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“Raf’ul’yadain” simply means to raise the hands during prayer.
When people begin their Salaah, they raise their hands to signify
that they have left all things and submitted themselves towards Allah
alone. This also signifies the individuals’ testimony of Allah’s Unity.
The Hanafis, [as members of the Ahl as Sunna wa’al Jamma] believe
that this act (raising hands to the level of the ears) should only
be undertaken at the start of the prayer and not during it.
There are those who hold the
opinion that the Raf’ul-yadain should also be done before and after the
ruku’, they hold their position because of the following
reasons:
1)
The Prophet
[May Allah bless Him and grant Him peace] used to do
this.
1)
This was the
practice of the Khulafa:-
Rashidun and the ‘Ashar-ul-mubasharah [The ten
companions of the Prophet (May Allah bless him and grant him peace) who
were given news of Jannah on this earth during their lives]. Altogether,
there are proofs from twenty companions.
3)
The narrations
of raf’ul-yadain are mutawaatir [Hadith which has been narrated by many
authentic narrators during the period of the companions,
their students, and
the students of the Tabi’een]
4)
Raf’ul-yadain is a pillar of Salaah and leaving it makes the Salaah
invalid.
However, the position of the
Hanafi madhab is that towards the end of our beloved Prophet’s [May Allah
bless Him and grant Him peace] life the practice of raf’ ul yadain had
been abrogated, and that the Messenger of Allah [May Allah bless Him and
grant Him peace], during his last prayers on this earthly life only
performed raf’ ul yadain at the beginning of his Salaah. However, there were still some
Sahaba who unknowingly continued the practice of raf’ ul yadain, without
realizing that it had indeed been abrogated and obsolete. It was for this reason that at
times, those who knew of its abrogation, began to ask to those who
continued its practice for their reason for doing
so.
Regarding the claim that twenty
companions, including Ashar-ul-mubasharah and the khulafaa-ur-Rashideen
performed raf’ul-yadain - This incidentally, proves that the majority of
the companions didn’t practice raf’ul-yadain. Secondly, if this claim is
true then why isn’t this recorded in Bukhari and Muslim, or in any other
famous book of sunah? If the support for twenty companions practicing
raf’ul-yadain is not found in any Ahadith boo then, how can this claim be
true?
The claim that the Hadith
regarding raf’ul-yadain is mutawatir is also not true. This is because
Imam Muslim and Imam Bukhari have only narrated the action of raf’ul
yadain from two companions – Abdullah bin Umar (Radiall hu anhu), and
Malik bin Huwairis. Imam Zuhri narrated the Hadith from Saalim and Saalim
narrated from Abdullah bin Umar. Abu Qalaabah and Nasr narrated from Malik
bin Huwairis, and from them, Khalid and Qatadah narrated.
In anyone of these chains there
is only one narrator at a time, in the other there were two at a time. How
can this be called mutawatir? The above narrators’ position and the
narrations which go against the above narrations will be discussed later,
Insha’Allah.
Regarding the claim that
omitting raf’ul-yadain invalidates Salaah, nobody from among the
companions or even the Prophet [May Allah bless Him and grant Him peace]
himself said that omitting raf’ul-yadain invalidates Salaah. The evidence
for raf’ul-yadain being a pillar of Salaah is not even found in the books,
which contain collections of fabricated Hadith. It is another matter if
someone decides to introduce fabricated
Hadith!
Analysis of those narrations which prove raf’ul- yadain
Ibn
Jurayj narrated from Zuhri who narrated from Saalim who narrated from
Abdullah bin Umar [Radi allah hu anhu] that ibn Umar [Radi allah hu anhu]
said:
I saw that Prophet
[May Allah bless Him and grant Him peace] offering Salaah; he raised his
hands up to his shoulders, at the beginning of Salaah and also before and
after the ruku’, but not between the two prostrations.
[Muslim &
Bukhari, Chapter Raf’ul-yadain]
Those who follow the Hanafi
madhab believe that this Hadith only proves that the Prophet [May Allah
bless Him and grant Him peace] performed raf’ul-yadain during his
lifetime, but it does not prove that he [May Allah bless Him and grant Him
peace] performed it in his last prayers. Also it does not prove that
raf’ul-yadain is an emphasized Sunna. One example is given
below:
Imams Bukhari & Muslim
record that when hadrat Aa’isha (Radiall hu anhaa) was in her
menistration, the Prophet (May Allah bless him and grant him peace) used
to place his head in her lap and recite the
Qur’an.
(Muslim & Bukhari,
bab-ul-Haid)
From this Hadith we cannot
conclude that reciting the Qur’an in the lap of one’s menstruating wife is
an emphasized sunnah. In the same way, the naration from ibn Umar does not
prove that raf’ul-yadain is an emphasized sunnah. Also ibn Umar’s
narration seems to go against some of his other
narrations.
Imam Dhabee writes that ibn Umar
said that he swore by Allah that raf’ul-yadain is bidah and that he had
never seen the Prophet (May Allah bless him and grant him peace)
practicing it.
(Meezan-ul-I’tidaal, biography
of Bishr bin Harab, by Imam dhahabi)
Ibn Umar in another place said
that the Prophet (May Allah bless him and grant him peace) said
raf’ul-yadain is only done in seven places: once to start Salaah and six
times during hajj.
(kanz-ul-ammaal, volume 7,
p35)
The teacher of Imam Bukhari and
Muslim, Imam Humaidi, writes that the Prophet (May Allah bless him and
grant him peace) used to only practice raf’ul-yadain at the start of the
prayer.
(Musnad Humaidi, volume 1,
p177)
From the above narrations ibn
Umar’s narration of raf’ul-yadain goes against his own narrations based on
a direct commandment from the Prophet (May Allah bless Him and Grant Him
peace) This also goes against Maalik bin Huwaris’
narration.
Imam Nasaa’ee writes that Malik
bin Huwairis reported that the Prophet (May Allah bless him and grant him
peace) used to perform raf’ul-yadain before and after the ruku’, and also
between the two sajdahs.
(Nisaa’ee Baab
raf’ul-yadain)
Examination of Above Narrations
(1) Imam Bukhari’s above narration is
against Imam Nasa’ees narration
(1) Imam Abu Dawood said this
narration is not Marfu to the Prophet [May Allah bless Him and grant Him
peace], but is in fact the action of Abdullah bin Umar [May Allah be
pleased with Him]
[Sunan e Abu Dawood
chapter Salaah]
(3) In Ibn Umar’s above narrations it
proves that the Prophet [May Allah bless Him and grant Him peace] did Raf
ul Yadain 9 or 10 times in Salaah.
[Bukhari chapter
Salaah]
(4) Imam Malik writes about the above
narration by Ibn Umar that the Prophet use to do Raf’ul Yadain 5 times in
Salaah. He also said that this is the action of Ibn Umar [May Allah be
pleased with Him] not the action of the Prophet [May Allah be pleased with
Him].
[Muatta Imam Malik
chapter Salaah]
We can see that when this
narration was narrated in Madina it was narrated to be 5 Raf ul Yadian in
Salaah. When it reached Bukharaa it changed from 5 Raf ul Yadian to 9 or
10 Raf’ul Yadain in Salaah.
Let’s first examine the
narrators of ibn Umar’s Hadith -Abdul Malik bin Jurayj and Imam
Zuhri.
Abdul malik bin
jurayj
Imam Dhabi and Imam Asqalani
write:
Ibn Jurayj did not take
narrations directly from people but he would attribute the narrations to
them in such a way as to convince people that he actually heard the
narrations from those people directly. The scholars of Hadith have called
this process ‘tadlees’. Imam Ahmad said that ibn Jurayj has narrated some
Ahadith, which were fabricated. Also ibn Jurayj is said to have done
Mut’ah (a marriage contract for a limited period) with 90 women in Makkah
mukarramah, (This was after it was made Haraam for Muslims) Kharasaanee
said that his narrations were weak. Also he never heard a narration from
Imam Zuhri but only asked his permission if he could use his name in
narrations.
(Tahdheeb-ut-tahdheeb,
Meezaan-ul-I’tidaal, Tadhkarat-ul-Huffaz, biography of Abdul Malik ibn
jurayj)
The main narrator of the above
narration is Imam Zuhri, also the narration is almost completely based on
his narration. Before Imam Zuhri, the chain of narration of this Hadith
was Umar bin abdul Azeez, then saalim, then Imam Zuhri. After Imam Zuhri,
his students made it more famous.
Imam Zuhri
Imam Dhabee writes that Imam
Zuhri’s full name was Muhammad bin Muslim bin Abdullah, bin Shuhaab,
az-zuhree. But, he is famous as ibn Shuhaab-uz-zuhree. He was born in the
50th year of Hijrah in Madinah. He saw only a few companions of
the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace]. He was such a great
a scholar that many scholars of his time used to praise him, even Abdullah
bin Umar (Radiall hu anhu).
(Tadhkarat-ul-huffaz,
Tahdheeb-ut-tahdheeb, biography of Imam
Zuhri)
Apology
We feel sad to highlight
weaknesses in Imam Zuhri but we have below, only just quoted what other
scholars of Hadith have said about him. We also respect Imam Zuhri greatly
as a muhaddith, but he was a man like us and had weaknesses.
Another fact is that Imam Zuhri
has narrated Hadith (which have been collected by Muslim and Bukhari)
which show that the family of the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant
Him peace] and the companions did not get on well with each other
(Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bukhari,
bab-ul-fayy)
The fact is that the Prophet’s
[May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] family and the companions did
get on well with each other.
