The Shaykh’s discussion of the evidence of those who say that the hands are placed on the chest after rising from bowing
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The Shaykh : However, some of the later scholars cling to a hadith in Sunan al-Nasa'i from the narration of Wa'il ibn Hujr, who said, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) So they took from the narrator's statement in this hadith, Sahih al-Bukhari 736 Undoubtedly, from the Arabic perspective, this includes both the first standing and the second standing, because when one raises his head from bowing, he remains standing. Thus, it was understood from this hadith that this second standing also involves placing the hands, just as is the case with the first standing. However, there are scholars of usul al-fiqh (the principles of jurisprudence) who have established rules and guidelines to prevent confusion for the student of knowledge. If a hadith is general (mutlaq) in some narrations and then restricted (muqayyad) in another narration, it is not permissible to take the first general hadith in its entirety; rather, it must be taken as restricted by the second hadith which restricts the first. This is undoubtedly understood by anyone who has read usul al-fiqh, but I will clarify it with some examples, specifically related to this prayer, and indeed to this very placement of the hands. Notice that here, in the hadith of Wa'il, it mentions standing in prayer. Now, look at another hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari from the narration of Sahl ibn Sa'd al-Sa'idi, who said, "They were ordered to place the right hand over the left hand in prayer" . They did not mention standing. Here, "prayer" is general and includes states other than standing. For example, if you are sitting between the two prostrations, you are in prayer, and the hadith of al-Bukhari says, "They were ordered to place the right hand over the left hand in prayer" . So, if you are sitting between the two prostrations in prayer, do you place the hands like this between the two prostrations? The answer is no. Why? Because the hadith is general, covering both standing and sitting where there is no recommended practice (sunnah). I did not mention the tashahhud because, regarding the tashahhud, we have hadiths that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would place his right hand over his right and his left hand over his left when he sat for the tashahhud. But I say that between the two prostrations, there is no sunnah specifying a particular form for the hands. So why do they not place the right hand over the left between the two prostrations, implementing the general statement in Sahl's hadith "in prayer," where standing was not mentioned? Similarly, in a sound hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in Sahih Ibn Hibban, Here, standing was not mentioned; it said "in prayer." These are three things we were ordered to place the right hand over the left in prayer. No one says that it is prescribed (mashru') to place the hands in prayer when we are not standing. For example, there is a prostration—excuse me, a sitting position that the Shafi'i jurists and others call the sitting of rest (jalsat al-istirahah). That is, when you finish the second prostration in the first rak'ah and want to rise to the second rak'ah, you do not rise immediately; rather, you sit for a light sitting. You do not do this and then stand up, even though these two hadiths say "in prayer" and not "in standing." What is their answer to these two hadiths? They say, "We say 'in prayer' means in the standing of the prayer." Why? Because the prayer was restricted to standing in other narrations. And this is the correct scholarly answer.
So let us say, let us say that in the hadith of Wa'il ibn Hujr, "when he stood in prayer," we say that the first standing is not a general standing. Why? Because its explanation came in the hadith of Wa'il ibn Hujr in Sahih Muslim. Muslim narrated in his Sahih from Wa'il ibn Hujr that when he came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), the time was cold in winter, and he saw the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) praying, wearing a garment, and raising his hands. When he entered the prayer, he said Allahu Akbar and raised his hands under the garment, and placed his right hand over his left. Then he mentioned [the recitation], then he bowed, then he raised his head from the bowing and said, "Allahu yasm' man hamidah" (Allah hears the one who praises Him), then he prostrated. We find in this hadith, as it continues describing the prayer of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), two things: First, it restricted the standing mentioned in the first hadith to the first standing. Second, when it mentioned the second standing after bowing, it did not mention that placement which they understood from the general word "standing." So, the statement of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)—the narrator's statement about the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)—that "when he stood in prayer," here "standing" means the first standing. Why? Because the hadiths explain each other. Just as we explained the hadith of Sahl ibn Sa'd that "they were ordered to place the right hand over the left," and the hadith of the Prophets that "they were ordered to place the right hand over the left in prayer," we explained "prayer" here as standing, i.e., standing in prayer. Similarly, we explain the standing mentioned in these benefits, "when he stood in prayer," as the first standing. They explain each other, and there are many examples of this in the Prophetic hadiths. We conclude the discussion with a final example. There is a hadith in Sunan Abu Dawud and Musnad Imam Ahmad and others from Anas ibn Malik, who said, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would point in prayer." So, could I generalize and say this is a sunnah and then do this, pointing? No one says this. Why? Because the explanation of the pointing came, and this is what I will follow up on. The hadith of Abdullah ibn Umar in Sahih Muslim says, "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would point with his finger when he sat in prayer." Did we sit in prayer, for example between the two prostrations, and point? No. In the sitting of rest, point? No. Even though it says "when he sat in prayer," the sitting here is general. No one says this. Why? Because the explanation of this pointing came in other narrations in Sahih Muslim and elsewhere, stating, "When he sat for the tashahhud in prayer." So the sitting was restricted to the tashahhud.
So where is the pointing? In the tashahhud. What did we do with the hadiths that did not mention the sitting of the tashahhud but generalized the sitting? We applied the general to the restricted. Similarly, we apply the general standing in the hadith of Wa'il, "when he stood," to the restricted standing in the hadith of Muslim. And thus it becomes clear that what is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is only the placement in the first standing. And this is the reason why we do not find, in the works of the Muslim scholars, all of them, from the four Imams and others, a sound narration from any of them that it is a sunnah to place the right hand over the left in the second standing.
When he stood up in prayer, he placed his right hand over his left.
إذا قام في الصلاة وضع اليمنى على اليسرىwhenever Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) stood for the prayer
إذا قام في الصلاةHe stood in prayer
قام في الصلاةWe, the Prophets, were ordered to do three things: to place our right hands over our left hands in prayer
إنا معشر الأنبياء أمرنا بثلاث بأن نضع أيماننا على شمائلنا في الصلاةand hastening the iftar and delaying the suhur
وبتعجيل الفطور وتأخير السحورSo let us say, let us say that in the hadith of Wa'il ibn Hujr, "when he stood in prayer," we say that the first standing is not a general standing. Why? Because its explanation came in the hadith of Wa'il ibn Hujr in Sahih Muslim. Muslim narrated in his Sahih from Wa'il ibn Hujr that when he came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), the time was cold in winter, and he saw the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) praying, wearing a garment, and raising his hands. When he entered the prayer, he said Allahu Akbar and raised his hands under the garment, and placed his right hand over his left. Then he mentioned [the recitation], then he bowed, then he raised his head from the bowing and said, "Allahu yasm' man hamidah" (Allah hears the one who praises Him), then he prostrated. We find in this hadith, as it continues describing the prayer of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), two things: First, it restricted the standing mentioned in the first hadith to the first standing. Second, when it mentioned the second standing after bowing, it did not mention that placement which they understood from the general word "standing." So, the statement of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)—the narrator's statement about the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)—that "when he stood in prayer," here "standing" means the first standing. Why? Because the hadiths explain each other. Just as we explained the hadith of Sahl ibn Sa'd that "they were ordered to place the right hand over the left," and the hadith of the Prophets that "they were ordered to place the right hand over the left in prayer," we explained "prayer" here as standing, i.e., standing in prayer. Similarly, we explain the standing mentioned in these benefits, "when he stood in prayer," as the first standing. They explain each other, and there are many examples of this in the Prophetic hadiths. We conclude the discussion with a final example. There is a hadith in Sunan Abu Dawud and Musnad Imam Ahmad and others from Anas ibn Malik, who said, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would point in prayer." So, could I generalize and say this is a sunnah and then do this, pointing? No one says this. Why? Because the explanation of the pointing came, and this is what I will follow up on. The hadith of Abdullah ibn Umar in Sahih Muslim says, "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would point with his finger when he sat in prayer." Did we sit in prayer, for example between the two prostrations, and point? No. In the sitting of rest, point? No. Even though it says "when he sat in prayer," the sitting here is general. No one says this. Why? Because the explanation of this pointing came in other narrations in Sahih Muslim and elsewhere, stating, "When he sat for the tashahhud in prayer." So the sitting was restricted to the tashahhud.
So where is the pointing? In the tashahhud. What did we do with the hadiths that did not mention the sitting of the tashahhud but generalized the sitting? We applied the general to the restricted. Similarly, we apply the general standing in the hadith of Wa'il, "when he stood," to the restricted standing in the hadith of Muslim. And thus it becomes clear that what is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is only the placement in the first standing. And this is the reason why we do not find, in the works of the Muslim scholars, all of them, from the four Imams and others, a sound narration from any of them that it is a sunnah to place the right hand over the left in the second standing.