Prayer (Kitab Al-Salat)

Nadr ibn Kathir as-Sa'di said: Abdullah ibn Tawus prayed at my side in the mosque of al-Khayf. When he made the first prostration, he raised his head after it and raised his hands opposite to his face. This came as something strange for me. I, therefore, said it to Wuhayb ibn Khalid.

Then Wuhayb ibn Khalid said to him: You are doing a thing that I did not see anyone do. Ibn Tawus then replied: I saw my father doing it, and my father said: I saw Ibn Abbas doing it. I do not know but he said: The Prophet (ﷺ) used to do it.

Abu Dawud said: What is correct is that the tradition reported by Ibn ‘Umar does not go back to the Prophet (may peace beupon him).Abu Dawud said: The narrator Baqiyyah reported the first part of this tradition from ‘Ubaid Allah and traced it back to the Prophet (ﷺ); and the narrator al-Thaqafi reported it from ‘Ubaid Allah as a statement of Ibn ‘Umar himself(not from the Porphet). In this version he said: When he stood at the end of two rak’ahs he raised them up to his breasts. And this is the correct version.

Abu Dawud said: This tradition has been transmitted as a statement of Ibn ‘Umar (and not of the Prophet) by al-Laith b. Sa’d, Malik, Ayyub, and Ibn Juraij; and this has been narrated as a statement of the Prophet (ﷺ) by Hammad b. Salamah alone on the authority of Ayyub. Ayyub and Malik did not mention his raising of hands when he stood after two prostrations, but al-Laith mentioned it in his version. Ibn Juraij said in this version: I asked Nafi’: Did Ibn ‘Umar raise (his hands) higher for the first time? He said: No, I said: Point out to me. He then pointed to the breasts or lower than that.

Abu Dawud said: So as far as I know, no one narrated the words “he raised them lower that that” except Malik.

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) stood at the end of two rak’ahs, he uttered the takbir (Allah is most great) and raised his hands.

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) stood for offering the obligatory prayer, he uttered the takbir (Allah is most great) and raised his hands opposite to his shoulders; and he did like that when he finished recitation (of the Qur'an) and was about to bow; and he did like that when he rose after bowing; and he did not raise his hands in his prayer while he was in his sitting position.

When he stood up from his prostrations (at the end of two rak'ahs), he raised his hands likewise and uttered the takbir (Allah is most great) and raised his hands so as to bring them up to his shoulders, as he uttered the takbir in the beginning of the prayer.

I saw the Prophet (ﷺ) raise his hands when he uttered the takbir (Allah is most great), when he bowed and when he raised his head after bowing until he brought them to the lobes of his ears.

If I were in front of the Prophet (ﷺ), I would see his armpits. Ibn Mu'adh added that Lahiq said: Do you not see, AbuHurayrah could not stand in front of the Prophet (ﷺ) while he was praying. Musa added: When he uttered the takbir, he raised his hands.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) taught us how to pray. He then uttered the takbir (Allah is most great) and raised his hands; when he bowed, he joined his hands and placed them between his knees. When this (report) reached Sa'd, he said: My brother said truly. We used to do this; then we were later on commanded to do this, that is, to place the hands on the knees.

Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said: Should I not pray for you the way the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) prayed? So he prayed, raising his hands only once.Abu Dawud said: This is a summarized version of a longer narration and it is not authentic with this wording.

He raised his hands once in the beginning. Some narrated: (raised his hands) once only.

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) began prayer, he raised his hands up to his ears, then he did not repeat.

Abu Dawud said: This tradition has also been transmitted by Hushaim, Khalid, and Ibn Idris from Yazid. They did not mention the words “then he did not repeat”

I saw that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) raised his hands when he began prayer, but he did not raise them until he finished (prayer).

Abu Dawud said: This tradition is not sound.

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) began his prayer, he raised his hands extensively.

I heard Ibn al-Zubair say: Setting the feet right and placing one hand on the other is a sunnah.

AbuUthman an-Nahdi said: When Ibn Mas'ud prayed he placed his left hand on the right. The Prophet (ﷺ) saw him and placed his right hand on his left one.

AbuJuhayfah said: Ali said that it is a sunnah to place one hand on the other in prayer below the navel.

Abu Dawud said: Sa'id b. Jubair narrated the words: "above the navel". Abu Mijlaz reported the words: "below the navel". This has also been narrated by Abu Hurairah. But that is not strong.

(The established way of folding hands is) to hold the hands by the hands in prayer below the navel.

Abu Dawud said: I heard Ahmad b. Hanbal say: The narrator 'Abd al-Rahman b. Ishaq al-Kufi is weak (i.e. not reliable).

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to place his right hand on his left hand, then he folded them strictly on his chest in prayer.