mercy on him) answers their argument "were the qunut of the dawn a sunna, its transmission would be mutawatir given the universality of trial with it": the explanation need only be widespread, not its transmission mutawatir; do you not see that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed the pilgrimage with a great multitude and explained the hajj to them in a widespread manner, yet no more than 12 Companions transmitted it from him, 5 of them reporting he performed it single, 4 that he combined the 'umra, and 3 that he joined the 2 («al-Hawi al-Kabir» 2/152). And to their saying that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) left the qunut of the maghrib by consensus, so that of the dawn likewise, they say: we have consensus that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) made the qunut in the dawn, then we diverged over his leaving it: let us hold to what we agree upon until the point of divergence is established («al-Mudawwana al-Kubra» 1/102, «al-Muwatta» 1/159, «al-Istidhkar» 2/292 and what follows, «al-Ishraf ala «Nukat masa'il al-khilaf»» 1/294, case no. 211, «al-Taj wa al-Iklil» 1/539, «Sharh al-Zurqani» 1/456, «al-Fawa'id al-Dawani» 1/185, «al-Qawanin al-fiqhiyya» 1/45, «al-Hawi al-Kabir» 2/150, «Fath al-Bari» 2/491, «al-Umm» 1/142, 140, «Sharh Muslim» 5/1765-178, «al-Majmu'» 3/458, «al-Ifsah» 1/186, «Tarh al-Tathrib» 2/255, «Nayl al-Awtar» 2/394, 398). Imam Ibn Rushd (may Allah have mercy on him): they diverged over the qunut: Malik held the qunut of the dawn recommended, al-Shafi'i a sunna, Abu Hanifa held the qunut of the dawn prayer not permitted, its place being only the witr; some said: rather the qunut is made in every prayer; some said: there is no qunut except in Ramadan; some said: rather in its second half; some said: rather in its first half. The cause is the divergence of the traditions transmitted from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the analogy of some prayers over others in this, that is, those he made the qunut in over those he did not. Abu Omar Ibn Abd al-Barr: the qunut with the cursing of the disbelievers in Ramadan was widespread among the first generation, in emulation of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) supplicating against Ri'l, Dhakwan and the party who killed the companions of the well of Ma'una. Al-Layth ibn Sa'd: I have not made the qunut for 40 years, or 45, except behind an imam who made it; al-Layth: I took to this on the hadith that came from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he made the qunut for a month or 40 days, supplicating for one people and against others, until Allah sent down upon him, rebuking: "You have no part in the matter: whether He turns to them in forgiveness or punishes them, for they are wrongdoers" (Surah 3, 128); the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) then left the qunut and did not make it again until he met Allah; since I retained this hadith I have not made the qunut, and this is the madhhab of Yahya ibn Yahya; the qadi: the elders informed me this was practiced in his mosque in our city of Cordoba and continued to our time or near it. Muslim reports from Abu Hurayra that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made the qunut in the dawn prayer, and we were informed he left it when there descended "You have no part in the matter..." (Surah 3, 128); Muslim reports from Abu Hurayra that he made the qunut in the zhuhr, the last isha and the dawn prayer, and from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he made the qunut for a month in the dawn prayer supplicating against the Banu Usayya.
They diverged over the qunut's formula. Malik recommends: "O Allah, we seek Your help and Your forgiveness, we turn to You in guidance, we believe in You, we submit to You, and we renounce and abandon whoever disbelieves in You; O Allah, You alone we worship, for You we pray and prostrate, to You we strive and hasten, we hope for Your mercy and fear Your punishment, for Your punishment will overtake the disbelievers"; the people of Iraq call it the 2 suras, and it is reported to be in the mushaf of Ubayy ibn Ka'b. Al-Shafi'i and Ishaq: rather one makes the qunut with "O Allah, guide me among those You have guided, grant me well-being among those You have granted it, protect me from the evil of what You have decreed; You decree and none decrees over You; blessed are You, our Lord, and exalted"; al-Hasan ibn Ali transmits this through established chains that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught him this supplication to make the qunut with in the prayer. Abdallah ibn Dawud: whoever does not make the qunut with the 2 suras, prayer is not made behind him; others: nothing in the qunut is fixed («Bidayat al-Mujtahid» 1/186, 188).
