First of all, I would like to congratulate you for being allowed to submit to God's commands and getting inclined toward offering your prayers and servitude toward the Lord of the Worlds. May the Almighty guide us all to the path of His liking, before our opportunity of doing so, ceases. In my opinion, the situation that you have explained is quite similar to a case of effective conversion to Islam. It is as if during the first forty-nine years of your life, even though you were a Muslim from a purely legal perspective, yet you only became a real Muslim, when you consciously decided to live your life according to the stipulations of the Islamic Shari`ah . There can be three possible recommendations for undoing the sin involved in being negligent toward obligatory prayers in the past. A person must offer all of the lost prayers as soon as he realizes their importance and significance. A possible method of doing so may be to offer each of the five daily prayers twice (only the fardh rak'ahs ), once to fulfill the present obligation and the second time as a recompense for one of the lost prayers of the past; A person should regularly offer his present obligatory prayers and should try to offer as many supererogatory (naf'l) rak'ahs as may be possible for him. It may be hoped that God shall accept our supererogatory rak'ahs and shall accept them as a recompense for our missed prayers of the past; Prayers intentionally missed are lost forever and, therefore, cannot be offered after their prescribed time. Thus, a person has no other option, except to repent and ask for God's forgiveness for all the prayers that he has intentionally missed in the past. I would be more inclined toward suggesting a combination of point number 2 and 3. My suggestion would be that you pray your regular obligatory prayers, offer supererogatory (naf'l) rak'ahs regularly and seek God's forgiveness for your past. It may be hoped that your supererogatory prayers and your consistently seeking God's forgiveness for your past negligence toward prayers, shall insha'Allah , be a source of complete forgiveness and infinite blessings for you in the hereafter. It is not obligatory to recite the Qunoot in any particular prayer. One may or may not recite the Qunoot in any given prayer. One may offer any supplication at the end of the Sala'h . However, it is not obligatory to do so. January 25, 2001 Answer published by Moiz Amjad