Qunūt
The word “qunūt” means obedience accompanied by humility. For example, while addressing Hadrat Maryam (Mary), God says: ﴾ يَٰمَرْيَمُ اقْنُتي لِرَبِّكِ ﴿ “O Mary, be obedient [uqnutī] to your Lord.”[1] What is meant by qunūt in prayer is the supplication that we recite in the second rak‘ah of every prayer.
On the interpretation of the verse, ﴾ وَ تَبَتَّلْ إِلَيْهِ تَبْتِيلاً ﴿ “And dedicate yourself to Him with total dedication,”[2] Imām aṣ-Ṣādiq (‘a) says that what is meant by “tabattul” is to raise the hands in supplication during prayer.[3] The word “tabattul” means cutting off hope in other than God.[4]
The Qur’an thus enjoins us: ﴾ ٱدْعُوا رَبَّكُمْ تَضرُّعاً وَ خُفْيَة ﴿ “Supplicate your Lord, beseechingly and secretly.”[5] One of the signs of beseeching and weeping in the presence of God is to raise the hands in supplication.[6] The indigent man stretches his hands toward the Absolute All-sufficient, praying to Him alone and purges his heart of other than Him.
Although qunūt is only optional [mustaḥabb] in prayer, it has, nevertheless, been given such attention that Imām ar-Ridā (‘a) thus wrote in one of his letters to Ma’mūn: “Qunūt is an obligatory sunnah in all the daily prayers.”[7] Of course, the purpose of the Imām (‘a) is to emphasize the importance of qunūt. For example, if one forgets to perform it before the rukū‘, it is recommended to perform a compensatory one after rukū‘, and if he remembers it during sujūd, he may also do so after salām.
Concerning the etiquette of performing qunūt, it is thus recorded: You have to raise your hands up to the level of your face; the palms of the hands must be open toward the sky; the two hands must be kept together; the fingers must be close together except the thumbs; at the time of reciting the supplication, you have to look at the palms of the hands and recite it loudly; of course, not to the extent that the leader of the congregation would hear it.[8]
There is no specific supplication and one may recite whatever supplication one wants. It is also not necessary that the supplication be recited in Arabic as it may also be recited in English. Of course, it is clear that the Qur’anic supplications and the supplications that the Infallibles (‘a) read in their qunūt have special virtue and preeminence.
The qunūt of different prayers
The number of qunūt is not identical in all prayers. Each of the five daily prayers has one qunūt before the rukū‘ of the second rak‘ah. But the Friday congregational prayer which has two rak‘ahs have two qunūts, one before the rukū‘ of the first rak‘ah and the other one after the rukū‘ of the second rak‘ah.
In the ‘Īd al-Fiṭr and ‘Īd al-Qurbān prayers each of which has two rak‘ahs, we recite nine qunūts; five successive qunūts before the rukū‘ of the first rak‘ah and four successive qunūts before the rukū‘ of the second rak‘ah. Of course, there is a special supplication recorded for these qunūts.
Even in the ṣalāh al-āyāt [prayer of natural signs] which has two rak‘ahs and five rukū‘s in every rak‘ah, it is recommended to recite the qunūt before the second, fourth, sixth, and eight rukū‘s, though it is enough to have one qunūt before the tenth rukū‘.
The witr prayer, which is a one-rak‘ah prayer performed at the end of the night supererogatory prayers, has a long qunūt and many recorded supplications, such as istighfār [to say, for example, “astaghfirullāh”] 70 times, “al-‘afwu” 300 times and supplication for 40 believers.
The prayer for rain, like the ‘Īd prayers, has five qunūts in the first rak‘ah and four qunūts in the second rak‘ah.
In any case, to prolong the qunūt is recommended. Abū Dharr asked the Prophet (ṣ): “Which prayer is better?” The Prophet (ṣ) replied: “The prayer whose qunūt is longer and anyone who would recite his qunūt longer will have more comfort during the time of the Day of Resurrection.”[9]
