Authenticity of Ibn Mas‘ud’s Hadith on Not Raising the Hands in Prayer

Question:
What is the authenticity of the Hadith of Sayyidunā ʿAbdullāh bin Masʿūd رضي الله عنه regarding not raising the hands (عدم رفع الیدین) in prayer?


Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri

✿ Answer:​

This narration is recorded in Sunan Abī Dāwūd (748), Sunan al-Nasā’ī (1058), and Sunan al-Tirmidhī (257) among other sources.
Its chain of narration (isnād) is weak (ḍaʿīf).

❀ ① Reasons for Weakness​

• Sufyān al-Thawrī, one of the narrators, is a known mudallis (one who sometimes conceals his source) and no explicit statement of hearing (samāʿ) is found in this chain.
• The narration is general, whereas the authentic narrations about raising the hands (rafʿ al-yadayn) during specific parts of the prayer are particular and explicit.
  ➤ The specific (khāṣṣ) is given preference over the general (ʿāmm).
• This narration by Ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه negates all forms of raising the hands except the initial takbīr, whereas authentic and mutawātir ahādīth in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim confirm raising the hands:
  
  • When going into rukūʿ (bowing),
  • When rising from rukūʿ,
  • And when standing after two rakʿāt.

Hence, this narration cannot serve as valid evidence against the established practice of raising the hands.


Even those who oppose rafʿ al-yadayn (such as in the Ḥanafī school) themselves perform it during the first takbīr in Witr and ʿEid prayers—thereby admitting that this narration cannot be sound or absolute.

❀ ② Scholarly Evaluations of the Hadith​

① ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak رحمه الله said:


لم يثبت عندي حديث ابن مسعود
“In my view, the ḥadīth of Ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه is not established.”
(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, under ḥadīth 256; Sunan al-Dāraqutnī 1/393; al-Sunan al-Kubrā by al-Bayhaqī 2/79 – chain authentic)


② Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal رحمه الله regarded it as weak (ḍaʿīf).
(Al-Tamhīd by Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr 9/219 – authentic chain)


③ Imām Abū Dāwūd رحمه الله, after mentioning this narration, commented:


ليس هو بصحيح على هذا اللفظ
“This ḥadīth is not authentic in these words.”


④ Imām Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī رحمه الله stated:


هذا خطأ
“This is an error.”
(Al-ʿIlal 1/96)


⑤ Imām al-Dāraqutnī رحمه الله said:


ليس قول من قال: ثم لم يعد محفوظا
“The statement ‘he did not raise (his hands) again’ is not reliably preserved.”
(Al-ʿIlal 5/173)


⑥ Imām Ibn Ḥibbān رحمه الله remarked:


في الحقيقة أضعف شيء يعول عليه، لأن له عللا تبطله
“In reality, it is among the weakest reports relied upon, as it has several defects which invalidate it.”
(Al-Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr by Ibn Ḥajar 1/222)


⑦ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr رحمه الله said regarding the ḥadīth of al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib and Ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنهما:


هَذَانِ حَدِيثَانِ مَعْلُولَانِ عِنْدَ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ بِالْحَدِيثِ
“Both these narrations are defective according to the scholars of ḥadīth.”
(Al-Tamhīd 9/215)


⑧ ʿAllāmah Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisī رحمه الله also graded it weak.
(Al-Mughnī 1/358)

❀ ③ Note on Imām al-Tirmidhī’s Statement of “Ḥasan”​

Imām al-Tirmidhī رحمه الله described the narration as “ḥasan”, but scholars clarify that his usage is not always technical.
In many cases, he used the term “ḥasan” for a single weak narration without corroborating chains — a distinct stylistic approach unique to him.


The Ḥanafī scholars themselves have acknowledged this fact:


“Ibn Dihyah mentioned in Al-ʿIlm al-Mashhūr that Imām al-Tirmidhī has described many fabricated and weak narrations in his Jāmiʿ as ‘ḥasan’.”
(Naṣb al-Rāyah by al-Zaylaʿī 2/217; al-Bināyah by al-ʿAynī 2/869; Maqālāt al-Kawtharī p. 311; Ṣafā’iḥ li-Muḥibbīn by Aḥmad Riḍā Khān al-Barelwī p. 29)

Conclusion:​

The ḥadīth of ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه on not raising the hands is weak, as confirmed by numerous ḥadīth experts.
It contradicts multiple authentic, mutawātir narrations in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim which affirm raising the hands:

• at the start of prayer,
• when going into rukūʿ,
• when rising from rukūʿ,
• and when standing after two rakʿāt.

Therefore, this narration cannot be used as proof against the Sunnah practice of rafʿ al-yadayn.