Abu Dawud

Benefits and Issues:
SA It is narrated from Sayyiduna Bara’ bin Azib radi Allahu anhu:
«ان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم كان اذا افتح الصلاة رفع يديه الي قريب من أذنيه، ثم لا يعود.»
“Indeed, when the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would begin the prayer, he would raise his hands up to his ears, and then would not do so again.” [سنن ابي داود:749، سنن دارقطني:293/1، مسند ابي يعليٰ:1690] EA

Commentary:
➊ Its chain of narration is “weak.”
The scholars and hadith masters are unanimous and agreed upon the “weakness” of this hadith.
Its narrator, Yazid bin Abi Ziyad, is considered “weak” and “of poor memory” by the majority.
He was also a “mudallis” (one who practices tadlis) and “mukhtalit” (one whose memory became mixed up), and he would accept suggestions (talaqqin).

◈ Hafiz Ibn Hajar rahimahullah writes:
«ضعيف، كبر، فتغير، وصار يتلقن وكان شيعيا.»
“He is a weak narrator; in his old age, his memory deteriorated and he began to accept suggestions. He was also a Shi’i.” [تقريب التھذيب: 7717]

He also writes:
«والجمھور علي تضعيف حديثه.»
“The majority of hadith scholars consider his hadith to be weak.” [ھدي السارى:459]

◈ Al-Busayri writes:
«يزيد بن أبي زياد أخرج له مسلم في المتابعات وضعفه الجمھور.»
“Imam Muslim has mentioned the hadith of Yazid bin Abi Ziyad in follow-up narrations; the majority have declared him weak.” [زوائد ابن ماجه:549/2]

◈ Imam Daraqutni rahimahullah says:
«لا يخرج منه في الصحيح، ضعيف، يخطئ كثيرا.»
“No hadith of his will be narrated in any authentic book; he is weak and made many mistakes.” [سوالات البرقاني:561]

◈ Hafiz Dhahabi rahimahullah says:
«وليس ھو بالمتقن، فلذا لم يحتج به الشيخان.»
“He is not a reliable narrator, and for this reason, the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not use him as proof.” [سير أعلام النبلاء:129/6]

He is not a narrator of Sahih Muslim; Imam Muslim only narrated from him in conjunction with others.

◈ Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal rahimahullah says:
«ولم يكن يزيد بن أبي زياد بالحافظ، ليس بذالك.»
“Yazid bin Abi Ziyad was not a hafiz (memorizer); he was not fit to narrate hadith.” [الجرح و التعديل:265/9]

◈ Imam Abu Hatim rahimahullah says:
«ليس بالقوي.»
“He was not strong.” [الجرح و التعديل:265/9]

◈ Imam Abu Zur’ah al-Razi rahimahullah says:
«لين، يكتب حديثه، ولا يحتج به.»
“He is a weak narrator; his hadith will be written down, but not used as proof.” [الجرح و التعديل:265/9]

◈ Imam Jawzajani rahimahullah says:
«سمعتھم يضعفون حديثه.»
“I heard the hadith scholars declaring his hadith to be weak.” [احوال الرجال:135]

◈ Imam Nasa’i rahimahullah says:
«ليس بالقوي.»
“He is not strong.” [الضعفاء والمتروكين:651]

◈ Imam Yahya bin Ma’in rahimahullah says:
«ولا يحتج بحديث يزيد بن أبي زياد.»
“No proof will be taken from the hadith of Yazid bin Abi Ziyad.” [تاريخ يحيي بن معين:3144]

◈ Imam Waki’ rahimahullah says:
«ليس بشئ.»
“He is nothing (in hadith).” [الضعفاء للعقيلى:380/4،وسنده صحيح]

◈ Imam Ali bin al-Madini rahimahullah also declared him “weak.” [الضعفاء للعقيلى:480/4،وسنده صحيح]

Imam Shu’bah rahimahullah says:
«كان يزيد بن ابي زياد رفاعا.»
“Yazid bin Abi Ziyad was a ‘rafa’ (one who would raise mursal or mawquf narrations to marfu’).” [الجرح و التعديل لابن أبي حاتم:265/9]

◈ Imam Abdullah bin Mubarak rahimahullah says:
«ارم به.»
“Discard him.” [تھذيب التھذيب:288/11]

◈ Imam Ibn ‘Adi rahimahullah says:
«ويزيد من شيعة أھل الكوفة، مع ضعفه يكتب حديثه.»
“Yazid was among the Shi’a of Kufa; despite his weakness, his hadith will be written down.” [الكامل:276/7]

Therefore, the statements of Imam ‘Ajli [تاريخ العجلي:2019] and Imam Ibn Sa’d [الطبقات الکبرٰی:340/6] declaring him “trustworthy,” and Imam Ibn Shahin mentioning him in “al-Thiqat” [1561], are not worthy of consideration in the face of the majority’s declaration of weakness.
Also, the statement of Ahmad bin Salih al-Misri regarding his reliability is not established.

Conclusion:
This hadith is, by consensus of the hadith scholars, “weak,” and in addition to its weakness, Yazid bin Abi Ziyad narrated it after his memory had become mixed up.

➋ Along with being weak, this narration is general, whereas the evidence for raising the hands at the time of bowing (ruku’) is specific; therefore, the specific is given precedence over the general.

◈ Imam Ibn Hibban rahimahullah writes about this hadith:
«ھذا خبر عول عليه أھل العراق في نفي رفع اليدين في الصلاة عندالركوع وعند رفع الرأس منه، وليس في الخبر: ثم لم يعد، وھذه الزيادة لقنھا أھل الكوفة يزيد بن أبي زياد في آخر عمره، فتلقن، كما قال سفيان بن عيينه : انه سمعه قديما بمكة يحدث بھذا الحديث باسقاط ھذه اللفظة، ومن لم يكن العلم صناعته لا يذكر له الاحتجاج بما يشبه ھذا من الأخبار الواھية.»
“This is the hadith upon which the people of Iraq relied to negate raising the hands when going into and rising from ruku’ in prayer, even though the words (then he did not do so again) «”ثم لم يعد.“» were not in the hadith. This addition was suggested to Yazid bin Abi Ziyad by the people of Kufa in his last days, and he accepted it. As Imam Sufyan bin ‘Uyaynah states, he heard him narrate this hadith in Makkah in earlier times, and at that time he did not mention these words. It is not correct for someone who is not an expert in the science of hadith to cite such weak narrations as evidence.” [المجروحين لابن حبان:100/3]

◈ Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi rahimahullah says:
«ذكر ترك العود الي الرفع ليس بثابت عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم، فكان يزيد بن أبي زياد يروي ھذا الحديث قديما ولا يذكره، ثم تغير وساء حفظه فلقنه الكوفيون ذلك، فتلقنه ووصله بمتن الحديث.»
“(After the opening takbir and raising the hands) abandoning the raising of the hands again is not established from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Yazid bin Abi Ziyad used to narrate this hadith at first, but did not mention these words. Then, when his memory deteriorated, the Kufans suggested these words to him, he accepted them, and incorporated them into the text.” [المدرج:369/1]

◈ Hafiz Ibn Hajar rahimahullah writes:
«واتفق الحفاظ علي أن قوله : ثم لم يعد، مدرج في الخبر من قول يزيد بن أبي زياد.»
“The hadith masters are agreed that the words ‘then he did not do so again’ are interpolated in this hadith; they are the words of Yazid bin Abi Ziyad himself.” [التلخيص الحبير:221/1]