Hafidh Asqalanee
wrote:
It was a habit of Imam Zuhri to
perform tadlees and attribute the narrations to people like Abdur-Rahmaan
bin Azhar, ibn K’ab, Abbaan, ibn Uthmaan, ibn Hakim, Ibn Us-saalimee,
Abdullah bin ja’far, Ubaada bin saamid, raafi’, umm abdullah, abu
hurairah, and abdullah bin Umar. Concerning Abdullah bin Umar, the
scholars of Hadith are split as to whether Imam Zuhri actually saw him or not. In
the same way, there is no proof that Imam Zuhri did take narrations from
‘Urwa bin zubair. But, the scholars of Hadith accept these narrations
which Imam Zuhri allegedly took from Urwa. For us, this is evidence and we
should therefore believe that Imam Zuhri heard something from Urwa. Imam
Zuhri was from a group of scholars of Hadith who used to ‘grab’ Hadith
when they heard them.
(Tahdheeb-ut-tahdheeb, biography
of Imam Zuhri)
Tadlees – What is it?
Hafidh Asqalani
writes:
The literal meaning of the
arabic word ,tadlees, is “hiding”. Technically, it means to hide a Hadith
narrator. If a muhaddith did tadlees, he would use a narrator’s name but
it would be a name by which he wasn’t commonly known. Thus, the identity
of the weak narrator was hidden. The stronger narrators in the chain would
be emphasized so that the attention of the hearer of the Hadith would be
diverted.
(Sharh An-nukhbah, chap. on
tadlees, by Hafidh Asqalani)
Imam Dhahabi and Hafidh Asqalani
write:
Imam Zuhri narrated 1100 Hadith,
of which about a half have a chain leading to the Prophet [May Allah bless
him and grant Him peace]. He used to perform tadlees even though it was a
small amount. Imam Zuhri’s maraseel Ahadith used to be weaker than other
peoples (A tabi’i would claim a Hadith directly from the Prophet [May
Allah bless him and grant Him peace] without mentioning a companion’s
name)
(Tadhkarat-ul-hufaaz,
Tahdheeb-ut-tahdheeb, biography of Imam
Zuhri).
Imam Dhahabi writes that Imam
Shubah waastee wites:
“I would rather fall from the
skies and be broken to pieces, than to perform
tadlees”
(Tadhkarat-ul-huffaz, biography
of Imam Shubah waastee)
Hafidh Asqalani
writes:
Yazeed bin zurayy was asked,
“What is the legal ruling regarding tadleees?” To this, he replied “It is
an absolute lie.”
(Tahdheeb-ut-tahdheeb, biography
of Yazeed bin Zurayy)
Imam Dhahabe
writes:
Sulaimaan bin harb said that
Imam Jareer ‘azdee was asked about tadlees. The Imam said, “I reject it. A
mudallis shows that which he has not heard.”(Tadhkarat-ul-huffaaz,
biography of Imam Jareer bin haazin azdee)
Hafidh ibn Kathir
writes:
Imam shaafi’ee rejects all the
narrations of any muhaddith who did tadlees, but other scholars say that
if a mudallis identified who he took narrations from and if that was a
reliable source, that particular narration would be
accepted.
(Ikhtisaar uloom-ul-Hadith, chap
on tadlees, by Hafidh ibn Kathir)
Hafidh Asqalaanee
writes:
If a mudallis uses the words
“Qaala”, so-and-so said, or “’And”, from so-and-so, in a narration, the Hadith will be
rejected. But, the mudallis uses a word implying that he directly heard
the narration e.g.”sami’tu” - I heard, the mudallis would be lying. The
rule concerning such people is that even if the mudallis was truthful, the
Hadith would not be accepted.
(Sharh nukhbah, chap. Hadith
mu’dal)
Idraaj and Imam Zuhri
Imam Zuhri used to do idraaj, so
it was difficult for people to understand his narrated
Hadith.
Hafidh Asqalaanee
writes:
Idraaj literally means
“Inserting something”. Its technical meaning is to insert one’s own words
into the text of a narration. Sometimes the text could be added at the
start or, at the end. To find the actual Hadith text from a mudrij was
very difficult. Either the Hadith was analyzed be someone who had very
deep knowledge, or the mudrij showed which words he inserted into the
Hadith text. (Sharhan-nukhbah, chap. Hadith
mudrij)
Imam Bukhari
writes:
It was reported by Imam malik
that the famous scholar of Hadith Rabee’a turrayy used to advise Imam
Zuhri to show clearly in his narrations, which were his own words and
which were those of the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace]
(Taareekh-ul-kabeer, biography
of Rabee’a Turrayy).
Muslim and Bukhari contain
Ahadith in which Imam Zuhri has inserted his own words. Scholars of Hadith
have refuted these words. An example is given
below:
Imam Muslim and Imam Bukhari
write:
When Hadrat abu bakr (Radiall hu
anhu) became the khaleefah, hadrat Ali (Radiall hu anhu) did not give
bayah (Pledge of allegiance) to him nor did the tribe of banu hashim. But,
after six months when hadrat Faatima (Radiall hu anhu) passed away they
all gave bayah to him.
