All praise is due to Allah, blessings and peace be upon His Messenger.

The Shafi`ites and the Malikites are of the view that supplication of Qunoot in Fajir (dawn prayer) is from Sunna for Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The Prophet (PBUH) continued making supplication of Qunoot during fajir prayer until his death."

Raising hands uponmaking this supplication is recommended by the Shafi`ites based on several pieces of evidence. Al-Imam Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on his soul) said: ”Is the raising of the hands, when making supplication of Qunoot, recommended?

There are two famous views in this regard:

1. It is not preferable according to the ”Shirazi” because supplication during prayer does not involve raising the hand like in the case of Sujud and Tashhood supplications.

2. It is preferable according to the disciples of the Shafi`ites and this is supported by what Al-Baihaki narrated on the authority of Anas about the story of the Quran reciters who were killed : “ I have seen the Prophet (PBUH) raising his hands, during every fajir prayer, invoking Allah to cast His chastisement on those who killed the reciters .”Also, Al-Baihaki favors this view because a number of the prophet`s companions (Sahaba) raised their hands in qunoot supplication. It was also reported on the authority of Abu-Rafi`i who said: ”I have prayed after Omar Bin Al-Khatab (may Allah be pleased with him) and he did qunoot supplication after bowing in prayer, then he raised his hands while loudly supplicating to Allah.” Al-Baihaki said it is true that Omar did so". [Al-Majmoo 3/499].

However, there is a disagreement among scholars concerning this issue, thus we strongly advise the questioner not to accuse Muslims with innovative and erroneous acts since they are good by nature and each one of them tries their best to follow the traditions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) .This is in addition to the fact that it is not permissible to arouse disagreement amongst Muslims.