Comprehensive Research on Rafʿ al-Yadayn During Takbeers of Janazah Prayer
Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah, Volume 1, Kitāb al-Janā’iz, Page 530
❖ Question
What is the ruling on raising the hands (rafʿ al-yadayn) during the takbeers of the funeral prayer (Ṣalāt al-Janāzah)?
Shaykh al-Albānī رحمه الله in his book “Ahkām al-Janā’iz” cites two narrations from Tirmidhī and Dāraquṭnī regarding raising the hands during the first takbeer. Please explain this issue in full detail.
(Abū Ṭalḥah Ḥāfiẓ S̱anāʾullāh Shāhid al-Qasūrī)
❖ Answer
Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu was-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh, ammā baʿd!
Raising the hands (rafʿ al-yadayn) during the takbeers of the funeral prayer is completely valid and proven. Below are detailed evidences and statements from scholars and Hadith experts on this matter:
✦ Statement of Imām al-Dāraquṭnī (رحمه الله)
“وقد سئل الدارقطني في العلل : عَن حَديث نافع، عَن ابن عُمر؛ أَن النَّبي صَلى الله عَليه وسَلمَ كان إِذا صلى على جِنازة رفع يديه في كل تكبيرة، وإِذا انصرف“
📚 Kitāb al-ʿIlal li al-Dāraquṭnī 13/22, Ḥadīth 2908
Explanation:
Narrated from Sayyidunā Ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنه) that the Prophet ﷺ would raise his hands at every takbeer during the funeral prayer, and would say the salām after concluding.
✅ This narration is ḥasan li-dhātih (sound in itself).
✅ Both Imām al-Dāraquṭnī and Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Anṣārī are free from the accusation of tadlīs.
📚 See: al-Fatḥ al-Mubīn fī Taḥqīq Ṭabaqāt al-Mudallisīn, pp. 26, 32
✅ ʿUmar ibn Shabbah is ṣadūq, ḥasan al-ḥadīth.
✅ Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Jarrāḥ and Muḥammad ibn Mukhlad are both thiqat (trustworthy).
📚 Tārīkh Baghdād: 4/409 No. 2312, 3/310–311 No. 1406
✦ Practice of Sayyidunā ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنه)
He used to raise his hands with every takbeer in the funeral prayer.
📚 Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn by al-Bukhārī, edited by Imām Abū Muḥammad Badīʿ al-Dīn al-Rāshidī al-Sindhī, pp. 184, Ḥadīths 109, 111
📚 Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah 3/296
📚 Al-Bayhaqī 4/44
✅ Chain is ṣaḥīḥ.
✅ Hāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī graded the chain as authentic.
📚 Al-Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr, Vol. 2, p. 146, Ḥadīth 807
✅ Shaykh al-Albānī رحمه الله also declared it ṣaḥīḥ.
📚 Footnote on Ahkām al-Janā’iz
✦ Practice of Tābiʿīn and Imams
The practice of raising the hands during the takbeers of janazah prayer is also reported from the following Tābiʿīn and scholars:
◈ Qays ibn Abī Ḥāzim (رحمه الله)
◈ Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr (رحمه الله)
◈ ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (رحمه الله)
◈ Makhūl (رحمه الله)
◈ Wahb ibn Munabbih (رحمه الله)
◈ al-Zuhrī (رحمه الله)
📚 Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn, Ḥadīths 112, 114, 118
And also adopted by:
◈ ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ (رحمه الله)
◈ Sālim ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (رحمه الله)
◈ al-Azwarī (رحمه الله)
◈ Imām al-Shāfiʿī (رحمه الله)
◈ Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (رحمه الله)
◈ Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh (رحمه الله)
📚 Al-Awsaṭ by Ibn al-Mundhir, Vol. 5, p. 427
✦ Statement from Imām Mālik (رحمه الله)
A narration from Imām Mālik indicates that raising hands during takbeers of janazah prayer is a preferred act.
📚 (ibid.)
✦ Another Hadith from Dāraquṭnī Reported by Ibn Ḥajar
Ibn Ḥajar رحمه الله also cited a narration from al-ʿIlal by Dāraquṭnī in which the Prophet ﷺ raised his hands during janazah prayer.
📚 Al-Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr, Vol. 2, p. 146
✅ Initially the chain was missing, but later it was traced.
✅ If the chain is authentic up to ʿUmar ibn Shabbah, the narration is ḥasan li-dhātih.
❌ Weak Narrations Quoted by Shaykh al-Albānī and Commentary
① Narration from Abū Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه):
“The Prophet ﷺ raised his hands in the first takbeer and placed his right hand over his left.”
📚 Ahkām al-Janā’iz, p. 115; Tirmidhī Ḥadīth 1077; Al-Bayhaqī 4/38; Dāraquṭnī 2/74 Ḥadīths 1812–1813; Abū Shaykh in Ṭabaqāt al-Aṣbahānīyīn, p. 262
Commentary:
✘ Chain is weak.
✘ Shaykh al-Albānī also graded it as daʿīf (weak).
✘ Narrator Abū Furwah Yazīd ibn Sinān al-Tamīmī al-Rahāwī is weak.
📚 Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb, p. 558
✘ Another narrator, Yaḥyā ibn Yaʿlā al-Aslamī, is also weak.
📚 Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb, p. 556
📚 Refer to Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb and Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl for more criticism.
② Narration from Ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنهما):
“The Prophet ﷺ raised his hands only in the first takbeer, and not afterward.”
📚 Dāraquṭnī 2/75, Ḥadīth 1814
Commentary:
✘ Chain is weak.
✘ Narrator Ḥajjāj ibn Naṣīr is weak.
📚 Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb, pp. 96–98
✘ Narrator al-Faḍl ibn al-Sakkan is unknown (majhūl), as per Imām al-ʿUqaylī.
✘ Shaykh al-Albānī considered narrations with majhūl al-ʿayn narrators as severely weak or even fabricated.
Conclusion:
✘ The narration is weak and rejected in all its chains.
✅ Conclusion:
✔ Raising the hands during every takbeer in janazah prayer is established from authentic ahadith, the practice of Companions, Tābiʿīn, and Imams of the Salaf.
✔ Weak narrations contradicting this are rejected.
✔ Thus, the correct and stronger view is to perform rafʿ al-yadayn with every takbeer in the funeral prayer.
ھذا ما عندي، والله أعلم بالصواب
