Mutawatir Proof of Raf al-Yadayn Before and After Ruku

This excerpt is taken from the book Nūr al-ʿAynayn fī Ithbāt Rafʿ al-Yadayn ʿinda al-Rukūʿ wa Baʿdahu fī al-Ṣalāh, authored by the contemporary ḥadīth scholar Ḥāfiẓ Zubayr ʿAlī Zāʾī رحمه الله.

Proof of Raising the Hands Before and After Rukūʿ​

Ḥadīth No. ①​

It is narrated from Sayyidunā ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما:

رأيت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم إذا قام فى الصلاة رفع يديه حتى تكونا حذو منكبيه وكان يفعل ذلك حين يكبر للركوع ويفعل ذلك إذا رفع رأسه من الركوع، ويقول: سمع الله لمن حمده ولا يفعل ذلك فى السجود

Translation:
“I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: when he stood in prayer, he raised his hands until they were level with his shoulders; he would do this when saying the takbīr for rukūʿ, and he would do this when raising his head from rukūʿ, saying Samiʿa Allāhu liman ḥamidah; and he did not do this in the prostrations.”

Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 736 (1/102); Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 390 (1/168)

One of the narrators of this ḥadīth, Imām ʿAlī ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Madīnī رحمه الله (d. 234 AH), said:

Translation:
“It is obligatory (a right) upon the Muslims, due to this ḥadīth, that they perform Rafʿ al-Yadayn in their prayers.”

Reference: al-Bukhārī (Darsī edition) 1/102, margin

The narrator of this ḥadīth, Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما, himself continued performing Rafʿ al-Yadayn before and after rukūʿ.

Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 397; Sharḥ al-Sunnah lil-Baghawī 3/21 (He said: “This is a ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth”)

Rather, if Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما saw someone not performing the mentioned Rafʿ al-Yadayn, he would throw small pebbles at him.

Reference: Juz’ Rafʿ al-Yadayn (al-Bukhārī): 53/15 – declared ṣaḥīḥ by Imām al-Nawawī in al-Majmūʿ Sharḥ al-Muhadhdhab 3/405

Ḥadīth No. ②​

Mālik ibn al-Ḥuwayrith رضي الله عنه also narrated Rafʿ al-Yadayn before and after rukūʿ from the Prophet ﷺ.

Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 737 (1/102); Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 391 (1/168)

After the death of the Prophet ﷺ, Mālik ibn al-Ḥuwayrith رضي الله عنه himself continued to practice this.

Reference: Same references

Ḥadīth No. ③​

Wā’il ibn Ḥujr رضي الله عنه, who accepted Islam in 9 AH,

Reference: ʿUmdat al-Qārī by al-ʿAynī 5/274

also narrated Rafʿ al-Yadayn before and after rukūʿ from the Prophet ﷺ.

Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 401 (1/173)

Ḥadīth No. ④​

Abū Ḥumayd al-Sāʿidī رضي الله عنه, along with ten Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, narrated this practice.

Reference: Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī: 304 (1/68) – “Ḥasan Ṣaḥīḥ”; Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Khuzaymah 1/297 (ḥadīth: 587); Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān 3/171 (ḥadīth: 1864); Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn al-Jārūd: 192; authenticated by al-Bukhārī, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim and others

Ḥadīth No. ⑤​

Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه

Reference: Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 738 (1/108); Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Khuzaymah: 694–695; authenticated by Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar

Ḥadīth No. ⑥​

Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq رضي الله عنه

Reference: al-Sunan al-Kubrā lil-Bayhaqī 2/73 – “Its narrators are trustworthy”; approved by al-Dhahabī and Ibn Ḥajar; chain ṣaḥīḥ

Ḥadīth No. ⑦​

ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zubayr رضي الله عنهما

Reference: Also narrated – same ruling

Ḥadīth No. ⑧​

ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه

Reference: Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī: 3423 (2/180) – “Ḥasan Ṣaḥīḥ”; Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Khuzaymah 1/294, 296 (ḥadīth: 584); Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān as cited in ʿUmdat al-Qārī 5/277; authenticated by Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Ibn Taymiyyah, and others

Ḥadīth No. ⑨​

Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī رضي الله عنه

Reference: Sunan al-Dāraquṭnī 1/292 (ḥadīth: 1111); its narrators are trustworthy as in al-Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr 1/219 (ḥadīth: 328); chain ṣaḥīḥ

Ḥadīth No. ⑩​

Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh رضي الله عنه

Reference: Sunan Ibn Mājah: 868 (p. 62); explicit hearing of Abū al-Zubayr confirmed in Musnad al-Sirāj (manuscript p. 25; printed ḥadīth: 92); chain ḥasan

In addition to these, many other Companions—such as ʿUmar رضي الله عنه, Anas رضي الله عنه, and others—also narrated Rafʿ al-Yadayn.

Rafʿ al-Yadayn as a Mutawātir Sunnah​

Ashraf ʿAlī Thānvī al-Deobandī said:

والحديث إذا روى من عشرة فهو متواتر على القول المختار

Translation:
“When a ḥadīth is narrated by ten Companions, it is mutawātir according to the preferred view.”

Reference: Bawādir al-Nawādir: 136; Tadrīb al-Rāwī 2/177

In Tadrīb al-Rāwī it is also stated:

وقال الأصطخري: أقله عشرة وهو المختار، لأنه أول جموع الكثرة

Translation:
“Al-Aṣṭakhrī said: its minimum (number) is ten, and this is the preferred view, because this is the first level of large multiplicity.”

Thus, it is firmly established that the aḥādīth proving Rafʿ al-Yadayn are mutawātir. For this reason, numerous scholars have explicitly declared Rafʿ al-Yadayn to be mutawātir, such as al-Suyūṭī, al-Kattānī, Ibn al-Jawzī, Ibn Ḥajar, al-Zabīdī, and others رحمهم الله.

✔ Conclusion:
Rafʿ al-Yadayn before and after rukūʿ is established through mutawātir aḥādīth from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, narrated by numerous Companions, continuously practiced by them, and affirmed by the leading scholars of the Ummah.