Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah

Sayyiduna Malik bin Huwairith (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that we came to the service of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) while we were young men of about the same age. We stayed with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for twenty nights, and he was extremely kind and merciful. Then, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) realized that we wished to return to our families and were longing to meet them, he asked us: "Whom have you left behind among your relatives?" So we informed the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about them. Therefore, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Go back to your families, stay with them, teach them matters of religion, and command them to act upon them." (Hazrat Abu Qilabah says that Hazrat Malik mentioned several things which I remember, and some I do not remember.) And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also said: "And pray as you have seen me praying. When the time for prayer comes, let one of you give the call to prayer (adhan), and let the eldest among you lead the prayer." These are the words of Bundar's narration. Imam Abu Bakr (may Allah have mercy on him) says that indeed the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded Sayyiduna Malik bin Huwairith (may Allah be pleased with him) and his young companions to pray in the same manner as they had seen the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) praying. And Sayyiduna Malik bin Huwairith (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would say the takbir in prayer, and when he would go into ruku, and when he would raise his head from ruku, he would raise both his hands. Therefore, this is evidence that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded the raising of both hands (raf‘ al-yadayn) when the worshipper goes into ruku and when he raises his head from ruku. All the words narrated regarding this issue, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would perform raf‘ al-yadayn at the time of ruku, are of the same kind as I have explained, that the Arabs sometimes use the active participle (ism fa‘il) for a person who intends to do an action, even before he actually does it, as in the statement of Allah the Exalted, « يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ فَاغْسِلُوا » [ سورة المائدة ] "O you who believe, when you stand for prayer, wash your faces." So Allah the Exalted has commanded that when a person intends to stand for prayer, he should wash the limbs of wudu; it does not mean that after standing in prayer, he should wash the limbs of wudu. Therefore, the meaning of Allah's statement "when you stand for prayer" is "when you intend to stand for prayer." Similarly, the words of the hadith "when he would go into ruku, he would perform raf‘ al-yadayn" mean that when he intended to go into ruku, he would perform raf‘ al-yadayn, as is mentioned in the ahadith of Sayyiduna Ali bin Abi Talib and Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) intended to go into ruku, he would perform raf‘ al-yadayn. We have mentioned all these narrations in Kitab al-Kabir. Similarly, in the statement « فَإِذَا دَخَلْتُم بُيُوتًا فَسَلِّمُوا عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِكُمْ » [ سورة النور ] "And when you enter houses, greet your people with peace," the command is to greet with salam at the time of entering the house, not after entering the house. If examples from the Book and Sunnah are collected on this issue, the book would become very lengthy.