✦ Critical Analysis of a Weak Narration Attributed to Ibn ʿUmar Regarding Rafʿ al-Yadayn
Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah, Volume 1, Kitāb al-Ṣalāh, Page 350
❖ The Questioned Narration
"ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Ḥakīm said: I saw Ibn ʿUmar raising his hands in line with his ears only at the initial Takbīrah, and not afterward."
(Muwaṭṭaʾ Imām Muḥammad, p. 9)
❖ Critical Evaluation of the Chain
➊ Primary Narrator: Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Farqad al-Shaybānī
This narrator is heavily criticized and considered unreliable.
✦ Statement of Qāḍī Abū Yūsuf:
“Tell that liar Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan: did he actually hear the narrations that he attributes to me?”
(Tārīkh Baghdād, 2/180 — Chain Ḥasan; see also Māhnāmah al-Ḥadīth, Issue 55, p. 29)
✦ Statement of Imām Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn:
“Jahmī and a liar.”
(Al-Ḍuʿafāʾ of al-ʿUqaylī, 4/52 — Chain Ṣaḥīḥ; Lisān al-Mīzān, 5/122; alternate ed. 6/28; Māhnāmah al-Ḥadīth, 55, p. 13)
For further research:See the article "Taʾyīd-e-Rabbānī aur Ibn Farqad al-Shaybānī" (Māhnāmah al-Ḥadīth, Issue 55)
Though later scholars like Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī considered him somewhat strong in narrating from Muwaṭṭaʾ Imām Mālik, this evaluation is questionable and context-specific, not a general endorsement.
Important: The narration in question is not from Muwaṭṭaʾ Imām Mālik, but from Muwaṭṭaʾ Imām Muḥammad — a distinct work with different chain and content.➋ Second Narrator: Muḥammad ibn Abān ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Juʿfī
This narrator is unanimously declared weak by the scholars of ḥadīth.
For references:See Nūr al-ʿAyn, p. 173, and classical works on Asmāʾ al-Rijāl (biographical criticism)
❖ Summary of Findings
The narration is unreliable due to two severely criticized narrators:
① Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī
② Muḥammad ibn Abān al-Juʿfī- The narration’s apparent strength is based on misconceptions, especially those stemming from confusion between Muwaṭṭaʾ Imām Mālik and Muwaṭṭaʾ Imām Muḥammad.
- This narration is not found in Muwaṭṭaʾ Imām Mālik, and thus any attribution claiming so is incorrect.
Conclusion
This narration does not stand up to the scrutiny of ḥadīth methodology and is unacceptable as evidence against Rafʿ al-Yadayn.
ھٰذَا مَا عِندِي، وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَاب
