Raf‘ al-Yadayn in Sujood: No Authentic Proof from Hadith

Excerpt Source:
This excerpt is taken from the book Nūr al-ʿAynayn fī Ithbāt Rafʿ al-Yadayn ʿinda al-Rukūʿ wa Baʿdahū fī al-Ṣalāh by Muḥaddith al-ʿAṣr Ḥāfiẓ Zubayr ʿAlī Zaʾī رحمه الله.

The Issue of Raising the Hands (Rafʿ al-Yadayn) During Prostrations​

Some people present narrations about raising the hands during prostrations and attempt to prove that performing rafʿ al-yadayn in sujūd is Sunnah. However, not a single narration among all of these is established according to the principles of ḥadīth.

A brief yet comprehensive review of the marfūʿ narrations related to this issue is as follows:

➊ Ḥadīth of Mālik ibn al-Ḥuwayrith رضي الله عنه​

ابن أبى عدي عن سعيد عن قتادة عن نصر بن عاصم عن مالك بن الحويرث أنه رأى النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم رفع يديه فى صلاته وإذا ركع وإذا رفع رأسه من الركوع وإذا سجد وإذا رفع رأسه من السجود حتى يحاذي بهما فروع أذنيه

Reference: Sunan al-Kubrā li’l-Nasāʾī: 1/228, ḥadīth 672

Reference: Sunan al-Kubrā li’l-Nasāʾī: 1/129, ḥadīth 1086

Reference: Fatḥ al-Bārī (from al-Nasāʾī): 2/223 under ḥadīth 739

A detailed discussion on this ḥadīth has already passed. Briefly stated:
In al-Mujtabā, the wording “Shuʿbah ʿan Qatādah” is a scribal error (taṣḥīf). The correct wording is “Saʿīd ʿan Qatādah”, as found in the original Sunan al-Kubrā. Al-Mujtabā is merely an abridgement of it.

Reference: Ḥāshiyat al-Sindī ʿalā al-Nasāʾī: 3

How can “Saʿīd” correctly turn into “Shuʿbah” during abridgement or selection? Esteemed scholars such as Mawlānā ʿAṭāʾullāh Ḥanīf Bhojiyānī and Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Shākir also declared this a taṣḥīf.

Even Anwar Shāh Kashmīrī and Muḥammad Yūsuf Banūrī (both Deobandī scholars) regarded it as a scribal error.

Moreover, in other places of Sunan al-Mujtabā, scribes mistakenly wrote “Shuʿbah” instead of “Saʿīd”, such as in Kitāb al-Janāʾiz, Bāb 106.

Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥibbān clarified that due to scribal mistakes, Saʿīd sometimes becomes Shuʿbah or Shuʿbah Saʿīd.

Reference: Kitāb al-Majrūḥīn: 1/59

Thus, the narrator here is Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah, whose teacher Qatādah is a well-known mudallis, and he narrates with ʿan. According to the principles of ḥadīth, the narration of a mudallis with ʿan (without explicit hearing) in other than Ṣaḥīḥayn is weak.

Therefore, this chain is weak, and this is the strongest narration used by those who claim rafʿ al-yadayn in sujūd—so the status of the remaining narrations can easily be understood.

➋ Ḥadīth of Wāʾil ibn Ḥujr رضي الله عنه​

وإذا رفع رأسه من السجود، أيضا رفع يديه حتى فرغ من صلاته

Reference: Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 723

Here, “al-sujūd” is a verbal noun that applies to both singular and plural. Based on other evidences, its meaning is:
When the Prophet ﷺ rose after the four prostrations (after tashahhud), he raised his hands—i.e., the rafʿ al-yadayn after two rakʿahs when standing for the third rakʿah.

Thus, deriving rafʿ al-yadayn between prostrations from this ḥadīth is incorrect.

Some narrations of Wāʾil ibn Ḥujr mention the words:

إذا ركع وإذا سجد

Reference: Sunan al-Dāraquṭnī: 1/291, ḥadīth 1108

Its meaning is:
When he intended to go into rukūʿ, he raised his hands, and when he intended to go into sujūd, he raised his hands—both referring to standing positions, not sitting or actual prostration.

