Where did you reach in *Al-Sahihah* and *Al-Da'ifah*? The Shaykh responds to those who cast doubt on the hadiths regarding raising the hands at the bowing and the remaining pillars

The questioner : I do not know. May Allah reward you. Is there hope, if Allah wills, that the series will be published in full soon?

The Shaykh : We came to Hajj from Jordan, and we have finished indexing the fifth volume of *Al-Sahihah* and the fifth volume of *Al-Da'ifah*.

The questioner : What Allah willed.

The Shaykh : Yes, and also the index of *Sifat al-Salah* (The Description of Prayer), a new edition which naturally contains additions, corrections, and introductions addressing certain points. In particular, we recently came across a treatise by one of those who belong to some of the existing sects that oppose the Sunnah. In this treatise, there is a specific study attacking the hadiths of raising the hands at the bowing and raising them from it, and generally, the placing of the right hand over the left in prayer in general. Even though the hadiths regarding raising the hands are mass-transmitted, and the hadiths regarding placing the hands on the chest are close to mass-transmission, he wrote a treatise to invalidate that and to support his school of thought which states that raising the hands and placing them on the chest invalidates the prayer. His treatment of the subject was very strange. He pretends to know the science of hadith and the terminology of hadith, but due to his extreme ignorance, I allow myself to say that he is more ignorant than Abu Jahal regarding the science of hadith. One example is enough for you. He came to a hadith in the two Sahihs, the hadith of Ibn 'Umar, who said: He said, "This is a fabricated hadith." Why? He said, "Al-Zuhri is in its chain." He said, "Al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi said in *Mizan al-I'tidal* that he used to conceal defects in chains." He used to conceal defects in chains, and the one who conceals defects is this writer and author. This is very clear because al-Dhahabi, from whom he quoted this phrase, quoted it truncated. His case is like that of one who forbids people from prayer by saying, "Woe to the worshippers" and then does not bring what follows it. This is what the man did in what he attributed to al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi. Because al-Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said, explaining the reality that he and his like among the memorizers perceive, "He used to conceal defects in chains rarely." He cut off the word "rarely" to mislead his readers that this al-Zuhri, upon whom the hadith revolves in his claim, used to conceal defects in chains. It is known among hadith scholars that if one's habit is to conceal defects in chains, then he is not relied upon as evidence. It is not hidden from students of knowledge that those who conceal defects in chains are, in the view of all hadith scholars, and particularly in the view of al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar, of different ranks and degrees. Al-Dhahabi's statement that "he used to conceal defects in chains rarely" means he is of the first rank, that he is relied upon as evidence by consensus. But more amazing than that is that this writer ignored the explicit statement of Imam al-Dhahabi, who said, "Salim ibn 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar narrated to me from his father." If he had been one who conceals defects in chains like the rest and his like, from those who are not relied upon for their use of "from" (an'anah) by consensus, it would have been permissible to rely on him because he explicitly stated the narration. He hid this and cut off that, and thus they spread their misguidance. I found myself compelled to respond to this in the introduction of the new edition.