✦ Critical Analysis of a Weak Narration Attributed to Ibn ʿUmar Regarding Rafʿ al-Yadayn
Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah, Volume 1, Kitāb al-Ṣalāh, Page 350
❖ The Questioned Narration
“ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Ḥakīm said: I saw Ibn ʿUmar raising his hands in line with his ears only at the initial Takbīrah, and not afterward.”
(Muwaṭṭaʾ Imām Muḥammad, p. 9)
❖ Critical Evaluation of the Chain
➊ Primary Narrator: Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Farqad al-Shaybānī
This narrator is heavily criticized and considered unreliable.
✦ Statement of Qāḍī Abū Yūsuf:
“Tell that liar Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan: did he actually hear the narrations that he attributes to me?”
(Tārīkh Baghdād, 2/180 — Chain Ḥasan; see also Māhnāmah al-Ḥadīth, Issue 55, p. 29)
✦ Statement of Imām Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn:
“Jahmī and a liar.”
(Al-Ḍuʿafāʾ of al-ʿUqaylī, 4/52 — Chain Ṣaḥīḥ; Lisān al-Mīzān, 5/122; alternate ed. 6/28; Māhnāmah al-Ḥadīth, 55, p. 13)
✅ For further research:
See the article “Taʾyīd-e-Rabbānī aur Ibn Farqad al-Shaybānī” (Māhnāmah al-Ḥadīth, Issue 55)
📝 Though later scholars like Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī considered him somewhat strong in narrating from Muwaṭṭaʾ Imām Mālik, this evaluation is questionable and context-specific, not a general endorsement.
❗ Important: The narration in question is not from Muwaṭṭaʾ Imām Mālik, but from Muwaṭṭaʾ Imām Muḥammad — a distinct work with different chain and content.
➋ Second Narrator: Muḥammad ibn Abān ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Juʿfī
This narrator is unanimously declared weak by the scholars of ḥadīth.
📌 For references:
See Nūr al-ʿAyn, p. 173, and classical works on Asmāʾ al-Rijāl (biographical criticism)
❖ Summary of Findings
- ❌ The narration is unreliable due to two severely criticized narrators:
① Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī
② Muḥammad ibn Abān al-Juʿfī - ❌ The narration’s apparent strength is based on misconceptions, especially those stemming from confusion between Muwaṭṭaʾ Imām Mālik and Muwaṭṭaʾ Imām Muḥammad.
- ❌ This narration is not found in Muwaṭṭaʾ Imām Mālik, and thus any attribution claiming so is incorrect.
✅ Conclusion
This narration does not stand up to the scrutiny of ḥadīth methodology and is unacceptable as evidence against Rafʿ al-Yadayn.
ھٰذَا مَا عِندِي، وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَاب
