What is the ruling on wiping the face with the hands after supplication and kissing the hands?
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The questioner : What is the ruling on wiping the face with the hands after supplication and kissing those hands?
The Shaykh : As for kissing the hands after finishing supplication and wiping the face with them, it is a religious innovation (bid'ah) with no basis. As for wiping the face, there are weak hadiths regarding it. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said about them: "They do not constitute a proof, and wiping the face with the hands after supplication is a religious innovation (bid'ah)". Some scholars held that the hadiths, taken together, reach the level of hasan (good) and constitute a proof, and that it is a recommended practice (sunnah) to wipe the face with the hands. The matter is broad in this regard: if one wipes, it is not to be criticized, and if one leaves it, one is not to be commanded to do it. However, what is prohibited, and what is said to be a religious innovation (bid'ah), is kissing the hands after wiping the face with them.
The Shaykh : As for kissing the hands after finishing supplication and wiping the face with them, it is a religious innovation (bid'ah) with no basis. As for wiping the face, there are weak hadiths regarding it. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said about them: "They do not constitute a proof, and wiping the face with the hands after supplication is a religious innovation (bid'ah)". Some scholars held that the hadiths, taken together, reach the level of hasan (good) and constitute a proof, and that it is a recommended practice (sunnah) to wipe the face with the hands. The matter is broad in this regard: if one wipes, it is not to be criticized, and if one leaves it, one is not to be commanded to do it. However, what is prohibited, and what is said to be a religious innovation (bid'ah), is kissing the hands after wiping the face with them.