As for the hadith jurists, such as Ahmad and others, they permit both practices because both are established by the authentic Sunnah, although they prefer performing qunūt after bowing because it is better attested and more consistent with analogy. The acceptance of supplication is fittingly linked to the worshipper’s words, “Allah hears whoever praises Him.” Indeed, it is prescribed to praise Allah before supplicating Him, just as the Opening of the Book is structured on this basis: its beginning is praise, and its end is supplication.

Moreover, people hold three views regarding whether qunūt is prescribed in the dawn prayer, though they agree that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, performed qunūt in that prayer. Some say that it was abrogated, for he performed it and then ceased doing so, as stated in the authentic hadiths. As for those who say that only the supplication against those disbelievers was discontinued, either the precise wording of the hadith did not reach them, or it reached them but they did not reflect upon it. It is related in the two Sahih collections that Āsim al-Ahwal said: “I asked Anas ibn Mālik, may Allah be pleased with him, whether qunūt was performed before bowing or after bowing. He replied, ‘Before bowing.’ I said, ‘But so-and-so informed me that you had said it was after bowing.’ He replied, ‘He lied. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, performed qunūt [before] bowing. I believe that he had sent a group known as the Reciters—approximately seventy men—to another group of polytheists. Those polytheists had a treaty with the Messenger of Allah, and he, peace and blessings be upon him, performed qunūt for a month, supplicating against them.’”

Likewise, the hadith narrated by Ahmad and al-Hākim