Raf' al-Yadayn Proven from the Practice of the Companions

This excerpt is taken from the book Nūr al-ʿAynayn fī Ithbāt Rafʿ al-Yadayn ʿInd al-Rukūʿ wa Baʿdahū fī al-Ṣalāh by the Muḥaddith of the era, Ḥāfiẓ Zubair ʿAlī Zaʾī رحمه الله.

Athār of the Companions رضي الله عنهم أجمعين​

It is established with Ṣaḥīḥ and Ḥasan chains that the following Companions رضي الله عنهم أجمعين used to raise their hands before rukūʿ and after rukūʿ.

① ʿAbdullāh bin ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما​

Rafʿ al-Yadayn from Sayyidunā Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما has been narrated by the following Tābiʿīn:

◈ Nāfiʿ —

Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 739

◈ Muḥārib bin Dithār —

Reference: Juzʾ al-Bukhārī: 48; Musnad Abī Yaʿlā 2/246 (Isnād Ḥasan)

◈ Ṭāwūs —

Reference: Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn: 28

◈ Sālim —

Reference: Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn by al-Bukhārī: 77 (Ṣaḥīḥ)

◈ Abū al-Zubayr —

Reference: Masāʾil al-Imām Aḥmad, riwāyah ʿAbdullāh bin Aḥmad 1/244 (Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ)

Rather, Imām Nāfiʿ رحمه الله (a Tābiʿī) states:

أن ابن عمر رضي الله عنهما كان إذا رأى رجلا لا يرفع يديه إذا ركع وإذا رفع رماه بالحصى

“Whenever Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما saw a man who did not raise his hands before rukūʿ and after it, he would throw pebbles at him.”

Reference: Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn by al-Bukhārī: 15 (Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ)

Imām al-Nawawī said: “Bi-isnādihī al-ṣaḥīḥ ʿan Nāfiʿ”, meaning its chain is authentic.

Reference: al-Majmūʿ Sharḥ al-Muhadhdhab 3/405

Ibn al-Mulaqqin said: “Bi-isnād ṣaḥīḥ ʿan Nāfiʿ.”

Reference: al-Badr al-Munīr 3/478

② Mālik bin al-Ḥuwayrith رضي الله عنه

Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 737; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 391

③ Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī رضي الله عنه​

Reference: Sunan al-Dāraquṭnī 1/292 (Ḥadīth 1111, Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ); Masāʾil Aḥmad riwāyah Ṣāliḥ p.74; al-Awsaṭ by Ibn al-Mundhir 3/138 (Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ)

④ ʿAbdullāh bin al-Zubayr رضي الله عنهما​

Reference: al-Sunan al-Kubrā by al-Bayhaqī 2/73 (Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ)

⑤ Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq رضي الله عنه​

Reference: al-Sunan al-Kubrā by al-Bayhaqī 2/73 (Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ)

⑥ Anas bin Mālik رضي الله عنه​

Imām al-Bukhārī said in Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn:

قال البخاري: حدثنا مسدد، ثنا عبدالواحد بن زياد، عن عاصم الأحول قال: رأيت أنس بن مالك رضي الله عنه إذا افتتح الصلاة كبر ورفع يديه ويرفع كلما ركع ورفع رأسه من الركوع

“I saw Anas bin Mālik رضي الله عنه: when he began the prayer he said takbīr and raised his hands, and he raised them whenever he bowed and whenever he raised his head from rukūʿ.”

Reference: Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn: 20, 65 (Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ)

⑦ Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه​

Imām al-Bukhārī said in Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn:

حدثنا سليمان بن حرب، ثنا يزيد بن إبراهيم، عن قيس بن سعد، عن عطاء قال: صليت مع أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه فكان يرفع يديه إذا كبر وإذا ركع وإذا رفع

“I prayed with Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه, and he used to raise his hands at the opening takbīr, when going into rukūʿ, and when rising from rukūʿ.”

Reference: Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn: 32 (Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ)

⑧ ʿAbdullāh bin ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما​

He used to raise his hands before rukūʿ and after rukūʿ.

Reference: Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah 1/335, Ḥadīth 2431 (Isnād Ḥasan)

All narrators are narrators of Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim and are trustworthy and truthful.