(Bukhari, chap. on khaybar.
Muslim chap. bab-ul-fayy)
Hafidh Asqalaanee
writes:
Imam ibn habbaan, Imam
bahiaqqee, and other scholars of Hadith say that this narration contains
some of Imam Zuhri’s own words. Somebody said to Imam Zuhri, that when abu
bakr (Radiall hu anhu) became the khaleefah, hadrat Ali (Radiall hu anhu)
did not give bayah for six months. Imam Zuhri said, not only Ali, but the
whole of the tribe of banu Haashim did not give bayah to abu bakr until
hadrat faatimah (Radiall hu anhu) passed away. The fact is that Imam
Zuhri’s words are wrong, and also that Hadrat Ali (Radiall hu anhu) gave
bayah to Hadrat Abu bakr on the first day he was appointed khaleefah
(Fath-ul-baari, end of Chap. on
Khaybar).
Hafidh Qastalani also writes the
same as above.
Hafidh ibn Kathir writes that
the narrations which say that Ali (Radiall hu anhu) gave bayah to Abu bakr
(Radiall hu anhu) on the first day he was appointed khaleefah are more
authentic than those which do not support this. The reason for this is
that Ali (Radiall hu anhu) used to pray behind Abu Bakr (Radiall hu anhu)
and stayed with him all the time
(Taareekh ibn Kathir, chap.
yaum-us-saqeefah).
The references prove that Imam
Zuhri used to perform tadlees and Idraaj. The scholars have pointed out
that some of his narrations are not reliable.
Ijazah
and Imam Zuhri
Ijazah literally means “giving
permission”. Its technical meaning is for a muhaddith to give permission
to his students to narrate his Hadith, or any book of Hadith which he has
knowledge of
(Sharh-ul-nukhbah, by Hafidh
Aasqalaanee, chap. Ijazah).
This was the correct way to give
Ijaazah, but Imam Zuhri’s way to give Ijaazah was very
strange.
Imam Dhahabi writes that
Ubaidullah reported:
I saw that the students of Imam
Zuhri used to bring books to the Imam and ask him for permission to
narrate from it using the Imam’s name. The Imam used to allow them without
knowing what was in those books. This was because neither the Imam used to
read the Ahadith, nor did the students read the Hadith to him
(Tadhkarat-ul-Huffaaz, biography of Imam
Zuhri).
Shiekh Saalih Subhi
writes:
Imam ibn Hazm said that if a
scholar of Hadith gives permission to his students to narrate a book of
Hadith using his name, and the Scholar has not read the narrations, nor
has anyone read them to him then, this is a bid’ah and not permissible.
Other scholars of Hadith have been more strict in this respect and have
said that the scholars of Hadith who used to do this, in effect, gave
permission to their students to attribute lies to
them.
(Uloom-ul-Hadith, chap. on
Ijaazah)
From the above, it is evident
that the authenticity of Imam Zuhri’s narrations are in question. It could
be the case that one of the students of the Imam used to narrate
non-authentic Hadith and use the Imam’s name, as he had given him
permission to do so without checking the
Hadith.
Our Shaykh Shah Abul-Hasan zaid
faarooqee writes:
Hafidh ibn-ul-qayyim writes in
his book, Alaam-ul-muwakki’een Vol. 3 p85, that Imam Malik wrote a letter
to his colleague Imam layth bin sa’ad, whose knowledge was greater than
Imam Malik’s. When Imam lays replied to the letter, he wrote a few things
about Imam Zuhri. He wrote:
There is no doubt that our
teacher, Imam Zuhri was a great scholar, but we have to accept that some
of Imam Zuhri’s verbal and written statements used to contradict another.
When we used to ask him something, sometimes the written answer would be
different from the answer he used to give us verbally. Even some of his
written statements used to contradict one other. The Imam did not realize
what he had said before and what he was writing at the time. These are the
reasons, why I have left him (Sawaanee Hayaat Imam abu Haneefah, biography
Imam Lays).
This statement highlights the
fact that Imam Zuhri’s narrations are not necessarily authentic. For this
reason, we cannot use a single narration from Imam Zuhri as being more
authentic than the practice of the companions, the Taabi’een, the Tab’a
taabi’een and of a great group of scholars. The raf’ul-yadain narration is
only taken from Imam Zuhri. His students made the narration famous after
this.
How
the narration became Famous
Imam ibn ‘Abdul-barr
writes:
Ibn Umar’s narration became
famous from Imam Zuhri’s students. Eleven students took this narration
from Imam Zuhri. They are: Imam Malik, az-Zubaidi, Ma’mar, Auzaa’ee,
Muhammad bin Ishaaq, Sufiyaan bin Husain, Aqeel bin Khaalid, abu Hamzah,
ibn ooyainah, yoonus, and yahya. Twenty six of Imam Malik’s students
narrated this Hadith from him. They are: Yahya bin Yahya, ibn Bukayr, abu
Mas’ab, Sa’eed, ibn Wahab, ibn-ul-Qaasim, ibn Sa’eed, ibn abi Awais,
Abdurrahman, Juwairia bint Asmaa’, ibrahim, ibnur Mubaarik, Bishr,
Uthmaan, Abdullah, Khaalid, Makee bin Ibrahim, ibn Hasan, ibn mas’ab,
abdul malik, ibn naafi’, abu quraa, Musaa, matraf, qutaibah, and Imam
Shafi’ee. After all these people narrated this Hadith and told their
students this narration, so it became very
famous.
