Question:
Is it authentic to place one’s hand upon the head after the obligatory prayer and recite:
“Bismillāh alladhī lā ilāha illā Huwa al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm”?
Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
A narration attributed to Sayyidunā Anas bin Mālik رضي الله عنه states that:
Arabic Text:
كان النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم إذا سلم من صلاته وضع يده اليمنى على جبهته وقال:
بسم الله الذى لا إله إلا هو الرحمٰن الرحيم، أذهب عني الهم والحزن
Translation:
“When the Prophet ﷺ finished his prayer by saying salām, he would place his right hand upon his forehead and say:
‘In the name of Allah, besides Whom there is no god, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. O Allah, remove my worries and grief.’”
(ʿAmal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah by Ibn al-Sunnī: 113; Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ by Abū Nuʿaym al-Aṣbahānī: 2/301)
This narration is false (bāṭil) and its chain is fabricated or severely weak.
① Sallām al-Ṭawīl — He is matrūk (abandoned) by the scholars of ḥadīth.
(Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb by Ibn Ḥajar: no. 2702)
② Zayd al-ʿAmī — Declared weak (ḍaʿīf) by the majority.
Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar رحمه الله said:
ضعيف عند الجمهور
“He is weak according to the majority.”
(Natāʾij al-Afkār: 253)
Another version is reported through Al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ of al-Ṭabarānī (3178), Kitāb al-Duʿāʾ by al-Ṭabarānī (658), Al-Kāmil by Ibn ʿAdī (6/2084–2085), and Tārīkh Baghdād by al-Khaṭīb (12/480).
These contain Kathīr bin Sulaym and Abū Salamah al-Madīnī, both of whom are severely weak (ḍaʿīf jiddan).
A similar narration appears in Tārīkh Aslam al-Wāsiṭī (p. 161):
Arabic Text:
كان النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم إذا سلم من صلاته وضع يده اليمنى على جبهته وقال:
بسم الله الذى لا إله إلا هو، عالم الغيب والشهادة، الرحمن الرحيم، اللهم اذهب عني الهم والحزن
Translation:
“When the Prophet ﷺ finished his prayer, he would place his right hand upon his forehead and say:
‘In the name of Allah, besides Whom there is no god, Knower of the unseen and the seen, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. O Allah, remove my worries and sadness.’”
However, this narration is also extremely weak:
① ʿAnbah bin ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Wāsiṭī — unknown; no biographical record exists.
② ʿAmr bin Qays, a Tābiʿī, narrates directly from the Prophet ﷺ, making the narration mursal and thus weak.
Another version recorded by Abū Nuʿaym al-Aṣbahānī in Akhbār Aṣbahān (2/104) has a fabricated (mawḍūʿ) chain:
① Dāwūd bin Muḥmir — matrūk (abandoned) and a liar (kadhdhāb).
② ʿAbbās bin Razīn al-Aslamī — unknown (majhūl).
All the narrations describing placing the hand upon the forehead after prayer and reciting “Bismillāh alladhī lā ilāha illā Huwa al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm…” are unauthentic.
Each chain is either severely weak, mursal, or fabricated.
Therefore, this practice has no basis in authentic Sunnah, and it should not be performed after obligatory prayers.
Is it authentic to place one’s hand upon the head after the obligatory prayer and recite:
“Bismillāh alladhī lā ilāha illā Huwa al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm”?
Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
✿ Answer:
A narration attributed to Sayyidunā Anas bin Mālik رضي الله عنه states that:
Arabic Text:
كان النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم إذا سلم من صلاته وضع يده اليمنى على جبهته وقال:
بسم الله الذى لا إله إلا هو الرحمٰن الرحيم، أذهب عني الهم والحزن
Translation:
“When the Prophet ﷺ finished his prayer by saying salām, he would place his right hand upon his forehead and say:
‘In the name of Allah, besides Whom there is no god, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. O Allah, remove my worries and grief.’”
(ʿAmal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah by Ibn al-Sunnī: 113; Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ by Abū Nuʿaym al-Aṣbahānī: 2/301)❀ Analysis of Authenticity:
This narration is false (bāṭil) and its chain is fabricated or severely weak.
① Sallām al-Ṭawīl — He is matrūk (abandoned) by the scholars of ḥadīth.
(Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb by Ibn Ḥajar: no. 2702)② Zayd al-ʿAmī — Declared weak (ḍaʿīf) by the majority.
Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar رحمه الله said:
ضعيف عند الجمهور
“He is weak according to the majority.”
(Natāʾij al-Afkār: 253)❀ Additional Chains of Transmission:
Another version is reported through Al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ of al-Ṭabarānī (3178), Kitāb al-Duʿāʾ by al-Ṭabarānī (658), Al-Kāmil by Ibn ʿAdī (6/2084–2085), and Tārīkh Baghdād by al-Khaṭīb (12/480).
These contain Kathīr bin Sulaym and Abū Salamah al-Madīnī, both of whom are severely weak (ḍaʿīf jiddan).
A similar narration appears in Tārīkh Aslam al-Wāsiṭī (p. 161):
Arabic Text:
كان النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم إذا سلم من صلاته وضع يده اليمنى على جبهته وقال:
بسم الله الذى لا إله إلا هو، عالم الغيب والشهادة، الرحمن الرحيم، اللهم اذهب عني الهم والحزن
Translation:
“When the Prophet ﷺ finished his prayer, he would place his right hand upon his forehead and say:
‘In the name of Allah, besides Whom there is no god, Knower of the unseen and the seen, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. O Allah, remove my worries and sadness.’”
However, this narration is also extremely weak:
① ʿAnbah bin ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Wāsiṭī — unknown; no biographical record exists.
② ʿAmr bin Qays, a Tābiʿī, narrates directly from the Prophet ﷺ, making the narration mursal and thus weak.
Another version recorded by Abū Nuʿaym al-Aṣbahānī in Akhbār Aṣbahān (2/104) has a fabricated (mawḍūʿ) chain:
① Dāwūd bin Muḥmir — matrūk (abandoned) and a liar (kadhdhāb).
② ʿAbbās bin Razīn al-Aslamī — unknown (majhūl).
Conclusion:
All the narrations describing placing the hand upon the forehead after prayer and reciting “Bismillāh alladhī lā ilāha illā Huwa al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm…” are unauthentic.
Each chain is either severely weak, mursal, or fabricated.
Therefore, this practice has no basis in authentic Sunnah, and it should not be performed after obligatory prayers.
