Narrations
Source: Fatawa ‘Ilmiyyah, Volume 1, Kitab al-Salah, Page 471
❖ Inquiry:
Some people are observed placing their right hand on their forehead immediately after completing the fard prayer and reciting a supplication.
Is there any evidence for this practice in the Qur’an or Sunnah? A detailed scholarly response is requested.
(Question by: Asadullah Khair Barah, Ghazi Hazara)
✿ Answer:
Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu was-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh, ʾammā baʿd!
✦ First Report:
Narrated by Salam al-Tawil al-Mada’ini, from Zayd al-ʿAmi, from Muʿawiyah ibn Qurrah, from Anas ibn Malik رضي الله عنه:
“Whenever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ completed his prayer, he would wipe his forehead with his right hand and say:
❝Ashhadu allā ilāha illallāh, al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm. Allāhumma adhhib ʿannī al-hamma wal-ḥuzn❞”
(‘Amal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah by Ibn al-Sunni, al-Ṭabarānī in al-Awsaṭ 3/243; Kitāb al-Duʿā’ 2/1092, ḥadīth 659; al-Amālī by Ibn Samʿūn, ḥadīth 121; Natā’ij al-Afkār 2/301; Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’ 6/301–302)
✿ Analysis of the Chain of Narrators
① Salam al-Tawil al-Mada’ini:
- Severely weak narrator.
- Imam al-Bukhari: “They abandoned him.”
(Kitāb al-Ḍuʿafā’, Tuḥfat al-Aqwiyā’, p. 51, T. 155) - Imam al-Ḥākim: “He narrated fabricated ahadith.”
(al-Madkhal ilā al-Ṣaḥīḥ, p. 144, T. 73) - Imam al-Haythami: “There is consensus on his weakness.”
(Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid 1/212) - Ibn Ḥajar: “This hadith is extremely weak due to him.”
(Natā’ij al-Afkār 2/301)
② Zayd al-ʿAmi:
- Declared weak in Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb (No. 2131)
- Majority of Hadith critics label him as weak
- Haythami: “The rest of the narrators in one of Ṭabarānī’s chains are trustworthy, though one is disputed.”
③ Ṭabarānī’s Second Chain:
Possibly narrated through:
“al-Ḥārith ibn al-Khaḍar al-ʿAṭṭār → ʿUthmān ibn Farqad → Zayd al-ʿAmi…”
(Kashf al-Astār 4/22, ḥadīth 3100)
✔ Al-Ḥārith ibn al-Khaḍar al-ʿAṭṭār is an unknown narrator,
✔ There is a possibility he omitted Salam al-Tawil from the chain.
📌 Conclusion: This isnād is unacceptable due to unknown narrators.
✦ Second Report:
Narrated by Kathir ibn Sulaym, from Anas ibn Malik رضي الله عنه:
“Whenever the Prophet ﷺ completed his prayer, he would wipe his forehead with his right hand and say three times:
❝Bi-smi-llāh alladhī lā ilāha ghayruh, Allāhumma adhhib ʿannī al-hamma wal-ḥuzn❞”
(_al-Kāmil by Ibn ʿAdī 7/199; al-Awsaṭ by al-Ṭabarānī 4/126, ḥadīth 3202; Kitāb al-Duʿā’ 2/1095, ḥadīth 658; al-Amālī by al-Shajari 1/249; Tārīkh Baghdād 12/480; Natā’ij al-Afkār 2/301–302)
✿ Judgment on Kathir ibn Sulaym
- Imam al-Bukhari: Munkar al-ḥadīth
(Kitāb al-Ḍuʿafā’, Tuḥfat al-Aqwiyā’, p. 316) - Imam al-Nasāʾī: Matrūk al-ḥadīth
(al-Ḍuʿafāʾ wal-Matrūkīn, No. 506)
📌 A matrūk narrator’s hadith is not acceptable, even for supporting evidence.
(Ikhtiṣār ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth by Ibn Kathir, p. 38)
✿ Summary of Findings
- Both narrations are extremely weak in all their chains.
- Shaykh al-Albani: Classified them as Daʿīf Jiddan (Very Weak)
(Silsilah al-Ḍaʿīfah 2/114, ḥadīth 660) - Imam al-Suyuti: Also declared the narration as weak
(al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr, No. 6741)
✿ Important Warning
Some individuals (e.g. Muhammad Irshad Qasmi, Deobandi) have referenced this hadith using the label “with a weak chain” but have not included the Arabic critique on the narrators.
⚠️ This method of withholding crucial scholarly evaluation misleads the public, especially when weak or rejected hadiths are promoted.
✅ Conclusion:
There is no evidence from the Qur’an, Sunnah, the Companions, or the Tābiʿīn that the Prophet ﷺ or his companions would place their hands on their forehead and recite such a supplication after prayer.
✔ Therefore, this practice must be completely avoided.
ـــ ❖ ـــ
وَمَا عَلَيْنَا إِلَّا الْبَلَاغ
📅 (19 Ṣafar 1426 AH)
📚 (al-Ḥadīth)
ھٰذَا مَا عِندِي وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَاب
