accords with actual practice, for reciting it aloud predominated among the people of Mecca. The people of Medina, Syria and Kufa, however, did not recite it aloud, nor did most of the people of Basra, though some of them did. This is why they asked Anas about it. Perhaps the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, recited it aloud occasionally, or only softly, if the reports to that effect are reliably preserved. If the hadith collections themselves record that he did one at one time and the other at another, the uncertainty is dispelled.

As for qunūt (supplication during prayer), the matter is clear and leaves no uncertainty upon thorough consideration. It is established in the Sahīh collections:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, performed qunūt in the dawn prayer on one occasion, supplicating against Ri‘l, Dhakwān and ‘Usayyah, then discontinued it.”

His discontinuing it did not constitute its abrogation, for it is established in the Sahīh collections that he subsequently performed qunūt, supplicating for Muslims such as al-Walīd ibn al-Walīd, Salamah ibn Hishām and the oppressed believers, and supplicating against Mudar. It is also established that he performed qunūt in the sunset and night prayers, and in the other prayers, seeking Allah’s aid and victory.

All this, in broad terms, is reliably transmitted from him. However, some scholars of Kufa believed that his discontinuing it constituted abrogation, and thus held that qunūt had been abrogated. Some scholars of Mecca believed that he continued performing the disputed qunūt in the dawn prayer until he departed this world. The position of those versed in hadith is that he performed qunūt for a particular reason and discontinued it when that reason ceased to exist.