The third opinion: Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim: the qunut is a sunna when there is need of it. Ibn Taymiyya (may Allah have mercy on him): as for the qunut of the dawn, it is established in the Sahih from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he made the qunut in calamities: "he made the qunut once for a month, supplicating against a people of disbelievers who had killed a group of his companions, then left it"; he made the qunut another time supplicating for companions held captive by a people preventing them from emigrating to him; likewise his rightly guided caliphs after him made a qunut of this kind; he did not persist in it constantly, nor leave it altogether. The scholars hold 3 views on it: it is said persisting in it is a sunna; it is said the qunut is abrogated and all of it is an innovation; the third view, which is the sound: it is a sunna when there is need of it, as the Messenger of Allah and his rightly guided caliphs made the qunut («Majmu' al-Fatawa» 23/98-99). He says elsewhere: a group of the people of Iraq held that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made the qunut only a month, then left it by way of abrogation, the qunut in the written prayers being abrogated; and a group of the people of the Hijaz held he never ceased making it until he left the world, some of them holding he made it before the bowing, others that he made it after the bowing. The sound position is the third view, held by the majority of the people of hadith and many of the imams of the Hijaz, and it is what is established in the 2 Sahihs and others: "he made the qunut a month supplicating against Ri'l, Dhakwan and Usayya" (al-Bukhari 2899, Muslim 677), then he left this qunut, then a while after Khaybar, after Abu Hurayra's Islam, he made the qunut, saying in it: "O Allah, rescue al-Walid ibn al-Walid, Salama ibn Hisham and the weak among the believers; O Allah, harden Your grip upon Mudar and make years upon them like the years of Youssouf" (al-Bukhari 771, 961; Muslim 675): had the qunut been abrogated, he would not have made it this second time. It is established from him in the Sahih that he "made the qunut in the maghrib and in the last isha" (Muslim 676, 678), and in the Sunan: "he used to make the qunut in the 5 prayers, and most of his qunut was in the dawn"; he did not persist in the qunut, neither in the dawn nor elsewhere; the 2 Sahihs establish from Anas that he said: "he made the qunut after the bowing only for a month" (al-Bukhari 2999, Muslim 677). The hadith reported by al-Hakim and others from al-Rabi ibn Anas that he said: "he never ceased making the qunut until he left the world" (weak, mentioned above) was said in the context of the qunut before the bowing; this hadith, were it to contradict the sahih hadith, would not be heeded, al-Rabi ibn Anas not being among the men of the Sahih; how then when it does not contradict it: its meaning is only that he used to lengthen the standing in the dawn constantly; as for his supplicating in the dawn constantly, before or after the bowing, with a supplication audible or not, that is absolutely false; whoever contemplates the sahih hadiths knows this necessarily, and knows that were this so, the Companions and Successors would have transmitted it: how could they have neglected his regular, legislated qunut for us while transmitting the qunut that is not legislated in itself but by its like? It is therefore legislated to make the qunut in calamities, supplicating for the believers and against the disbelievers, in the dawn and in the other prayers; thus Omar made the qunut when he fought the Christians with his supplication containing "O Allah, curse the disbelievers of the People of the Book" to its end, and likewise Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) when he fought a people, making the qunut supplicating against them; the one making the qunut should, at every calamity, supplicate with the supplication fitting that calamity, and naming the believers he supplicates for and the warring disbelievers he supplicates against is good («al-Fatawa al-Kubra» 2/477-478).
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him): the clarification an impartial scholar accepts is that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said things aloud and quietly, made the qunut and left it; his quiet saying was more than his aloud, and his leaving the qunut more than his doing it: he made the qunut only in calamities, to supplicate for a people and against others; then he left it when those to supplicate for arrived, when the captives were freed and those supplicated against repented and came back: his qunut was therefore for an occasion; the occasion gone, he left the qunut, not singling out the dawn: he made the qunut in the dawn prayer and the maghrib prayer, mentioned by al-Bukhari in his Sahih from Anas and by Muslim from al-Bara; Imam Ahmad reports from Ibn Abbas: "the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) made the qunut a month consecutively in the zhuhr, the asr, the maghrib, the isha and the dawn, at the end of every prayer; when he said: Allah hears the one who praises Him, in the last rak'a, he would supplicate against a tribe of the Banu Sulaym, against Ri'l, Dhakwan and Usayya, and those behind him would say amin"; reported also by Abu Dawud (Ahmad 1/301, Abu Dawud 1443). His guidance (peace and blessings be upon him) was the qunut in calamities only, and leaving it in their absence; he did not single out the dawn, but most of his qunut was in it, for the lengthening prescribed in it, its connection with the night prayer, its nearness to the pre-dawn meal and the hour of response, the divine descent, and because it is the attested prayer witnessed by Allah and His angels, or the angels of the night and the day, as this is reported; this is the interpretation of Allah's saying:
"The recitation of dawn was witnessed"
Surah 17, 78
It is authentically established from Abu Hurayra that he said: "By Allah, I am the closest of you to the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)": Abu Hurayra would make the qunut in the last rak'a of the dawn prayer, after saying "Allah hears the one who praises Him", supplicating for the believers and cursing the disbelievers (al-Bukhari 764). No doubt the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did this then left it, and Abu Hurayra loved to teach them that such a qunut is a sunna and that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did it: a reply to the people of Kufa, that is the Hanafis, who dislike the qunut in the dawn absolutely, in calamities and otherwise, saying it is abrogated and doing it an innovation. The people of hadith take the middle between these and those who recommend it in calamities and otherwise; they are the most blessed by the hadith of the 2 groups: they make the qunut where the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) made it and leave it where he left it, emulating him in doing and leaving; his doing is a sunna and his leaving is a sunna; and with all this they do not reproach whoever persists in it, nor dislike its doing, nor hold it an innovation nor its doer contravening the sunna, just as they do not reproach whoever leaves it in calamities, nor hold its leaving an innovation nor its leaver contravening the sunna: whoever made the qunut did well, and whoever left it did well («Zad al-Ma'ad» 1/272, 275).
