Fabricated Tafsir Attributed to Ibn Abbas on Raf al-Yadayn

This excerpt is taken from the book Nūr al-ʿAynayn fī Ithbāt Rafʿ al-Yadayn ʿinda al-Rukūʿ wa Baʿdah fī al-Ṣalāh by the contemporary hadith scholar Ḥāfiẓ Zubayr ʿAlī Zaʾī رحمه الله.

The Tafsīr Attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās and the Claim of Abandoning Rafʿ al-Yadayn​

Allah Almighty says:

﴿الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ﴾
“And those who are humble and submissive in their prayers.”

Reference: al-Muʾminūn: 23:2

Some people claim that in explaining this noble verse, Sayyidunā ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما said:

ولا يرفعون أيديهم فى الصلوة
“And they do not raise their hands in prayer.”

(See: al-Tafsīr al-Mansūb ilā Ibn ʿAbbās, p. 212)

Some people translate the above statement as:

“Those who do not perform Rafʿ al-Yadayn in prayer.”

(Majmūʿah Rasāʾil Okāṛvī, vol. 1, p. 182; Taḥqīq Masʾalah Rafʿ al-Yadayn, p. 6)

Clarification​

It should be understood that this entire tafsīr is fabricated and forged, and it is not authentically established from Sayyidunā Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما at all.

The Chain of Transmission of This Tafsīr​

At the beginning of this tafsīr, the following chain is mentioned:

أخبرنا عبدالله الثقة ابن المأمور الهروي قال: أخبرنا أبى قال: أخبرنا أبو عبدالله قال أخبرنا أبو عبيد الله محمود بن محمد الرازي قال: أخبرنا عمار بن عبدالمجيد الهروي قال: أخبرنا على بن إسحاق السمرقندي عن محمد بن مروان عن الكلبي عن أبى صالح عن ابن عباس قال

Reference: Tanwīr al-Miqbās, Tafsīr Ibn ʿAbbās by al-Fayrūzābādī al-Shāfiʿī, p. 2

In this chain, two principal narrators are:

① Muḥammad ibn Marwān al-Suddī
② Muḥammad ibn al-Sāʾib al-Kalbī

Both of them are liars (kadhdhāb).

Introduction to Muḥammad ibn Marwān al-Suddī​

The following are statements of hadith scholars regarding Muḥammad ibn Marwān al-Suddī:

① Imām al-Bukhārī said: Sakatū ʿanhu — he is abandoned.
  “His hadith is not written at all.”
  

Reference: al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr: 1/232; al-Ḍuʿafāʾ al-Ṣaghīr: 350

② Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said: Laysa bi-thiqah — he is not trustworthy.
  

Reference: al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl: 8/86

③ Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī said:
  “He is worthless in hadith, abandoned; his hadith is not written at all.”
  

Reference: al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl: 8/86

④ al-Nasāʾī said:
  “He narrates from al-Kalbī; he is abandoned in hadith.”
  

Reference: al-Ḍuʿafāʾ wa al-Matrūkīn: 538

⑤ Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān al-Fārisī said:
  “He is weak and unreliable.”
  

Reference: al-Maʿrifah wa al-Tārīkh: 3/186

⑥ Ibn Ḥibbān said:
  “He used to narrate fabricated reports from reliable narrators. It is not permissible to write his hadith except for recognition, and it is never permissible to use it as evidence.”
  

Reference: al-Majrūḥīn: 2/286

⑦ Ibn Numayr said:
  “He is a liar.”
  

Reference: al-Ḍuʿafāʾ al-Kabīr by al-ʿUqaylī: 4/136

⑧ Ḥāfiẓ al-Haythamī said:
  “He is abandoned.”
  “And there is consensus on his weakness.”
  

Reference: Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid: 8/99; 1/214

⑨ Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī said:
  “Kūfan, abandoned, accused.”
  

Reference: Dīwān al-Ḍuʿafāʾ: 3969

⑩ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar said:
  “Accused of lying.”
  

Reference: Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb: 6284

Even According to Deobandi Scholars​

Sarfarāz Khān Ṣafdar Deobandī writes:

“Muḥammad ibn Marwān al-Suddī al-Ṣaghīr — Imām al-Bukhārī states that his narration is not written at all, and Imām al-Nasāʾī says he is abandoned in hadith.”

Reference: Ḍuʿafāʾ al-Bukhārī, p. 29; Ḍuʿafāʾ al-Nasāʾī, p. 52

He further quotes Imām al-Dhahabī, Imām Aḥmad, Ibn ʿAdī, Imām al-Bayhaqī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Subkī, and others, all declaring him weak, abandoned, or a liar.