Abū Ḥamzah ʿImrān bin Abī ʿAṭāʾ al-Asadī was declared trustworthy by:
① Aḥmad bin Ḥanbal
② Ibn Maʿīn
③ Ibn Numayr
④ Ibn Ḥibbān
⑤ Muslim (by including his ḥadīth)
⑥ al-Dhahabī in Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ (5/387)

And declared weak by:
① Abū Zurʿah
② Abū Ḥātim
③ al-Nasāʾī
④ Abū Dāwūd
(Summarized from al-Tahdhīb)

Thus, according to the preferred opinion, Abū Ḥamzah is trustworthy and truthful.

⚠ Warning: The so-called Tafsīr Ibn ʿAbbās attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما is entirely fabricated and false. Its main narrators — Muḥammad bin Marwān al-Suddī, al-Kalbī, and Abū Ṣāliḥ — are all liars. Therefore, using this fabricated tafsīr as evidence is impermissible. Moreover, even in this tafsīr there is no explicit statement against Rafʿ al-Yadayn.

Rafʿ al-Yadayn of All the Companions​

Imām al-Bayhaqī said:

…عن سعيد بن جبير أنه سئل عن رفع اليدين في الصلاة فقال: هو شيء يزين به الرجل صلاته وكان أصحاب رسول الله ﷺ يرفعون أيديهم في الافتتاح وعند الركوع وإذا رفعوا رؤوسهم

Saʿīd bin Jubayr رحمه الله was asked about Rafʿ al-Yadayn in prayer. He said:
“It is something by which a man adorns his prayer, and the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to raise their hands at the start of the prayer, at rukūʿ, and when raising their heads from rukūʿ.”

Reference: al-Sunan al-Kubrā by al-Bayhaqī 2/75 (Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ)

◈ Verification of the Chain​

This chain is completely authentic. The narrators are:

① Imām Muḥammad bin ʿAbdullāh al-Ḥākim — a well-known Imām, truthful, author of al-Mustadrak.
② Muḥammad bin Ṣāliḥ bin Hānī — trustworthy.
③ Yaʿqūb bin Yūsuf al-Akhram — trustworthy; Imām al-Dhahabī praised him.
④ al-Ḥasan bin ʿĪsā — trustworthy.
⑤ Ibn al-Mubārak — trustworthy, firm, jurist, scholar, generous, mujāhid.
⑥ ʿAbdul-Malik bin Abī Sulaymān — well-known trustworthy narrator.
⑦ Saʿīd bin Jubayr — trustworthy, firm, jurist Tābiʿī.

Summary​

In summary, this narration is authentic without any doubt, and it clearly proves that:

➊ Rafʿ al-Yadayn is the adornment of prayer.
➋ The Companions used to perform Rafʿ al-Yadayn.

Saʿīd bin Jubayr رحمه الله was a famous and eminent Tābiʿī who was martyred due to his truthfulness. His testimony proves that all the Companions رضي الله عنهم raised their hands before and after rukūʿ, without making any exception. Thus, consensus of the Companions on Rafʿ al-Yadayn is established.

Reference: Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn: 29 (Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ)

As for the one who stubbornly insists, “I do not accept it,” then what cure is there for him?

Reports of Those Who Left or Prohibited Rafʿ al-Yadayn​

It has already been established in previous pages that all the Companions practiced Rafʿ al-Yadayn. Ḥujjat al-Islām, Imām of jurists and muḥaddithīn, Muḥammad bin Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī رحمه الله said:

“There is not even a single Companion from whom abandoning Rafʿ al-Yadayn is proven.”

Reference: Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn: 176, 40; al-Majmūʿ Sharḥ al-Muhadhdhab 3/405

The reports presented by the deniers of Rafʿ al-Yadayn will be critically reviewed separately in the following articles:

① Abandoning Rafʿ al-Yadayn and Sayyidunā ʿUmar رضي الله عنه
② Abandoning Rafʿ al-Yadayn and Sayyidunā ʿAlī رضي الله عنه
③ Abandoning Rafʿ al-Yadayn and Sayyidunā ʿAbdullāh bin Masʿūd رضي الله عنه
④ Abandoning Rafʿ al-Yadayn and Sayyidunā Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما