By Abu Khadeejah.
Here, I present another reminder to the people of Sunnah to avoid blindly following opinions—and to adhere instead to the Ahādeeth of Allah’s Messenger (salallāhu ʿalaihi wasallam), because that is the Madhhab of Ahlul-Sunnah wal-Hadeeth and their Imāms.
The Authentic Narrations
The Imām, Muhaddith, and Faqeeh, Muhammad Nāsir ad-Deen al-Albānī (rahimahullāh) penned a chapter in his book, Sifatus-Salāh an-Nabī (salallāhu ʿalaihi wasallam) entitled: “Placing the Hands on the Chest.” Then he brought forth the following narrations:
1. Wā’il Ibn Hujr (Allah be pleased with him) narrated:
كان صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يضع اليمنى على ظهر كفه اليسرى والرسغ والساعد
“Allah’s Messenger (salallāhu ʿalaihi wasallam) would place his right arm over the back of his left hand, wrist and forearm,”1
وأمر بذلك أصحابه
“And, he commanded his Companions with that,”2
كان – أحياناً – يقبض باليمنى على اليسرى
“And sometimes, he would clasp the left arm with the right [hand].”3 This proves that clasping is from the Sunnah—and from the previous hadeeth that placing the right arm over the back of his left hand, wrist, and forearm is also from the Sunnah.
كان يضعهما على الصدر
And, “He would place them on the chest.”6
As for what the Hanafees do: to put the right hand over the back of the left hand, and then encircling the wrist with the little finger and thumb, and then laying the three remaining fingers flat over the wrist—as described by Ibn ʿAbideen (al-Hanafi) in his Hāshiyah ʿalad-Durr al-Mukhtār (1/454)—then that is a bidʿah [devoid of evidence]. So do not be deceived by some of the latecomers concerning this.
An important note: Placing the hands on the chest has been established in the Sunnah. Whatever opposes that is either weak (daʿeef) or has no basis in the Sunnah. Al-Imām Ishāq Ibn Rāhawaih (died 238 AH)acted upon this Sunnah. Imām al-Marwazi stated in al-Masā’il (p. 222): “Ishāq used to lead us in Witr prayer [in Ramadān], and he would raise his hands in Qunoot, and would read the Qunoot before the Rukooʾ—and he would place his hands on his breast, or just below his breast.”
Furthermore, there is the report of ʿAbdullāh Ibn Imām Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, who said: “I saw my father that when he prayed, he would place one of his hands over the other, above his naval.”5
Similarly, there is the saying of Qādi ʿIyād al-Māliki under the heading Mustahabbāt as-Salāh (the recommended actions of the Prayer) from his book Al-Iʿlām6, “The right is to be placed on the back of the left on the upper part of the chest.”
Hadeeth of the Hands Below the Navel in Prayer
The hadeeth reported by Abu Dawood (no. 756) who said:
حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ مَحْبُوبٍ، حَدَّثَنَا حَفْصُ بْنُ غِيَاثٍ، عَنْ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ إِسْحَاقَ، عَنْ زِيَادِ بْنِ زَيْدٍ، عَنْ أَبِي جُحَيْفَةَ، أَنَّ عَلِيًّا رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ، قَالَ: مِنَ السُّنَّةِ وَضْعُ الْكَفِّ عَلَى الْكَفِّ فِي الصَّلَاةِ تَحْتَ السُّرَّةِ
Muhammad Ibn Mahboob narrated to us, saying: Hafs Ibn Ghiyāth narrated to us from ʿAbdur-Rahmān Ibn Ishāq, from Ziyād Ibn Zayd, from Abu Juhayfah that ʿAli [Ibn Abi Tālib], may Allah be pleased with him, said:
“From the place one hand over the other in the Prayer, below the navel.”
Al-Imām, Al-Muhaddith, Shaikh Al-Albāni stated in al-Irwā al-Ghaleel (no. 353): “This narration is weak (daʿeef).
It was narrated by Ahmad in al-Masāʾil (folio 62/2) of his son ʿAbdullāh, and likewise in az-Zawāʾid to the Musnad of Ahmad (1/110), Abū Dāwūd (no. 756), al-Dāraqutnī (no. 107), al-Bayhaqī (2/310), Ibn Abī Shaybah (1/156/1), from ʿAbdur-Rahmān ibn Ishāq, from Ziyād ibn Zayd al-Sawāʾī, from Abū Juhayfah, from ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) — with the same hadeeth.
I (al-Albāni) say: This chain of narration is weak, its defect being ʿAbdur-Rahmān ibn Ishāq, who is al-Wāsitī, and he is weak, as will be made clear. Moreover, there is inconsistency in his narration: at one time he narrated it as above — from Ziyād, from Abu Juhayfah, from ʿAlī — and at another time he said: from an-Nuʿmān ibn Saʿd, from ʿAlī (radiyallāhu ʿanhu); reported by ad-Dāraqutnī and al-Bayhaqī.
And at another time, ʿAbdur-Rahmān ibn Ishāq said [that he took the narration] “from Siyyār Abul-Hakam, from Abu Wāʾil, who said: Abu Hurayrah said…” Reported by Abu Dāwood (no. 758) and by al-Dāraqutnī.
And Abu Dāwood himself said: “I heard Ahmad ibn Hanbal declare ʿAbdur-Rahmān ibn Ishāq al-Kufī weak.” I say: for this reason, Imām Ahmad did not act upon this hadīth. His son ʿAbdullāh said:
رأيت أبى إذا صلى وضع يديه إحداهما على الأخرى فوق السرة
“I saw my father, when he prayed, placing one of his hands over the other above the navel.”
And an-Nawawī said in al-Majmooʾ (3/313), and in his Sharh Saheeh Muslim, and elsewhere: “They (the scholars of hadeeth) are unanimous that this hadīth is weak, because it is narrated by ʿAbdur-Rahmān ibn Ishāq al-Wāsitī, who is weak by the agreement of the imāms of al-jarh wat-taʿdeel (criticism and praise of narrators).”
And az-Zaylaʿī said (1/314): “Al-Bayhaqī said in al-Maʿrifah: Its chain is not established—it was uniquely narrated by ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn Ishāq al-Wāsitī, and he is abandoned (matrook).” And al-Hāfidh Ibn Hajar said in Fath al-Bārī (2/186): “It is a weak hadīth.”
I say: among the evidences of its weakness is that it has been narrated from ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) with a contrary wording, through a better chain of narration, which is the hadīth of Ibn Jarīr ad-Dabbī, from his father, who said:
رأيت عليا رضى الله عنه يمسك شماله بيمينه على الرسغ فوق السرة
“I saw ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) holding his left hand with his right on the wrist, above the navel.”
This chain of narration is acceptable for grading as hasan (good), and al-Bayhaqī (2/130) explicitly stated that it is hasan. And al-Bukhārī cited it in muʿallaq (suspended) form, summarised and with certainty, in Sahīh al-Bukhārī (1/301).
That which has been authentically reported from the Messenger of Allah (sallāhu ʿalaihi wasallam) is numerous regarding the place where the hands are to be placed (in prayer)—that it is the chest—which I have cited in Takhrīj Sifatis-Salāh. Among them are:
Tāwus (rahimahullāh), who said:
كان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يضع يده اليمنى على يده اليسرى , ثم يشد بينهما على صدره , وهو فى الصلاة
“The Messenger of Allah (sallāhu ʿalaihi wasallam) used to place his right hand over his left hand, then clasp them tightly together upon his chest while in prayer.”
Reported by Abū Dāwūd (no. 759) with a sound chain of transmission from him. And although it is mursal (a narration in which a Tābiʿee reports directly from the Prophet without mentioning a Companion), it is nevertheless a proof (Hujjah) according to all the scholars, despite their differing views regarding mursal reports, because its chain to the transmitter (Tāwus) is saheeh. Moreover, it has been transmitted as a connected (mawsool) narration through several routes, as we have indicated earlier, and therefore, it is a valid proof according to all. The person most aligned with this authentic Sunnah was Imām Ishāq ibn Rāhwayh. Al-Marwazī mentioned in al-Masāʾil (p. 222):
كان إسحاق يوترُ بنا … ويرفع يديه فى القنوت ويقنت قبل الركوع , ويضع يديه على ثدييه , أو تحت الثديين
“Ishāq used to lead us in Witr prayer [in Ramadān], and he would raise his hands in Qunoot, and would read the Qunoot before the Rukooʾ—and he would place his hands on his breast, or just below his breast.”
Conclusion
The Sunnah is to place the hands above the navel in the prayer, for both men and women. There is no room for blindly following a Madhhab in this regard, nor the weak interpretations that are made by some among the muqallids to excuse themselves from acting upon the authentic ahādeeth while calling the people to follow what is weak from the narrations, seeking in that regard to perpetuate blind taqleed of the Madhhabs, which the Imāms themselves would warn against.
References and footnotes:
- Abu Dawood, an-Nasā’ī, Ibn Khuzaymah (1/54/2), with a saheeh chain of narration—and it was authenticated by Ibn Hibbān (485). ↩︎
- Mālik, al-Bukhāri and Abu ʿAwānah. ↩︎
- An-Nasā’ī and ad-Dāraqutni with a saheeh chain of narration. ↩︎
- Abu Dawood and Ibn Khuzaymah in his Saheeh (1/54/2), Ahmad in al-Musnad, Abush-Shaikh in Tāreekh Asbahān (p. 125), At-Tirmidhi graded as hasan one of its chains of narration. Mālik reported it in al-Muwatta, with the same meaning, al-Bukhāri in his Saheeh when considered carefully. And Shaikh al-Albāni explained in detail the chains of transmission of this hadeeth in Ahkām al-Janā’iz (118). ↩︎
- See Irwā’ al-Ghaleel (p. 353). ↩︎
- Page 15, third edition, published in Rabāt, Morocco. ↩︎