(At-tamheed, chap. on
Raf’ul-yadain)
From this, it can be concluded
that this narration was not famous at the time of the Sahaabah and the
taabi’een. When people try to find evidence to support raf’ul-yadain, they
say that there are over a hundred Hadith supporting it. In reality, there
is only one Hadith which has been transmitted by Imam Zuhri, and his
students have transmitted it further. So many chains were produced after
Imam Zuhri.
When Imam Auzaaee debated with
Imam abu Hanifah concerning raf’ul-yadain, the only Hadith Auzaaee could
give as evidence for it was the one from Imam Zuhri. This demonstrates
that if there were any other Hadith to support raf’ul-yadain then Auzaaee
would have used one of them as evidence. Also, Bukhari and Muslim only
wrote Hadith with chains leading to Imam Zuhri. If there were any other
Hadith, then they would have included them.
Imam
Malik – Narration of raf’ul-yadain
Imam Malik had the most
knowledge of Imam Zuhri’s narrations. Let us see what his opinion about
this was.
Imam Ibnul-Qasim, who was Imam
Malik’s student, writes that Imam Malik says that apart from the begining
of the prayer, I am unaware of performing raf’ul-yadain at any other time.
I believe that the practice of raf’ul-yadain during the prayer is
weak
(al-maduunah, Baab
raf’ul-yadain).
Imam Malik’s saying that he was
unaware of performing raf’ul-yadain does not mean that he was unaware of
the Hadith. This was because he himself heard it along with ten of his
colleagues and transmitted it to twenty-six of his students. The real
meaning of his saying is that he was unaware of the practice of it. This
was because neither Imam Zuhri, nor any of his students did raf’ul-yadain.
Neither did people in Maienah do it nor the people coming for Hajj from
all over the world do it. Another point to raise is that Imam Malik who is
a main narrator of this Hadith did not practice raf’ul-yadain himself. The
practice of raf’ul-yadain was very uncommon in Imam Malik’s
time.
How can we use this narration as
evidence for raf’ul-yadain when the scholars who narrated it did not act
upon it, and when the two main narrators have doubts in them? (Ibn Jurayj
and Imam Zuhri)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The second evidence of people
who peforming raf-ul-yadain is that Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim write,
Abu Qalaaba and Nasr-bin-Asim, say that they saw Malik bin Huwairis
performing raf-ul-yadain before ruku and after ruku in Salaah and he
reported that the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] used
to do this as well.
(Bukari and Muslim, baab
raf-ul-yadain)
The people who perform raf-ul
yadain give this as their evidence and say that it is a sunnah-muakkadah
and that non performance of it means that the prayer is not accepted
properly.
We answer this by saying that
this narration cannot prove that raf-ul-yadain is sunnah-muakkadah and
also you cannot prove from this narration that the Prophet [May Allah
bless him and grant Him peace] used to perform Raf-ul-yadain all the time.
Malik bin Huwairis’ narration goes against his other
narration.
Imam Nasaa’ee writes that Malik
bin Huwairis reported that the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him
peace] used to perform Raf-ul-yadain before and after the ruku and in the
middle of the two sajdahs.
(Nasaa’ee baab
Raf-ul-yadain)
From Malik bin Huwairis’
narration, there is also proof of performing raf-ul yadain between sujuud,
but the people who perform raf- ul-yadain only do it before and after the
ruku and not in the middle of the sajdahs. Their argument is that this
action has been abrogated. This, inspite of the fact, that Malik bin
Huwairis’ narration does not confirm this.
Secondly, Malik bin Huwairis was
only in Madinah for a few weeks and did not stay with the Prophet [May
Allah bless him and grant Him peace] at times, so he did not know the last
actions of the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant him peace]. This
suggests that he did not know whether the Prophet [May Allah bless him and
grant him peace] performed raf-ul-yadain or not. On the other hand,
Abdullah bin Ma’sood saw the Prophet’s [May Allah bless him and grant Him
peace] last actions concerning raf-ul-yadain. He saw the Prophet [May
Allah bless him and grant Him peace] perform the prayer without
raful-yadain. Abdullah bin Ma’sood’s narration is more reliable than Malik
bin Huwairis’ as ibn Ma'sood stayed with the Prophet [May Allah bless him
and grant Him peace] all the time.
