Refutation of Objections Against Raf' al-Yadayn in Salah

❀ Source Note ❀
This excerpt is taken from the book Nūr al-ʿAynayn fī Ithbāt Rafʿ al-Yadayn ʿinda al-Rukūʿ wa Baʿdah fī al-Ṣalāh by Muḥaddith al-ʿAṣr Ḥāfiẓ Zubair ʿAlī Zaʾī رحمه الله.

Objections Raised by Those Who Abandon Raf‘ al-Yadayn​

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① First Doubt: The Ḥadīth of Sayyidunā Jābir bin Samurah رضي الله عنه​

Some people present the ḥadīth of Sayyidunā Jābir bin Samurah رضي الله عنه against Rafʿ al-Yadayn:

خرج علينا رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال: مالي أراكم رافعي أيديكم كأنها أذناب خيل شمس، اسكنوا فى الصلاة

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came out to us and said: “Why do I see you raising your hands as if they are the tails of wild horses? Be calm in prayer.”

Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, vol. 1, p. 181, ḥadīth: 430

✔ Answer ①​

Just as the Qur’an explains itself, likewise one ḥadīth explains another ḥadīth. Sayyidunā Jābir bin Samurah رضي الله عنه said:

(We used to pray with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and) while saying “al-salāmu ʿalaykum wa raḥmatullāh” (at the end of the prayer), we also used to gesture with the hand. Seeing this, he ﷺ said: “What is the matter with you? You gesture with your hands as if they are the tails of wild horses. When one of you says salām (at the end of prayer), then turning his face towards his brother, he should say only with the tongue: al-salāmu ʿalaykum wa raḥmatullāh, and he should not gesture with the hand.”

Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, vol. 1, p. 181, ḥadīth: 430 (Dār al-Qayyim / Dār al-Salām: 971)

In the second narration of Sayyidunā Jābir bin Samurah رضي الله عنه it states that when we prayed with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, we used to say al-salāmu ʿalaykum wa raḥmatullāh to the right and left (at the end of prayer) and would also gesture with the hands. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “You gesture with your hands as if the tails of wild horses are moving. It is sufficient for you that while sitting you place your hands on your thighs, then turn your face right and left and say: al-salāmu ʿalaykum wa raḥmatullāh.”

Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, ḥadīth: 430 (Dār al-Qayyim / Dār al-Salām: 970)

The phrase أذناب خيل شمس (“tails of wild horses”) exists in all three narrations, which is a clear proof that it is one single incident. Therefore, using this ḥadīth as evidence (against Rafʿ al-Yadayn at rukūʿ) is totally rejected.

✔ Answer ②​

All the ḥadīth scholars are unanimously agreed that this ḥadīth is related to tashahhud/salām, not to Rafʿ al-Yadayn ʿinda al-rukūʿ wa al-rafʿ minhu. In the best generations, no one ever used this ḥadīth to argue for the prohibition of Rafʿ al-Yadayn (in the rukūʿ issue).

For example, the following scholars placed this ḥadīth under chapters of salām:

① ʿAllāmah al-Nawawī
“باب الأمر بالسكون في الصلاة والنهي عن الإشارة باليد ورفعها عند السلام”

Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim maʿ Sharḥ al-Nawawī, vol. 4, p. 152

② Abū Dāwūd
“باب في السلام”

Reference: Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 998, 999

③ al-Shāfiʿī
“باب السلام في الصلاة”

Reference: Kitāb al-Umm, vol. 1, p. 122

④ al-Nasāʾī
“باب السلام بالأيدي في الصلاة وباب موضع اليدين عند السلام”

Reference: al-Mujtabā: before 1185; al-Kubrā: before 1107; al-Mujtabā: 1327; al-Kubrā: before 1249

⑤ Ṭaḥāwī
“باب السلام في الصلاة كيف هو؟”

Reference: Sharḥ Maʿānī al-Āthār, vol. 1, pp. 268–269

⑥ Bayhaqī
“باب كراهة الإيماء باليد عند التسليم من الصلاة”

Reference: al-Sunan al-Kubrā, vol. 2, p. 181

No ḥadīth scholar made a chapter from it about prohibiting Rafʿ al-Yadayn at rukūʿ and rising from it. From this unanimous chapter-placement, it is known that this ḥadīth is only related to the Rafʿ al-Yadayn of tashahhud/salām, and it has no connection with raising the hands before and after rukūʿ.

Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar said: Deriving evidence from (the first ḥadīth of Sayyidunā Jābir bin Samurah رضي الله عنه) for prohibiting Rafʿ al-Yadayn at rukūʿ is not correct, because the first narration is a summarized form of the second detailed narration.

Reference: Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr, vol. 1, p. 221

Imām al-Bukhārī said: This matter is well-known, and there is no difference that this ḥadīth is related to tashahhud.

Reference: Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr, vol. 1, p. 221; Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn: 37

A similar statement was also made by Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥibbān.

Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān, vol. 3, p. 178, ḥadīth: 1877

al-Nawawī (the commentator of Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim) said: The one who uses this ḥadīth to argue that one should not raise the hands while going to rukūʿ and while rising from it has committed ugly ignorance, and the reality is that Rafʿ al-Yadayn at rukūʿ is authentic and established, and it cannot be rejected. So the prohibition is carried upon its specific context so that harmony is achieved and the supposed contradiction is removed.

Reference: al-Majmūʿ Sharḥ al-Muhadhdhab, vol. 3, p. 403; Ḥāshiyat al-Sindī ʿalā al-Nasāʾī, p. 176

Ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Mulaqqin رحمه الله (d. 804 AH) said:

من أقبح الجهالات لسنة سيدنا رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم لأنه لم يرد فى رفع الأيدي فى الركوع والرفع منه وإنما كانوا يرفعون أيديهم فى حالة السلام من الصلاة … وهذا لا اختلاف فيه بين أهل الحديث ومن له أدنى اختلاط بأهله

“It is among the worst forms of ignorance regarding the Sunnah of our Messenger ﷺ, because this ḥadīth was not narrated about raising the hands at rukūʿ and rising from it. Rather, they used to raise their hands during the salām of prayer… and there is no difference about this among the people of ḥadīth, and anyone who has even the slightest connection with them acknowledges it.”

Reference: al-Badr al-Munīr, vol. 3, p. 485

✔ Answer ③​

If this ḥadīth is evidence for prohibiting Rafʿ al-Yadayn, then why do those who abandon Rafʿ al-Yadayn still raise their hands at the following places?

① Takbīr Taḥrīmah
② Witr
③ ʿEidayn

If raising the hands at rukūʿ is prohibited by this ḥadīth, then raising the hands at these three places should be even more prohibited.

Whatever answer they give, that same is our answer. If they specify those by other aḥādīth, then the Rafʿ al-Yadayn at rukūʿ is also specified by other aḥādīth.

✔ Answer ④​

In the ḥadīth presented by them, there is no explicit mention or clear statement about Rafʿ al-Yadayn at rukūʿ. While in the narrations presented by those who permit it, there is explicit mention and clarity regarding Rafʿ al-Yadayn at rukūʿ. Therefore, the explained (mufassar) will be given precedence over the general (mujmal).

Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar wrote:

وهذا المفسر مقدم على المبهم

“And this explained (report) is given precedence over the ambiguous one.”

Reference: Fatḥ al-Bārī, vol. 10, p. 283 under ḥadīth: 5827; also see vol. 1, p. 347

✔ Answer ⑤​

If the wording of this ḥadīth is applied to Rafʿ al-Yadayn, it would imply that raising the hands is a blameworthy act. But Rafʿ al-Yadayn at rukūʿ is established from the Prophet ﷺ with authentic, mutawātir chains—and the Prophet ﷺ does not commit a blameworthy act. Thus, it is proven that this ḥadīth has no connection with Rafʿ al-Yadayn at rukūʿ; otherwise, (نعوذ بالله) one would have to accept the Prophet’s ﷺ action as blameworthy—something from which we seek refuge even at the level of thought.

⚠ Summary​

Some people tried to respond to the first answer by claiming: “This ḥadīth contains multiple incidents.” Their claim is false.

Ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-Mannān Nūrpūrī wrote in his unpublished letter addressed to ʿAbd al-Rashīd Kashmīrī (Deobandī):

“In the narration of Jābir bin Samurah, there is absolutely no mention of prohibiting Rafʿ al-Yadayn at rukūʿ. Even if two incidents are assumed, because in one incident the intended meaning is not the Rafʿ al-Yadayn at salām, it does not become necessary that the intended meaning must be Rafʿ al-Yadayn at rukūʿ. Therefore, making this narration a proof for prohibiting Rafʿ al-Yadayn at rukūʿ is merely arbitrariness and sheer stubbornness. Also review this research article related to this subject.”