246 – Saʿd ibn Ṭāriq al-Ashjaʿī (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated: “I said to my father, ‘Dear father, you have offered prayer behind the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, as well as behind Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī. Did they use to perform qunūt in the dawn prayer?’ He replied, ‘My son, that is something newly introduced.’” The ḥadīth was recorded by the five compilers except Abū Dāwūd. ⦗1⦘

Degree of authenticity:
The report is ḥasan (reliable).
Al-Ḥāfiẓ said in at-Talkhīṣ: It was transmitted by al-Tirmidhī, who declared it “a ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth,” and by al-Nasāʾī and Ibn Mājah through the chain of Abū Mālik al-Ashjaʿī from his father; its chain is ḥasan. I add: Ibn Ḥibbān also graded it sound.

Glossary:
– muḥdath: a matter newly invented and innovated in the religion, for which no textual evidence exists.
– “ay” (hamzah with an open vowel followed by a silent yāʾ): a vocative particle used when addressing someone nearby.
– Qunūt of witr: the term qunūt has several lexical meanings; what is meant here is the supplication, whether left unrestricted or confined to the well-known transmitted invocations.

Lessons drawn from the three aḥādīth:

1. In this context, qunūt refers to the supplication recited after the bowing in the last rakʿah of each of the five daily prayers and of the witr prayer.
2. The scholars unanimously agree that performing it or omitting it does not invalidate the prayer; the difference of opinion concerns only whether its omission is preferable or whether a more detailed approach should be followed.