I asked Anas b. Malik whether the humble supplication1 during the prayer was before or after bowing and he replied, “Before it; God’s Messenger observed it after bowing only for a month. He had sent out some people called Qur’an readers, to the number of seventy, on an expedition and they were smitten,2 so for a month God’s Messenger stood in humble supplication after bowing, invoking a curse on their murderers.”
1. The Arabic is qunut, which means 'being obedient’, or 'the act of standing’. It is used of certain supplications in the witr or at other times, but there is some disagreement about when these supplications may be made. The traditions in this chapter deal with the appropriate times.
2. The reference is to an incident at Bi’r Ma'una in 4 A.H.
Abu Huraira said that when God’s Messenger wished to invoke a curse or a blessing on someone he stood in supplication after bowing, and when he said, “God listens to him who praises Him,” he often said, “Praise be to Thee, our Lord! O God, rescue al-Walid b. al-Walid, Salama b. Hisham and ‘Ayyash b. Abu Rabi'a.1 O God, trample severely on Mudar and cause them a famine like that of Joseph,”2 saying that in a loud voice. And he would sometimes say in the course of his prayer, “O God, curse so and so and so and so of the tribes of the Arabs,” till God revealed, “You have nothing to do with the matter. . .”3
1. These were men who were persecuted for their faith and held prisoners.
2. The famine in the time of Joseph lasted seven years.
3. Al-Qur’an; 3:128.
Ibn ‘Abbas said that God’s Messenger stood in humble supplication daily for a month at the noon, afternoon; sunset, evening and morning prayer when he said, “God listens to him who praises Him” in the last rak'a, invoking a curse on some clans of the B. Sulaim, Ri‘l, Dhakwan and ‘Usayya, and those standing behind him said Amen.
Abu Umama said the Prophet used to pray the two of them after the witr seated, and recited in the course of them, “When the earth is shaken’’, 1 and "Say, O infidels."2