Sarfarāz Khān Ṣafdar explicitly states:

◈ “Al-Suddī is a liar and fabricator.”

Reference: Itmām al-Burhān: 455

Introduction to Muḥammad ibn al-Sāʾib al-Kalbī​

The statements of the hadith scholars regarding Muḥammad ibn al-Sāʾib al-Kalbī are as follows:

① Sulaymān al-Taymī said:
  “There were two liars in Kūfah; one of them was al-Kalbī.”
  

Reference: al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl: 7/270

② Qurrah ibn Khālid said:
  “People used to think that al-Kalbī lied.”
  

Reference: al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl: 7/270

③ Sufyān al-Thawrī said:
  “Whatever is narrated from al-Kalbī from Abū Ṣāliḥ from Ibn ʿAbbās is a lie; do not narrate it.”
  

Reference: al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl: 7/271

④ Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ said:
  “He was a Sabāʾī.”
  

Reference: al-Kāmil by Ibn ʿAdī: 5/2128

⑤ Muḥammad ibn Mihrān said:
  “The tafsīr of al-Kalbī is false.”
  

Reference: al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl: 7/271

⑥ al-Jūzjānī said:
  “He is a liar, rejected.”
  

Reference: Aḥwāl al-Rijāl: 37

⑦ Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said:
  “He is nothing.”
  

Reference: Tārīkh Ibn Maʿīn, Riwayat al-Dūrī: 1344

⑧ Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī said:
  “There is consensus on abandoning his hadith.”
  

Reference: al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl: 7/271

⑨ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar said:
  “The mufassir, accused of lying and of Rāfiḍī tendencies.”
  

Reference: Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb: 5901

⑩ Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī said:
  “They abandoned him.”
  

Reference: al-Mughnī fī al-Ḍuʿafāʾ: 5545

Abū Ṣāliḥ Bādhām​

The third narrator in this chain is Abū Ṣāliḥ Bādhām, who is also weak.

① Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī: “His hadith is written but not used as proof.”
② al-Nasāʾī: “Weak Kūfan.”
③ al-Bukhārī mentioned him in al-Ḍuʿafāʾ.
④ al-Dhahabī: “Weak in hadith.”
⑤ Ibn Ḥajar: “Weak; performs irsāl.”

Reference: al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl; al-Ḍuʿafāʾ wa al-Matrūkīn; Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb

The Verdict of Imām al-Suyūṭī​

Ḥāfiẓ Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī writes:

وأوهى طرقه طريق الكلبي عن أبى صالح عن ابن عباس فإن انضم إلى ذلك رواية محمد بن مروان السدي الصغير فهي سلسلة الكذب

“The weakest of all chains is al-Kalbī from Abū Ṣāliḥ from Ibn ʿAbbās, and if Muḥammad ibn Marwān al-Suddī al-Ṣaghīr is added to it, then it becomes the chain of lies.”

Reference: al-Itqān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān: 2/416

Conclusion Regarding This Tafsīr​

From this detailed discussion, it becomes clear that:

✔ This tafsīr (Tanwīr al-Miqbās) is not authentically established from Sayyidunā ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما
✔ Rather, it is a fabrication of Muḥammad ibn Marwān al-Suddī and al-Kalbī, falsely attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما

Authentic Practice of Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما Regarding Rafʿ al-Yadayn​

Narration of Abū Ḥamzah (ʿImrān ibn Abī ʿAṭāʾ al-Asadī, Tābiʿī)​

رأيت ابن عباس يرفع يديه إذا افتتح الصلاة وإذا ركع وإذا رفع رأسه من الركوع

“I saw Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما raising his hands at the beginning of the prayer, before rukūʿ, and when raising his head from rukūʿ.”

Reference: Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: 1/235, ḥadīth 2431

(Chain: Ḥasan)

This narration is also found in:

◈ Masāʾil al-Imām Aḥmad
◈ Muṣannaf ʿAbd al-Razzāq
◈ Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn by al-Bukhārī

Narration of Ṭāwūs (Tābiʿī)​

“I saw ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما raising his hands in prayer.”

Reference: Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn: 28

(Chain: Ṣaḥīḥ)

Final Note​

The practice of Sayyidunā Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما in raising the hands during prayer is clear proof that Rafʿ al-Yadayn is not contrary to humility and devotion (khushūʿ wa khuḍūʿ) in prayer.

❀ Warning: Serious objections also exist regarding the Okāṛvī translation and method of argumentation based on this fabricated tafsīr.