I said to my father, “Father, you have prayed behind God’s Messenger, Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthman, and behind Ali here in al-Kufa for about five years. Did they stand in humble supplication?” He replied, “Sonny, it is an innovation.”
Al-Hasan said that ‘Umar b. al-Khattab congregated the people with Ubayy b. Ka‘b as imam and he led them in prayer for twenty nights, but led them in humble supplication only in the second half. When the last ten days came he withdrew and prayed in his house, and the people were saying, “Ubayy has run away.”
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.
