Is Non-Practice of Rafʿ al-Yadayn Proven from Any Companion?
Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
❖ Question:
Is it authentically proven from any Companion of the Prophet ﷺ that they did not perform rafʿ al-yadayn (raising the hands) in prayer?
❖ Answer:
No, it is not proven from any Companion that they abandoned rafʿ al-yadayn. All narrations regarding non-performance are weak and unauthentic.
Statements of Scholars
❀ Imām al-Bukhārī (رحمه الله, d. 256H) said:
لم يثبت من أحد من أصحاب النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه لا يرفع يديه .
“It is not authentically proven from any of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ that they did not raise their hands.”
(Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn, p. 86)
❀ He further said:
لم يثبت عند أهل النظر ممن أدركنا من أهل الحجاز، وأهل العراق، منهم عبد الله بن الزبير، وعلي بن عبد الله بن جعفر، ويحيى بن معين ، وأحمد بن حنبل، وإسحاق بن راهويه، هؤلاء أهل العلم من أهل زمانهم، فلم يثبت عند أحد منهم علمنا فى ترك رفع الأيدي عن النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه لم يرفع يديه .
“It has not been established according to the scholars we met in Ḥijāz and ʿIrāq — among them ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zubayr (al-Ḥumaydī), ʿAlī ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn Jaʿfar (Ibn al-Madīnī), Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, and Isḥāq ibn Rāhūyah. These were the leading scholars of their time. None of them considered it established that the Prophet ﷺ did not raise his hands.”
(Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn, p. 38)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Jawzī (رحمه الله, d. 597H) said:
لم يثبت عن أحد الصحابة أنه لم يرفع يديه .
“It is not proven from any Companion that they abandoned rafʿ al-yadayn.”
(al-Taḥqīq fī Masāʾil al-Khilāf: 1/332)
Established Sunnah
The claim supported by authentic evidence is that the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ used to perform rafʿ al-yadayn when:
① Going into rukūʿ,
② Rising from rukūʿ, and
③ Standing up after two rakʿahs.
No authentic narration proves their abandonment of it.
❀ ʿAllāmah al-Jawraqānī (رحمه الله, d. 543H) said:
رفع اليدين فى الصلاة سنة صحيحة عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم.
“Raising the hands in prayer is a sound Sunnah established from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”
(al-Abāṭīl wa al-Manākīr wa al-Ṣiḥāḥ: 2/20)
Conclusion:Non-practice of rafʿ al-yadayn is not authentically reported from any Companion. Authentic narrations firmly establish that rafʿ al-yadayn is a proven Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, followed by his Companions.
