(from Azrah). Abu Dawud likewise cited it in suspended form, then declared it defective because several transmitters narrated it from Saʿid b. Abi ʿArubah—and others from Zubayd—without mentioning the qunut. This criticism is not decisive, however, for the reporters who did include the qunut are also a group of trustworthy narrators, and, as the science of hadith dictates, their additional wording must be accepted. Accordingly, a number of scholars have classed the report as authentic. Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar states in al-Talkhis (4/249): “The hadith of Ubayy b. Kaʿb that the Prophet ﷺ used to recite the qunut before bowing was transmitted by Abu Dawud, al-Nasai, Ibn Majah, and Abu ʿAli b. al-Sakan in his Sahih. Al-Bayhaqi also narrated it—from Ubayy b. Kaʿb, Ibn Masʿud, and Ibn ʿAbbas—but considered all of them weak. Ahmad b. Hanbal, Ibn Khuzaymah, and Ibn al-Mundhir had already preceded him in this; al-Khallal reports Ahmad’s verdict: ‘Nothing authentic is established from the Prophet ﷺ on the matter; rather, ʿUmar used to perform the qunut.’” Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi likewise declared the hadith weak, saying, “It is not authentic.” Al-Hafiz al-ʿIraqi rebutted him, affirming, “Rather, it is sahih or hasan” (Nayl, 3/38). Those supporting narrations to which Ibn Hajar alluded further strengthen the report; although each isnad is weak, they corroborate one another (see Irwaʾ, no. 426).* (1) Nor did the Prophet ﷺ restrict the qunut to the last half of Ramadan. The evidence is that all the relevant reports are absolute and unqualified, as you have seen; the same applies to the hadith of al-Hasan b. ʿAli. * Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) also traced it in al-Sifah (the printed edition of the Musannaf of Ibn Abi Shaybah, 12/41/1), and to Ahmad, al-Tabarani, and Ibn ʿAsakir (4/244/2), remarking: “with a sahih isnad.”