in meaning, for qunūt is supplication, and it is well known that the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—never offered an obligatory prayer without supplicating in it, as explained above. This is what Anas meant in the report narrated by Abū Ja‘far—if it is authentic—that he continued to perform qunūt until he departed this world. We have no doubt whatsoever about (1) the truth of this, or that his supplication during Fajr continued until he departed this world.

The fourth point: The various chains of transmission of Anas’s reports clarify what is meant; they corroborate one another and do not contradict one another. In the two Sahīh collections (2), ‘Āsim al-Ahwal reported:

I asked Anas ibn Mālik about qunūt in prayer. He said, “Yes (3).” I asked, “Was it before bowing or after it?” He replied, “Before it.” I said, “But so-and-so told me, on your authority, that you said he performed qunūt after it.” He replied, “He lied. The report is only that the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—performed qunūt after bowing for one month.”

Some have thought that this is a defective hadith narrated solely by ‘Āsim, and that all the other narrators transmitting from Anas contradicted him. They said, “‘Āsim is highly trustworthy, but he differed from Anas’s other students concerning the placement of the two forms of qunūt. Even a master of hadith may err, and even a fine steed may stumble.”

They also reported that Imam Ahmad identified a defect in it. Al-Athram said: I asked Abū ‘Abd Allāh—meaning Ahmad ibn Hanbal—“Does anyone other than ‘Āsim al-Ahwal say, in the report from Anas, that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—performed qunūt before bowing?” He replied, “I know of no one other than him who says this.” Abū ‘Abd Allāh said, “‘Āsim contradicted them all: Hishām, from Qatādah, from Anas; and al-Taymī (4), from Abū Mijlaz