(1) The term qunut can denote several things; here it means the supplication offered during the prayer while standing at a designated point. (2) The prophetic practice for qunut made because of a calamity is to recite it after rising from ruku (bowing). This was the practice of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and the view of Malik, al-Shafii, and Ishaq (al-Majmu, 3/506), and it is the position chosen by Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi (see his book, p. 133). This view is correct, for there is no authentic report at all that the Prophet performed qunut for calamities before ruku. For further details see Zad al-Maad, 1/102–104, and Fath al-Bari, 2/392–393. (3 & 4) Abu Hurayrah reported that when the Messenger of Allah wished to invoke against a people or pray for a people, he would perform qunut after ruku. After saying, “Samiʿa-llahu liman hamidah” (“Allah hears those who praise Him”), he sometimes added: “Allahumma, Rabbana, laka-l-hamd. Allahumma, deliver al-Walid ibn al-Walid, Salama ibn Hisham, and Ayyash ibn Abi Rabiʿa. Allahumma, clamp down on Mudar and make their years like the lean years of Yusuf.” He would recite this aloud, and on some occasions he said it in the fajr prayer.