Placing Hands Below the Navel in Salah: Evidences and Analysis
Compiled by: Tauheed.com
The topic of placing hands below the navel during Salah has been presented by some with supporting evidences. Below is a detailed examination of those evidences along with the views of leading Hadith scholars to clarify the authenticity and strength of these claims.
They argue that in Salah, the hands should be placed below the navel. The main evidences they present are as follows:
Narrated that the Sunnah is to place the palm on the palm below the navel during Salah.
(Sunan Abī Dāwūd 480/1, 481, 758, 756)
This narration heavily depends on the narrator ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq al-Kūfī.
These numerous criticisms clarify that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq is weak and rejected by the majority of scholars, some even accusing him of fabrications. Hence, this narration is rejected.
Hafiz Ibn Ḥajar said:
"وَأَسْنَادُهُ ضَعِيفٌ"
(Ad-Durrāyah 168/1)
(Bayhaqī said: chain not established)
(Nawawī said: unanimously weak narration)
Furthermore, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s teachers included unknown narrators, and his narrations are not acceptable as per Ibn Ḥajar.
Narrated on the authority of Anas:
"وضع الیدی الیمنیٰ علی الیسریٰ فی الصلوٰۃ تحت السرۃ"
(Placed right hand on left hand below the navel during Salah.)
The chain includes Wa‘īd ibn Zarabī, who is very weak. Hafiz Ibn Ḥajar said about him:
"مُنْكِرُ الحَدِيثِ"
(Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb 2304)
This narration is also recorded without chain in local books, indicating its weakness.
Therefore, placing hands below the navel in Salah is not supported by strong, authentic evidence according to the majority of Hadith scholars.
And Allah knows best.
Compiled by: Tauheed.com
Introduction
The topic of placing hands below the navel during Salah has been presented by some with supporting evidences. Below is a detailed examination of those evidences along with the views of leading Hadith scholars to clarify the authenticity and strength of these claims.
Claim of Those Who Support Placing Hands Below the Navel
They argue that in Salah, the hands should be placed below the navel. The main evidences they present are as follows:
Evidence ①: Hadith from Abu Hurairah (رضي الله عنه) and Ali (رضي الله عنه)
Narrated that the Sunnah is to place the palm on the palm below the navel during Salah.
(Sunan Abī Dāwūd 480/1, 481, 758, 756)
Examination
This narration heavily depends on the narrator ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq al-Kūfī.
Status of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq According to Scholars of Jarḥ wa Ta‘dīl:
- Abū Zar‘ah al-Rāzī: Not strong (Al-Jarḥ wa al-Ta‘dīl 213/5)
- Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī: Weak and fabricator, writes Hadith but is not to be used as evidence (ibid)
- Ibn Khuzaymah: Weak Hadith (Kitāb al-Tawḥīd p. 220)
- Ibn Ma‘īn: Weak, insignificant (Al-Jarḥ wa al-Ta‘dīl 213/5)
- Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal: Denier of Hadith (Al-Ḍu‘afā’ lil-Bukhārī 203)
- Bazār: Not a narrator of Ḥāfiẓ (Kashf al-Istār 859)
- Ya‘qūb ibn Sufyān: Weak (Kitāb al-Ma‘rifah wa al-Tārīkh 59/3)
- ‘Aqīlī: Listed among the weak narrators (322/2)
- Al-‘Ajlī: Weak but allowed to write Hadith (Tārīkh al-‘Ajlī 930)
- Bukhārī: Weak Hadith (Al-‘Ilal li al-Tirmidhī 227/1)
- Nisā’ī: Weak (Al-Ḍu‘afā’ lil-Nisā’ī 358)
- Ibn Sa‘d: Weak Hadith (Ṭabaqāt Ibn Sa‘d 361/6)
- Ibn Ḥibbān: Known to distort reports and isolated weak narrations, so not to be used as evidence (Kitāb al-Majrūḥīn 54/2)
- Dārquṭnī: Weak (Sunan Dārquṭnī 121/2)
- Bayhaqī: Abandoned (Sunan al-Kubrā 32/2)
- Ibn Juzayy: Mentioned as weak and accused narrations (Al-Ḍu‘afā’ wa al-Matrūkīn 89/2)
- Al-Dhahabī: Weak (Al-Kāshif 2/265)
- Ibn Ḥajar: Kūfī weak (Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb 3799)
- Nawawī: Weak unanimously (Sharḥ Muslim 4/115)
- Ibn al-Mulqan: Weak (Al-Badr al-Munīr 177/4)
- Al-Zarqānī: Weak chain (Sharḥ Muwaṭṭā’ 1/321)
These numerous criticisms clarify that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq is weak and rejected by the majority of scholars, some even accusing him of fabrications. Hence, this narration is rejected.
Hafiz Ibn Ḥajar said:
"وَأَسْنَادُهُ ضَعِيفٌ"
(Ad-Durrāyah 168/1)
(Bayhaqī said: chain not established)
(Nawawī said: unanimously weak narration)
Furthermore, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s teachers included unknown narrators, and his narrations are not acceptable as per Ibn Ḥajar.
Evidence ②: Hadith about placing right hand on left below the navel
Narrated on the authority of Anas:
"وضع الیدی الیمنیٰ علی الیسریٰ فی الصلوٰۃ تحت السرۃ"
(Placed right hand on left hand below the navel during Salah.)
Examination
The chain includes Wa‘īd ibn Zarabī, who is very weak. Hafiz Ibn Ḥajar said about him:
"مُنْكِرُ الحَدِيثِ"
(Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb 2304)
This narration is also recorded without chain in local books, indicating its weakness.
Summary and Conclusion
- The evidences presented in favor of placing hands below the navel rely primarily on weak or rejected narrators.
- These narrations are either weak, fabricated, or disconnected, and hence, are not reliable evidence.
- No authentic narration establishes the practice of placing hands below the navel during Salah.
Therefore, placing hands below the navel in Salah is not supported by strong, authentic evidence according to the majority of Hadith scholars.
And Allah knows best.
