Raising Hands in Salah: Practice of the Prophet, Abu Bakr, and Ibn Zubayr

Excerpt from the Book of the Contemporary Hadith Scholar
Ḥāfiẓ Zubair ʿAlī Zaʾī رحمه الله
Nūr al-ʿAynayn fī Ithbāt Rafʿ al-Yadayn ʿInd al-Rukūʿ wa Baʿdahu fī al-Ṣalāh

Report of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ رحمه الله​

عن عطاء بن أبى رباح قال صليت خلف عبدالله بن الزبير فكان يرفع يديه إذا افتتح الصلاة وإذا ركع وإذا رفع رأسه من الركوع فسألته فقال عبدالله بن الزبير: صليت خلف أبى بكر الصديق رضى الله عنه فكان يرفع يديه إذا افتتح الصلاة وإذا ركع وإذا رفع رأسه من الركوع وقال أبو بكر: صليت خلف رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فكان يرفع يديه إذا افتتح الصلاة وإذا ركع وإذا رفع رأسه من الركوع.

Translation:

ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ رحمه الله said: I prayed behind ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zubayr رضي الله عنه, and he would raise his hands when beginning the prayer, when going into rukūʿ, and when raising his head from rukūʿ. I asked him about this, so ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zubayr رضي الله عنه said: I prayed behind Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq رضي الله عنه, and he would raise his hands when beginning the prayer, when going into rukūʿ, and when raising his head from rukūʿ. And Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه said: I prayed behind the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he would raise his hands when beginning the prayer, when going into rukūʿ, and when raising his head from rukūʿ.

References:

Reference: al-Sunan al-Kubrā (al-Bayhaqī): 2/73 — “Its narrators are trustworthy”

Reference: al-Muhadhdhab fī Ikhtiṣār al-Sunan al-Kabīr (al-Dhahabī): 2/49, ḥadīth 1943 — “Its narrators are trustworthy”

Reference: Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr (Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī): 1/219, ḥadīth 328 — “Its narrators are trustworthy”

◈ Authentication of the Chain (Sanad Analysis)​

Status of Abū ʿAbdullāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Ṣaffār al-Zāhid​

Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī said regarding him:

الشيخ الإمام المحدث القدوة
“The shaykh, the Imām, the ḥadīth scholar, and a role model.”

Reference: Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ: 15/437

He was declared thiqah by al-Bayhaqī and others. Al-Ḥākim and al-Dhahabī authenticated his narration, declaring it ṣaḥīḥ according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs.

Reference: al-Mustadrak: 1/30, ḥadīth 82

His biography is mentioned in:

Reference: Akhbār Aṣbahān: 2/271

Reference: al-Ansāb: 3/546

Reference: al-Intiẓām: 6/368

Reference: al-ʿIbar: 2/250

He heard al-Musnad al-Kabīr from Imām ʿAbdullāh ibn Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.

Reference: Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ: 15/437

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Ṣaffār heard ḥadīth from Abū Ismāʿīl al-Sulamī.

Reference: al-Mustadrak: 1/117, ḥadīth 403

He was not a mudallis, therefore his ʿanʿanah is understood as connected.

Reference: Ḥāshiyat Jalāʾ al-ʿAynayn, Takhrīj Riwayāt Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn: p. 8 — Fayḍ al-Raḥmān al-Shūrā

Status of Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl Abū Ismāʿīl al-Sulamī​

He was thiqah.

Reference: Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ: 13/242

He was declared trustworthy by al-Nasāʾī, al-Dāraquṭnī, al-Ḥākim, Abū Bakr al-Khallāl, Ibn Ḥibbān, and others.

Reference: Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb: 9/53–54

The statement of Ibn Abī Ḥātim, “They spoke about him,” is rejected for the following reasons:

● It contradicts the majority who declared him trustworthy.
● It is non-explanatory criticism (jarḥ ghayr mufassar).
● The critic is unknown.

Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī said:

ثقة حافظ لم يتضح كلام ابن أبى حاتم فيه
“He is a trustworthy ḥāfiẓ, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim’s statement regarding him is unclear.”

Reference: Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb: 5738

Status of Abū al-Nuʿmān Muḥammad ibn al-Faḍl ʿĀrim​

He is a principal narrator of the Kutub al-Sittah. Abū Ḥātim and others declared him thiqah.

Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī said:

الحافظ الثبت الإمام
“The ḥāfiẓ, the firmly reliable one, the Imām.”

Reference: Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ: 10/265

It is established that he experienced change in the latter part of his life.

Reference: Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb: 6236

Reference: Hady al-Sārī: p. 441

Reference: al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl: 8/59

Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī decisively clarified:

تغير قبل موته فما حدث
“He experienced change before his death, but he did not narrate any ḥadīth during that state.”

Reference: al-Kāshif: 3/79, no. 1597

Furthermore, the narrator Abū Ismāʿīl al-Sulamī prayed behind him. One whose intellect has completely vanished is not prayed behind except by one whose intellect has also vanished. Hence, this narration is from before the period of confusion and is completely authentic.

✔ Therefore, this report is ṣaḥīḥ without doubt. والله أعلم