Proof
that Malik bin Huwairis stayed in Madinah for only a few
weeks
Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim
write that Malik bin Huwairis came to Madinah with some other people and
stayed in Madinah for 10 nights and then they really wanted to go home.
So, when the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] found this
out, he gave them permission to leave for Basra, where Malik was
from.
(Bukhari Muslim,
Baab-ul-adhaan)
From this narration there is
proof that Malik bin Huwairis was only in madeenah for a short time so, he
could not have known the last actions of the Prophet [May Allah bless him
and grant Him peace] concerning raf-ul-yadain. Malik bin Huwairis’
narration about raf-ul-yadain does not prove that the Prophet [May Allah
bless him and grant Him peace] performed raf-ul-yadain all the time; it
only proves that malik bin huwairis saw him [May Allah bless him and grant
Him peace] perform Raf-ul-yadain in that period. This also does not prove
that it is a sunnah muakkadah. If someone tries to prove from this
narration that it is sunnah muakkadah to perform Raf-ul-yadain then people
could also say that it is sunnah muakkadah to pick a child up during
Salaah!
Imam Bukharai writes that the
Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] while praying Salaah
picked up his grand-daughter Amama and put her down when he went to
sujood.
(Bukari
baab-us-Salaah)
No one can say from this
narration that it is a sunnaah to pick up a child while praying, so how
can some say that because Malik bin huwairis saw the Prophet [May Allah
bless him and grant Him peace] perfomed Raf’ul-yadain in Salaah, and it is
sunnah muakkadah.
There are four main narrators of
the narration supporting raf’ul-yadain. They are, Abu Qalaabah,
khaalid-al-hazza, Nasr bin Aasim, and Qatadaa. Of course, we believe that
they had full knowledge of Hadith but they were human and had some
weaknesses.
Imam dhahabi and Hafidh Asqalani
write:
Abu Qalaabah’s full name was
Abdullah bin Zaid, he used to live in the city of Basra. He was a great
and knowledgeable man. He was against Ali (Radiall hu anhu), he had no
regards Ali (Radiall hu anhu) and used to narrate Hadith from people whom
he had never met before. For example: Abdullah bin Umar, Abdullah bin
Abbaas, Ai’sha, and abu Hurairah. When he related Ahadith, it seemed as if
he had heard the Hadith directly from the companions of the Prophet [May
Allah bless him and grant Him peace], but in reality heard them from other
people.
(Meezaan-ul-I’tidaal,
tahdheeb-ut-tahdheeb, taqreeb, biography of
Abu-Qalaabah)
Khalid bin Hazzah
Imam Dhahabi and Hafidh Asqalani
write:
Imam ibn sa’ad khalid, was not
an authentic Imam. Abu khatam said that khalid’s narrated Hadith cannot be
used as evidence. When khalid came to Syria, he told Hadith to the people
but the scholars rejected his narrations. he had also lost his memory. But
still, Ibn mu’een and nisaa’ee praised him.
(Tahdheeb-ut-tahdheeb,
meezaan-ul-I’tidaal, Muqaddamah Fath-ul-baari, biography of khalid bin
Hazza).
Abu Qalabah’s other student
Ayyoob also narrated this Hadith, but he never mentions raf-ul-yadain.
This Hadith is also found in Sahih Bukhari. The scholars of Hadith agree
that Ayyoob was more knowledgeable than
khalid.
Nasr
bin Aasim
Hafidh Asqalani
writes:
Imam Da’ood said that he was
from amongst a misled sect, but others said that he repented from his
wrong beliefs.
(Tahdheeb-ut-tahdheeb, biography
of Nasr bin Aasim)
Qatadah
Imam Dhahabi and Hafidh Asqalani
write:
Qatadah was a great scholar and
a mufassir. He was very intelligent, and many scholars praised him. He
narrated Hadith of such people whom he had never heard, met, nor seen. He
saw only one companion of the Prophet, Malik bin Anas, but he attributed
narrations from many other people despite
this.
He had evil beliefs about Islam;
he openly declared his sinful beliefs. Despite the fact that Qatadah held
wrong beliefs, the scholars still took narrations of Hadith from him (May
Allah forgive him)
(Meezaan-ul-I’tidaal,
Tahdheeb-ut-tahdheeb, tadhkarat-ul-huffaad and biography of Qatadah
basri).
From all the above references,
it cannot be proved that the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him
peace] did raf’ul-yadain all the time. Also, Malik bin Huwairis did not
stay with the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] during the
last period of the Prophet’s [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace]
life. The four main narrators of this Hadith have been criticized by the
scholars of Ahadith.
This Hadith does not stand at
the same level as Abdullah bin Ma’sood’s
Hadith.
The third evidence used to support
raf’ul-yadain
Qadhi Shawkani writes that the
Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace], when performing his
last Salaah, performed raf’ul-yadain.
