Al Minah Al `Aliyyah (9)

^{A question: Should one raise their}

^{hands when making Qunut ?}

^{The right answer is that you should raise your hands and this is the opinion of the majority of early scholars (may Allah have mercy upon them). This is proved through ‘Umar Ibn al-Khattab t as stated and authenticated by Al-Bayhaqi.[1] Al-Bayhaqi (may Allah have mercy upon him) said, “A number of Companions raised their hands while making Qunut. ”[2]}

^{A question: With what should one start Qunut ?}

^{The preponderant opinion – and Allah knows best – is that he starts praising Allah, glorifying Him, sending peace and blessings upon Prophet Muhammad r, and then he makes the supplication. This would be the closest to having his supplication accepted. What proves this is what the hadith of Fudhalah Ibn ‘Obayd t as he said, “The Prophet r heard a man making supplication, but he did not send peace and blessings upon the Prophet r. He said, ‘This man was hasty,’ and then he called him. He said to him and others: ‘When any of you make supplication, let him start by praising Allah, glorifying Him, sending peace and blessings upon the Prophet and then let him supplicate for what he wishes.’ ” [3]}

^{Ibn al-Qayyem (may Allah have mercy on him) said, “It is recommended in du’a (supplication) that the person starts with praising Allah, glorifying Him and asking Him to fulfill his request as the hadith of Fudhalah stated. [4]}

^{A question: should one wipe}

^{the face after finishing the Qunut ?}

^{The correct opinion is that a person should not wipe the face after the Qunut, as there is no authentic evidence that supports this action.}

^{Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) was told about a man who wiped his face after finishing the du’a and he disapproved it. He said, “I did not find anybody of the early generations doing that.”[5]}

^{Furthermore, Al-Maruzi (may Allah have mercy upon him) said, “As for Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Abu Dawud narrated to me and said, “I heard that Ahmad did it.” He was asked about the man who wipes his face after finishing the witr? He said, “I did not hear anybody doing it, nor Imam Ahmad.”}

^{Besides, Al-Bayhaqi (may Allah have mercy upon him), he said,}

^{“As for wiping the face after finishing the du’a, I did not find any of the pious predecessors (Salaf) doing that, although there might be some narrations that prove that wiping the face could be done after du’a, but not during prayer.}

^{Yet, there is a weak hadith that some people use to wipe the face, but not during the prayer. As for wiping the face during the prayer, there is no authentic hadith or report that confirms this practice. Hence, the correct view is that it should not be done and we should therefore stick to what the pious predecessors (may Allah have mercy upon them) did. Namely, just raise the hands but not wipe the face.” [6]}

^{Sheikh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy upon him) said, “As for wiping the face, there is only one or two ahadith and they cannot be used as a decisive evidence.” [7]}