Friday, March 25, 2011

Qunut Nazila, The Supplication of Calamity

Last week I made a short post about a mid prayer supplication that we did during Jumaa prayer that I had never done before. Fortunately, last week we did it again, but this time the Imam said it by name, it is called Qunut Nazila, or the Supplication of Calamity.


Sahih Muslim, Chapter 94 is actually dedicated to it, but Bukhari's got some quotes too:


Narrated Muhammad bin Sirin: Anas was asked, "Did the Prophet recite qunut in the Fajr prayer?" Anas replied in the affirmative. He was further asked, "Did he recite qunut before bowing?" Anas replied, "He recited qunut after bowing for some time (for one month)."  (Bukhari Book #16, Hadith #115)


**By "for one month" I think they meant, RasulAllah (SAW) did this every day for a month. It seems there was an incident where Seventy of our men were killed by some men from another tribe who had claimed to be muslims:


Narrated 'Abdul Aziz: Anas said, "The Prophet sent seventy men, called Al-Qurra 'for some purpose. The two groups of Bani Sulaim called Ri'l and Dhakwan, appeared to them near a well called Bir Ma'una. The people (i.e. Al-Qurra) said, 'By Allah, we have not come to harm you, but we are passing by you on our way to do something for the Prophet.' But (the infidels) killed them. The Prophet therefore invoked evil upon them for a month during the morning prayer. That was the beginning of Al qunut and we used not to say qunutbefore that." A man asked Anas about Al-qunut, "Is it to be said after the Bowing (in the prayer) or after finishing the Recitation (i.e. before Bowing)?" Anas replied, "No, but (it is to be said) after finishing the Recitation."  (Bukhari Book #59, Hadith #414)


So, how do you perform Qunut Nazila? Well, it appears the nice folks over at Sunnipath have already answered nearly all questions anyone could have on the topic:


From: http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=3&ID=1621&CATE=389


a brief summary:


In the last rukaa of an obligatory prayer (it's not recommended for sunna prayers), stand up straight after performing rukuu (the L shaped bow with hands on knees for those of you just joining us), raise your hands to about chest level, palms facing the sky (typical supplication form I'm sure you've all seen it), and supplicate. 


It seems there is no exact supplication (trials and tribulations change), so supplicate for the removal of whatever calamity has stricken our good people at the time. There's no shortage of them these days: the nutcase ruining Libya, the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan, the unrest in Syria (check out the BBC if you need some more). Also, since it's not a Quranic recitation, you could probably do it in your native tongue. I'm pretty sure Allah (SWT)'ll understand :)


Once you're done supplication, carry on your prayer like normal!

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