(nayl ul-awutar, chapter On
raf’ul-yadain)
The people who perform
raf’ul-yadain say that the above narration proves that raf’ul-yadain was
not abrogated. In response, to this we say that this Hadith is not
authentic. This is the reason why it was not written in Sahih Bukhari, or
Muslim, even Imam Bayhaqqi did not include it in his book of sunan. All
the narrators of this Hadith are weak.
Examining the narrators of the Hadith
Abdur-Rahman
Harwi
Imam Dhahabi writes that Harwi
used to fabricate Hadith and telling them to
people.
(meezaan-ul-I’tidaal, biography
of Abdur-Rahman Harwi)
Harwi used to fabricate all his
narrations of Hadith, now, how could we accept a Hadith that has been
totally fabricated?
lAnother narrator of this
narration is Usama-bin-Muhammad Ansari, the student of Musaa bin
Uqbah.
Imam Dhahabi
writes:
Imam Abu Khatim said that Usama
was not strong in the knowledge of Hadith. Imam Yahyaa bin Mo’een said
that he fabricated Hadith and attributed them to the great scholars of
Hadith. He was a liar. Imam Dar-qutni said that he was not reliable and
that is why the scholars did not take any narrations of Hadith from him.
Imam Ibn Addi said that all his narrated Hadith are not safe. He narrates
one Hadith that says that you should make dua to Allah Almighty when you
see a beautiful face, and He will accept it.
(Meezan-ul-itidaal, biography of
Usama-bin-muhammad Ansari)
Qadi Shawkani writes that
Usama-bin-Ansari was a liar and he fabricated
Hadith.
(Al-majmoo’at-ul-Ahadith,
Chapter on Sadaqag pg.67 by Qadi Shawkani)
Surprise
It is strange that Qadi Shawkani
wrote in his book, that Usama bin Muhammad was a liar, but despite this
took his narration as evidence in his other
book.
The other surprising thing is
that Qadi shawkaani always discusses the narrators of the Hadith, but with
this Hadith, he does not mention or discuss anything about them. It seems
as if he is totally unaware of them.
We are also surprised concerning
those people who present this Hadith as evidence of their practice of
radf’-ul-yadain. They are proud and say that they are following the sunnah
of rasoolullah [May Allah bless him and grant Him
peace].
Performing Salaah without Raf’ul-yadain – Proof from
Hadith
Imam Muslim writes:
Once we were performing Salaah
and the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] came to us and
asked us: “Why are you doing raf’ul-yadain as a stubborn horse waving its
tail?” He also told us: “Perform your Salaah with peace.”
(Muslim, chapter Sukoon
fisSalaah)
The above Hadith proves that one
must not perform Raf’ul yadain in the middle of one’s
salaah.
Imam Muslim writes in another
narration after the above one that:
Jaabir bin Samrah
reported:
At the end of the salaah, we
used to wave our hands left and right when saying Salaam, the Prophet [May
Allah bless him and grant Him peace] told us not to wave our hands but
only to say the Salaam.
The above narrations prove that
the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] stopped
raf’ul-yadain as well as waving the hands during the
Prayer.
Imam Humaidi, who was the
teacher of Imam Bukhari and Muslim writes:
Abdullah bin Umar
said:
The Prophet [May Allah bless him
and grant Him peace] only perform raf’ul-yadain at the beginning of
Salaah, not before or after doing ruku’.
(Musnad Humaidi, Volume 1 pg.
177, Printed Maktabah Salafiyyah,
Madeenat-ul-munawwarah)
Imam Ibn Abee Shaibah and Imam
Abdur-Rakaq writes:
Ali (Radiall hu anhu)
reported:
The Prophet [May Allah bless him
and grant Him peace] performed raf’ul-yadain at the beginning of
Salaah.
Abdullah bin Mas’ood and Brabin
Azib reported:
We saw the Prophet [May Allah
bless him and grant Him peace] only performing Raf’ul yadain at the
beginning of the Salaah.
Aswad, Imam Shabi, Ibrahim
Nakhee and Ali and Ibn Mas’ood’s student (Radialla hu anhu) only performed
raf’ul-yadain at the beginning of Salaah.
(Musnad Ibn Abi Shaibah and Musnad Abdur-Razaq, chapter on
raf’ul-yadain)
Imam Ibn-ul-Qasim
writes:
Imam Malik said that Imam Zuhri
told him that he heard from Salim, who said that his Father (Abdullah bin
Umar) reported, that the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace]
only performed raf’ul yadain at the beginning of the Salaah and not in any
other part of it.
This narration also proves that
Imam Zuhri narrated a hadith stating that the practice of raf’ul yadain
was only performed at the beginning of the
Salaah.
Imam Malik also said that he has
no knowledge of doing raf’ul-yadain in any other part of the Salaah apart
from the beginning.
(Al madoonah-chapter on
raf’ul-yadain)
Imam Malik also
said:
To do raf’ul yadain is weak
except at the beginning.
[Al Madoona chap Raf ul
yadain]
How
can Imam Malik say that he had no knowledge of someone who practices
raf’ul-yadain, even when he himself heard a Hadith supporting it from Imam
Zuhri?