The sheet opens with the hadith of the man of Quba, cited among the cases of varying the recitation: he never opened a sura without reciting "Say: He is Allah, the One" and then another sura with it, in every rak'a; his companions spoke to him: you open with this sura yet do not find it sufficient until you recite another: either recite it alone, or leave it and recite another. He said: I shall not leave it; if you wish me to lead you on that basis I shall do so, and if not I shall leave you. They held him the best of them and disliked that anyone else lead them; when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to them they informed him, and he said: "O so-and-so, what prevents you from doing what your companions command you, and what makes you cling to this sura in every rak'a? He said: I love it. He said: your love of it has admitted you to Paradise" (al-Bukhari 741; Ibn Abidin 1/546, «Sharh Fath al-Qadir» 1/343, «al-Sharh al-Kabir» 1/242, «Ahkam al-Qur'an» of Ibn al-Arabi 4/468, «al-Khulasa» 1/78, «Sharh Muslim» 6/100, «al-Majmu'» 3/337, «al-Fatawa al-Fiqhiyya al-Kubra» 1/125, «al-Mughni» 2/45, «Nayl al-Awtar» 2/252, «Kashshaf al-Qina'» 1/374).
Fourth point: closing the eyes. The majority of the jurists, the Hanafis, Malikis, Hanbalis and some of the Shafi'is, hold it disliked to close the eyes in prayer, for the Prophet's saying (peace and blessings be upon him): "when one of you stands in prayer, let him not close his eyes" (weak hadith: al-Tabarani in «al-Kabir» 11/34, «al-Awsat» 2/356, «al-Saghir» 1/37, from Ibn Abbas); the sunna is to cast one's gaze toward the place of one's prostration, the closing leaving off this sunna; every limb has a share in this act of worship, the eye likewise. Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him): it is the practice of the Jews, and it betokens sleep. The Hanafis except the closing for complete humility, when one fears losing concentration because of seeing what scatters the mind: it is then not disliked, indeed some scholars say it is rather better; Ibn Abidin: this is not far-fetched. The Malikis: the dislike of closing applies so long as one does not fear looking at the unlawful or that opening the eyes would scatter one's attention; otherwise closing is not disliked then. Al-Nawawi of the Shafi'is: closing the eyes is not disliked so long as no harm to oneself or another is feared, for it gathers humility and the heart's presence and prevents the wandering of the gaze and the scattering of the mind; were harm feared from it, it would be disliked («al-Majmu'» 3/261). Imam al-Tabari and al-Nawawi transmit from Malik that there is no harm in it in the obligatory and the supererogatory («al-Majmu'» 3/261, «Ma'ani al-Athar» 2/18, Ibn Abidin 1/645, «Sharh Mukhtasar Khalil» 1/293, «Minh al-Jalil» 1/271, «al-Sharh al-Saghir» 1/226, «Mughni al-Muhtaj» 1/180, «I'anat al-Talibin» 1/183, «Asna al-Matalib» 1/169, «Mukhtasar Ikhtilaf al-Ulama» 1/327, «al-Mughni» 2/192, «al-Kafi» 1/173, «al-Rawd al-Murbi'» 1/184).
Fifth point. Imam Ibn Batal (may Allah have mercy on him): they all agree on the dislike of raising the gaze in prayer («Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari» of Ibn Batal 2/364, «Fath al-Bari» 2/233). Iyad (may Allah have mercy on him): raising the gaze to the sky in prayer involves a kind of turning away from the qibla and an exit from the prayer's posture («Fath al-Bari» 2/233). The evidence is Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What is the matter with people who raise their gaze to the sky in their prayer?", and he grew stern in this until he said: "let them desist from that, or their gaze will be snatched away" (al-Bukhari 717); in Muslim: "let people who raise their gaze to the sky in prayer desist, or their gaze will not return to them" (Muslim 428). Al-Hattab (may Allah have mercy on him): Malik said: the scholars, seeing the generality of people raising their gazes to the sky while remaining unharmed, said the snatching meant is taking the gaze away from heedfulness, until one considers the signs of the heavens and the earth; it is an indirect expression, and it is the gravest snatching. The key to it is that the worshiper's saying "Allah is the greatest" forbids him the acts of the limbs and the words of the tongue, and the intention of prayer forbids him the heart's thoughts and the wandering of ideas; but the Lawgiver, knowing that governing one's secret thoughts escapes human capability, was lenient therein («Mawahib al-Jalil» 1/549-550, «Ahkam al-Qur'an» of Ibn al-Arabi 3/312, «Sharh Muslim» 4/152, «Umdat al-Qari» 5/308, «Fath al-Bari» 2/233, «Fatawa Ibn Taymiyya» 22/559, «I'anat al-Talibin» 1/191, «al-Mughni» 2/190).
It is on this point that this second part of the chapter's sheets on the pillars of prayer ends, the continuation of the detail being treated in the next part of the encyclopedia.