Abu Dawud

751. Commentary:
The narration of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radi Allahu anhu, according to the research of Imam Tirmidhi rahimahullah, is “hasan” (good), and according to Imam Ibn Hazm rahimahullah, it is “sahih” (authentic). Allamah Nasiruddin al-Albani rahimahullah and, before him, Allamah Ahmad Muhammad Shakir rahimahullah have also declared it “sahih”.

Whereas the summary of the research of the earlier hadith masters has been stated by Hafiz Ibn Hajar rahimahullah as follows:
◈ Ibn al-Mubarak said: “This hadith is not established according to me.”
◈ Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from his father: «هذا حديث خطا» “This hadith is a mistake and incorrect.”
◈ Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal rahimahullah and his teacher Yahya ibn Adam said: “It is weak.”
◈ Imam al-Bukhari rahimahullah also supported and followed this view.
◈ Imam Abu Dawud rahimahullah said: “It is not authentic.”
◈ al-Daraqutni said: “It is not established.”
◈ Ibn Hibban said: “According to the school of Kufa, this is their best (ahsan) hadith for negating raising the hands (raf‘ al-yadayn) in bowing (ruku‘), whereas it is the weakest, because it contains some defects due to which it is considered weak.” [التلخيص الحبير : 1؍ 222، نيل الأوطار : 2؍201]
◈ Allamah Shawkani rahimahullah writes: “Even if we accept the hadith of Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud as authentic and do not give any consideration to the criticism of the hadith scholars, there is no contradiction or incompatibility between this hadith and the other ahadith which affirm raising the hands in bowing, because those ahadith mention an additional act, and (matters established by authentic ahadith) additional acts are accepted by consensus, especially when a large group of Companions have narrated it and a group of hadith scholars have transmitted it.” [نيل الاوطار : 2؍202]

Note:
This principle cannot be applied to raising the hands in prostrations (sujud), because it is established with authentic chains that Abdullah ibn Umar radi Allahu anhuma explicitly says: “The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did not raise his hands in prostrations.” [صحيح بخاري، حديث : 735 و صحيح مسلم، حديث : 39]
Allamah Ahmad Shakir rahimahullah states that this hadith (i.e., the hadith of Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud) does not prove the abandonment of raising the hands at other occasions, because this hadith mentions “negation” and other authentic ahadith mention “affirmation,” and affirmation is always given precedence. Since this act is Sunnah, it is possible that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam may have abandoned it once or more, but what is established as predominant and frequent is to act upon it; therefore, raising the hands when going into and rising from bowing is Sunnah. [حواشي جامع ترمذي : 2؍41 بتحقيق احمد شاكر]

The writer submits that the question of contradiction in authentic ahadith does not arise at all. Wherever it seems so, it is either due to a fault in transmission or in understanding. This narration of Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud, aside from the chain discussion, is also debatable in terms of meaning.
● Firstly, in it, except for affirming or negating raising the hands once, nothing else is mentioned, whereas there are dozens of issues in prayer. Just as not mentioning them does not negate them, so is the case with raising the hands in bowing.
● Secondly, instead of restricting it to the disputed raising of the hands, it can also be said that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did not raise his hands again when rising for the second rak‘ah, but only raised them once in the first rak‘ah. Or, as Sayyid Isma‘il Shahid rahimahullah has written with reference to Fath al-Bari, the meaning of this hadith is that at the beginning of prayer, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did not repeatedly raise his hands as is done in the Eid prayers, but raising them only once is Sunnah. (As has been observed in some people afflicted with doubts, that their intention does not become correct and they keep raising and folding their hands repeatedly.)
↰ May Allah shower countless mercies upon the noble hadith scholars, they fulfilled the trust of the religion with complete honesty... with their chains of transmission... and conveyed it to the Ummah without any omission or addition. And in this, people of insight are invited to scrutinize as well, according to the established principles. Our belief is that infallibility is only for Allah and His Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. After him, the students of the Messenger, the great Tabi‘in, and the Imams of the Ummah are all worthy of honor and respect, but the proof and nearness to Allah is in the Book of Allah and the authentic, established statements of the Messenger.
«رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا وَلِإِخْوَانِنَا الَّذِينَ سَبَقُونَا بِالْإِيمَانِ وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِي قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّا لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ رَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ» [الحشر : 10]
«رَبَّنَا لَا تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ رَحْمَةً إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْوَهَّابُ» [آل عمران : 8]