The answer to this is, as
mentioned earlier, that Imam Malik knew the Hadith of raf’ul-yadain but he
never saw anyone in Makkah or Madinah who practiced it. The reason for
this is that the practice of raf’ul-yadain was
abrogated.
Imam Tirmidhi
writes:
Abdullah bin mas’ood said that
he would perform the Salaah the way that the Prophet [May Allah bless him
and grant Him peace] did. When he performed the Salaah, he only did raf’ul
yadain at the beginning of the Salaah.
Many companions of the Prophet
[May Allah bless him and grant Him peace], their students (Tabe’een),
Sufyan, the Scholars of Koofah and many other Scholars followed this
Hadith.
(Tirmidhi,
baab-raf’ul-yadain)
Even other scholars wrote this
Hadith in their books for example, Imam Aboo Da’ood, Ibn Abi shaibah, Imam
Abdur-Razaq, Imam abu ya’ala and many others.
Imam Tirmidhi wrote in his
narration:
The companions of the Prophet
[May Allah bless him and grant Him peace], Tabi’een and scholars of Kufa
were performing salaah without Raf’ul yadain.
Who were the Scholars of Kufah?
Imam Ibn Sa’ad, Hafidh ibn
ul-Qayyam, Hafidhh ibn Taymiyyah write:
Umar (Radiall hu anhu) gave an
order to build the city of Kufa, when the city was built, people from
various Islamic areas came to live in the city. Many companions of the
Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] moved to Kufa and
started to live there. Umar (Radiall hu anhu) sent Abdullah bin Mas’ood
and Ammar bin Yasar to teach the people in
Kufa.
After 16 or 17 years, when Ali
(Radiall hu anhu) became the Khalifah, he transferred the capital from
Madinah to Kufa. A large number of companions moved to Kufa. They taught
people about Islam. Kufa this became the center point for Islamic
Scholars.
(Tabaqat, Ibn Sa’ad,
minhaajussunnah a’laamul-mu’wakkieen, chapter on
Kufa)
Kufa
was the central point of Islamic Knowledge, which is why so many Scholars
of Hadith travelled to it repeatedly to gain
knowledge.
Hafidh Asqalani
writes:
Imam Bukhari travelled to
various cities to gain knowledge of Hadith. He went to the city of
Jazeerah twice, Basrah four times, and stayed in Hijaz (Makkah and
Madinah) for six years. Imam Bukhari said himself that he could not
account for how many times he went to Kufa and Baghdad to learn knowledge
of Hadith.
(Muqaddamah FathulBaari,
biography of Imam Bukhari)
Imam Tirmidhi’s narrations prove
that no one practiced raf’ul yadain in the city of Kufah which became the
center point of Islamic knowledge and thought. Imam Malik’s narration
proves that no one was practicing raf’ul-yadain in Makkah or Madinah, as
this practice had been abrogated.
The debate between Imam Auzaaee and Imam Abu
Haneefah
These two Imams debated the
matter of raf’ul-yadain once and it is described by Sufyaan bin
Uyayna.
Once Imam Abu Hanifah and Imam
Auzaaee met in a market in Makkah.
Imam Auzaaee asked Imam Abu
Hanifah why he did not practice raf’ul-yadain during the
Salaah.
Abu Hanifahh:
There is no authentic Hadith about practicing
raf’ul-yadain.
Auzaaee:
Why isn’t there an authentic Hadith? Here is one, Imam Zuhri told
me, who was told by Salim, who was told by Ibn Umar (Radiall hu anhu) that
the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] practiced
raf’ul-yadain before and after the
ruku’.
Abu Hanifah: Hamad told me, who was told
by Ibrahim, who was told by Ikrama, who was told by Aswad who was told by
Abdullah binMas’ood (Radiall hu anhu) that the Prophet [May Allah bless
him and grant Him peace] only practiced raf’ul-yadain at the beginning of
performing his Salaah and not afterwards.
Auzaaee:The narration that I have presented to you has a shorter chain and
your
Hadith has a longer
chain, for this reason, my Hadith is more
Reliable than
your’s.
Abu Hanifahh:
It does not matter if the chain of the Hadith is long or short,
the
Priority of the
Hadith depends on the narrators of the Hadith
and
How much knowledge of
Hadith they had. The narrators of the Hadith, which I have presented,
possess more expertise in the knowledge of Hadith. For example, Hamad is
more knowledgeable than Imam Zuhri. Ibraaheem is more knowledgeable than
Salim. Ikrama is a great scholar and Ibn Mas’ood is
unique.
Imam Auzaaee then became
silent.
(Musnad Imam Abu Hanifah,
Chapter on Raf’ul-yadain)
This debate shows that Imam
Auzaaee had no other evidence. If he had then, he would have presented it
to defend his case in support of Raf’ul-yadain. Imam Abu Haneefah replied
so beautifully that Imam Auzaaee was forced to become
silent.
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