Prompting the Imam Who Omits the Qunut

Question

In 'Isha’, after the tarawih prayer, the witr is prayed in congregation. If in it the imam forgets to recite the qunut supplication, should he be given a signal or not? For if no signal is given, he may forget to perform the sajda al-sahw, and then the prayer will not be valid, because a wajib has been omitted. Moreover, when no signal is given, many muqtadis do not go into ruku‘, and their ruku‘ is omitted, and with the omission of a fard the prayer is not valid. Please reply soon.

Answer

If the imam, instead of reciting the qunut supplication, is preparing to go into ruku‘, he should be reminded; but if the imam has already reached ruku‘, then he should not stand up [again] for the qunut, and at the end he should perform the sajda al-sahw. In this way the witr prayer will be valid.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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