Source: Fatāwā Amaanpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amaanpuri
Is it authentically reported from Sayyidunā ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (رضي الله عنه) that the hands should be placed below the navel in prayer?
It is narrated from Sayyidunā ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (رضي الله عنه):
“From the Sunnah of prayer is placing the right hand over the left, below the navel.”
(Zawā’id Musnad al-Imām Aḥmad: 1/110; Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 756; Sunan al-Dāraquṭnī: 1/286; al-Sunan al-Kubrā by al-Bayhaqī: 2/31; Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: 1/391)
This narration is weak, because its narrator ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq al-Kūfī al-Wāsiṭī is considered weak by the majority of ḥadīth scholars.
(Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb: 198; Fatḥ al-Bārī: 13/523)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar (رحمه الله):
Declared the chain weak.
(Fatḥ al-Bārī: 2/224)
❀ ʿAllāmah Anwar Shāh al-Kashmīrī (رحمه الله):
Also graded the chain as weak.
(al-ʿUrf al-Shadhī: 1/68)
❀ Imām al-Nawawī (رحمه الله):
“This ḥadīth is weak, by consensus.”
(Sharḥ al-Nawawī: 4/115)
❀ ʿAllāmah al-Zaylaʿī al-Ḥanafī (رحمه الله):
Quoting from Imām al-Nawawī (رحمه الله):
“It is a ḥadīth agreed upon as weak, because ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq is unanimously weak.”
(Naṣb al-Rāyah: 1/314; Khulāṣat al-Aḥkām by al-Nawawī: 1/255; Sharḥ al-Nawawī: 1/173)
The narration attributed to Sayyidunā ʿAlī (رضي الله عنه) about placing the hands below the navel in prayer is weak and not reliable. The agreement of the muḥaddithīn is that its narrator, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq, is weak.
Question:
Is it authentically reported from Sayyidunā ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (رضي الله عنه) that the hands should be placed below the navel in prayer?
Answer:
It is narrated from Sayyidunā ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (رضي الله عنه):
“From the Sunnah of prayer is placing the right hand over the left, below the navel.”
(Zawā’id Musnad al-Imām Aḥmad: 1/110; Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 756; Sunan al-Dāraquṭnī: 1/286; al-Sunan al-Kubrā by al-Bayhaqī: 2/31; Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: 1/391)
This narration is weak, because its narrator ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq al-Kūfī al-Wāsiṭī is considered weak by the majority of ḥadīth scholars.
(Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb: 198; Fatḥ al-Bārī: 13/523)
Statements of the Scholars
❀ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar (رحمه الله):
Declared the chain weak.
(Fatḥ al-Bārī: 2/224)
❀ ʿAllāmah Anwar Shāh al-Kashmīrī (رحمه الله):
Also graded the chain as weak.
(al-ʿUrf al-Shadhī: 1/68)
❀ Imām al-Nawawī (رحمه الله):
“This ḥadīth is weak, by consensus.”
(Sharḥ al-Nawawī: 4/115)
❀ ʿAllāmah al-Zaylaʿī al-Ḥanafī (رحمه الله):
Quoting from Imām al-Nawawī (رحمه الله):
“It is a ḥadīth agreed upon as weak, because ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq is unanimously weak.”
(Naṣb al-Rāyah: 1/314; Khulāṣat al-Aḥkām by al-Nawawī: 1/255; Sharḥ al-Nawawī: 1/173)
Conclusion:
The narration attributed to Sayyidunā ʿAlī (رضي الله عنه) about placing the hands below the navel in prayer is weak and not reliable. The agreement of the muḥaddithīn is that its narrator, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq, is weak.