This is also the meaning of the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه, reported by Abū Dāwūd and Ibn Khuzaymah.

➌ Ḥadīth of Anas ibn Mālik رضي الله عنه​

حدثنا الثقفي عن حميد عن أنس أن النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم كان يرفع يديه فى الركوع والسجود

Reference: Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: 1/235

Here, Ḥumayd al-Ṭawīl is a mudallis, so the chain is weak.
Moreover, “fī al-rukūʿ” means before rukūʿ, and “fī al-sujūd” means before sujūd—both in qiyām, not in sitting.

Abū Yaʿlā al-Mawṣilī narrates:

رأيت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يرفع يديه إذا افتتح الصلوة وإذا ركع وإذا رفع رأسه من الركوع

Reference: Musnad Abī Yaʿlā: 6/424–425, ḥadīth 1038

This narration explains the previous one, and it is a well-known principle that ḥadīth explains ḥadīth.

➍ Ḥadīth of ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zubayr رضي الله عنه​

و صلى بهم يشير كفيه حين يقوم وحين يركع وحين يسجد وحين ينهض للقيام فيقوم ويشير بيديه

Reference: Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 739

Its chain is weak due to:
✔ the tadlīs of Ibn Lahīʿah, and
✔ the unknown status (jahālah) of Maymūn al-Makkī.

Such a narrator is majhūl al-ʿayn, and his narration is weak.

Even the text does not prove what some people claim. The correct meaning is:

• Raising hands at initial standing,
• at rukūʿ,
• before going to sujūd, and
• when standing after two rakʿahs.

Thus, rafʿ al-yadayn between prostrations is not established from this narration.

➎ Ḥadīth of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما​

فكان إذا سجد السجدة الأولى فرفع رأسه منها رفع يديه تلقاء وجهه

Reference: Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 740

Reference: Sunan al-Nasāʾī (al-Mujtabā): 1147

Its chain is weak due to the weakness of Namir ibn Kathīr.

Reference: Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb: 7147

➏ Narrations with the Phrase “With Every Takbīr”​

Some weak narrations mention:

كان يرفع يديه مع كل تكبيرة

Examples:
◈ From ʿUmayr ibn Qatādah

Reference: Sunan Ibn Mājah: 861

◈ From Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh

Reference: Musnad Aḥmad: 3/310

These chains contain weak and mudallis narrators, such as Rafdah ibn Quḍāʿah and Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāʾah.

Even their meaning is not rafʿ al-yadayn between prostrations, but rather:

ويرفعهما في كل تكبيرة يكبرها قبل الركوع حتى تنقضي صلاته

Reference: Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 722

This is an authentic narration, and it clearly refers to standing positions.

Final Conclusion ✔​

◈ Raising the hands during prostrations is not established from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with any ṣaḥīḥ or ḥasan narration, either explicitly or implicitly.
◈ Whoever claims its establishment is requested to present even a single authentic or ḥasan narration that clearly proves raising the hands to the shoulders or ears during sujūd, after the rafʿ al-yadayn of rukūʿ.

⚠ Tanbīh (Important Notes)​

Tanbīh ①​

Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-Salafī authored a booklet titled “Rafʿ al-Yadayn in Sujūd is Sunnah”, in which weak and rejected narrations were declared ṣaḥīḥ or ḥasan.
إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون

Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Ayyūb Ṣābir refuted it comprehensively in ʿAwn al-Malik al-Maʿbūd fī Taḥqīq Aḥādīth Rafʿ al-Yadayn fī al-Sujūd, published by Maktabah al-Sunnah.

Tanbīh ②​

Abū Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUthmān al-Dājilī authored an Arabic treatise “Faḍl al-Wadūd fī Taḥqīq Rafʿ al-Yadayn li’l-Sujūd”.
The core narrations of that work have already been addressed in this discussion.

وما علينا إلا البلاغ