Similarly, if a man considers it preferable to recite the basmalah aloud, but leads people who do not—or vice versa—and accommodates their practice, he has done well. Their disagreement concerns only which practice is preferable, according to their understanding of the Sunnah.

A group of scholars from Iraq believed that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, offered qunūt for only one month, then [discontinued it] by way of abrogating it. They therefore believed that qunūt in the obligatory prayers had been abrogated. A group of L scholars from the Hijaz believed that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, continued to offer qunūt until he departed this world. Some of them believed that he offered it before bowing, while others believed that he offered it after bowing.

The correct position is “the third view,” held by the majority of hadith scholars and many leading scholars of the Hijaz. It is what is established in the two Sahīh collections and elsewhere: he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, offered qunūt for a month, supplicating against Ri‘l, Dhakwān and ‘Usayyah, then discontinued this qunūt. Some time later, after Khaybar and after Abū Hurayrah had embraced Islam, he again offered qunūt, saying:

“O Allah, rescue al-Walīd ibn al-Walīd, Salamah ibn Hishām, and the oppressed believers. O Allah, intensify Your punishment upon Mudar, and afflict them with years of famine like those of Joseph.”

Had qunūt been abrogated, he would not have offered it on this second occasion. It is also established in an authentic hadith that he “offered qunūt in Maghrib and ‘Ishā’.” The Sunan collections report that he used to offer qunūt in all five prayers. Most of his qunūt