I stated in your book, "The Manner of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) Prayer," that placing the right hand over the left hand after rising from bowing is a religious innovation.

The questioner: His EminenceThe Shaykh : I stated in your book, "The Manner of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) Prayer," that placing the right hand over the left hand after rising from bowing is a religious innovation, and some scholars say it is a recommended practice... and they cite as evidence the hadith of Wa'il ibn Hujr (may Allah be pleased with him) and the hadith of Sahl ibn Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him); I hope you will clarify this?

The Shaykh: And which hadith?

Another questioner: Sa'd.

The Shaykh: Sa'd, the answer is , and this research actually requires detail and orderly presentation. The rule is: that every general text that encompasses more than one part, and then the practice did not occur for a part of this general text, that is something that does not justify...
That the hadith of Wa'il ibn Hujr, which some of the distinguished scholars cite as evidence for the lawfulness of placing the hand after raising the head from bowing, is of this type; where its text was: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) used to place his right hand over his left when he stood in prayer," so his saying: "when he stood in prayer" encompasses every standing; whether it was the first standing or the second standing after bowing, but did it become established practically that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) used to place his right hand over his left after raising the head from bowing by a specific text, not a general text, as his first placement was established by a specific text?
The answer: There is no such text at all, so citing the generality in that case is clearly questionable in my view. I give you an example of how it is not correct to cite a general text for a part that the practice has not been carried out for: if a group entered the mosque at the time of the midday prayer, for example, and each of them wanted the time's recommended practice, the pre-prayer recommended practice, and it is known even today that recommended practices are prayed individually, so one of them decided to gather these scattered people when they entered the mosque, and each one had taken a side wanting to pray the pre-midday recommended practice, so he said: "O brothers, come, let us pray in congregation; because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , is a general text, and indeed he (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him) said: , and so on to the end of the hadith. Would his citation be correct? I know that no one says his citation is correct, rather this is an incorrect citation, if we do not say it is wrong. What is the evidence of the error? The evidence is that this citation is from the category of citing a general text for a part that the practice of the Muslims has not been carried out for. I do not mean the later Muslims; because they know of many and very many innovations, and their basis for this innovation is exactly like this citation. You know, for example, in some Arab countries even today, additions are made to the beginning and end of the call to prayer; what they call the reminder before the call to prayer, and especially on Friday, and the addition after the call to prayer of sending blessings upon the Messenger (peace be upon him).

The questioner: Aloud, you mean?

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner: Aloud, do you mean?

The Shaykh: It is not important whether aloud or secretly, the important thing is that it is an addition, and being loud is required; he is calling to prayer; because this opens up another field I do not want to enter, especially since the message came that you are explaining and prolonging the breath and speech, and the brothers have many questions, but I am saying: you are asking questions that do not tolerate brevity, because this question, I say: I said this in the book, so go back to it, the matter is ended, ... to detail ... that there is an answer to this; but does this satisfy those present?
So the point is: that this example must be understood by you truly because it is very important; ; why do we not pray the recommended practices in congregation? Because the Messenger did not do that; so if we want to establish the lawfulness of a specific part like this example, praying the recommended practices in congregation, as long as ... for the practice and no text came that clarifies the lawfulness of this practice ...; then citing the generality is not correct in this case; because we say: if this citation were correct, it would have been done, so how did the practice of the Muslims in the first centuries go on—we only argue with the first centuries—how did the practice of the Muslims go on without applying what accompanies this citation? It is necessary for the citation that we pray the pre- and post-regular recommended practices in congregation; because the Messenger said: to the end of the hadith; so citing the general text for the specific matter that clarifies this specific matter is not valid if we do not have a specific evidence for it, and this is a long research.
I return now to say: The hadith of Wa'il ibn Hujr: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to place his right hand over his left when he stood in prayer," first: we note that this generality did not come from the Messenger; unlike the previous saying of his (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him): he is praying, whereas this hadith, the hadith of Wa'il ibn Hujr, is from the saying of Wa'il and not from the saying of the Messenger (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him), so what do I mean by this detail? I mean that the meaning of the Messenger is not precise in expressing an event or a ruling that is not in the precision of the Messenger's report and expression (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him), so now a question may arise: when Wa'il ibn Hujr said: "The Messenger of Allah used to place his right hand over his left when he stood in prayer," do you think he had in his mind that there was a second placement, which is after bowing?
This issue requires the application of thought, so if we return to some narrations of this Wa'il ibn Hujr, the answer becomes clear to us, and that is in "Sahih Muslim"; where he described the prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and this Wa'il himself said: that when the Messenger (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him) prayed, he raised his hands and said Allahu Akbar, and placed his right hand over his left—this is a summary of the hadith—and placed his right hand over his left, then when he bowed, he raised his hands and said: Allahu Akbar, then he raised his head from bowing, so he raised his hands as he had done before and said: Allahu Akbar, then he raised his head from bowing and said: Allah hears the one who praises Him, our Lord and to You is the praise, then he prostrated and said: Allahu Akbar, thus he described this Messenger (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him), in this detail of his prayer (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), we find him repeating his saying that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said Allahu Akbar and raised his hands as he had done before, but when he mentioned the first placement, and mentioned that when he raised his head from bowing and said: Allah hears the one who praises Him, he did not mention this second placement, and thus all the hadiths came, there is not one hadith from a Companion that informs us that he saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) place his right hand over his left for raising the head from bowing, there are only citations by generalities, and if we know the previous rule that citing the general in a place for a specific part where we do not know that the practice was actually carried out, this citation opens up for us many innovations that we have no power to refute except by this path I mentioned earlier; a part of the parts of the general text that the practice has not been carried out for is contrary to the Sunnah, this is what can be said now.
Yes.