Why did you make the saying of Ibn Abbas, "Bismillah," at the beginning of the tawaf, and the saying of Ibn Mas'ud during the sa'y between the two green pillars, a recommended practice, while you did not make the raising of hands by Ibn Umar in the takbirs of the funeral prayer a recommended practice?

The questioner : I mentioned Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) in the description of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) Hajj. The Basmalah at the beginning of the tawaf is a recommended practice, even though it was not reported in an authentic hadith. I made it a recommended practice even though it is a report stopping at a Companion and was not reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Similarly, I recommended that the pilgrim or the one performing sa'y between al-Safa and al-Marwah recite a dhikr between the two green pillars, as it is established from Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him). So these are two actions that were not reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but from a Companion, and I made them recommended. However, in the description of the funeral prayer with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), it is not established that he raised his hands, not even for a single takbir in the funeral prayer. I only argued by consensus that the scholars agreed on the permissibility of raising the hands in the first takbir of the funeral prayer. As for the three takbirs, there is no text, even though the Companion Ibn Umar did so. What is the basis for distinguishing between your mention of that in the funeral prayer as a recommended practice, when this is not a recommended practice?

The Shaykh : I think the last word was a mistake. Well, the important thing, my brother, is: La ilaha illa Allah. I ask you: Do you see a difference between the appearance of raising the hands before the masses of the Companions and the appearance of some of the examples I mentioned? For example, is it the same for the pilgrims?

The questioner : They are the same.

The Shaykh : I disagree with you on this.

The questioner : Jabir mentioned every action he mentioned, even relieving himself.

The Shaykh : I understood.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : I don't think you understood me regarding its appearance. May Allah reward you. I mean, now let me give you an example. If a person here in this courtyard did an action, as if he did it while he is among people?

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh : So, to bring my previous question closer to you: A man saw Ibn Umar in the funeral prayer raising his hands. Ibn Umar raised his hands while he was standing, confined between two people, with rows in front of him and rows behind him. And Allah is All-Knowing. Is this scene the same as the examples I mentioned in the tawaf?

The questioner : It is not the same. That is more apparent in the tawaf. It is more apparent.

The Shaykh : This is what I thought of you. And therefore, it occurs to me that the appearance of this action by that Companion, Ibn Abbas, and there may be other examples, in the sight of people, is completely different for me from an action done by someone like Ibn Umar without this appearance and fame. Because if it were so, we would have treated it like the athar of Ibn Abbas. This is one of the matters in which I hope our brothers will pay attention and observe precision in argumentation. For example, we say—and I do not think you are far from knowing this—when I said earlier, if we found another Companion with Ibn Umar who raised his hands, we would have said we follow them. Why? Because this action is more likely to be famous than to have merely appeared or been transmitted to us from a single Companion. So when a Companion does an action in the sight of people, even if it is small, it is stronger than if he did an action in a smaller scene. And if he does it in a scene larger than this small one, it is stronger in indication, proof, and conviction of the soul, because this is a prescribed and recommended action. This is my answer. And I do not oblige people to what I see, but I want to draw the attention of all people to the fact that there are jurisprudential matters that involve some degree of variation and precision. So it is not permissible to treat all matters, especially if they are of this type, in the same way. No.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, in response to your words, you mentioned that Ibn Abbas's action was before people. My hadith is from our Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that he did it in the sight of creation, yet no one transmitted it. If it were originally in the tawaf, Jabir would have transmitted it, and others who narrated the hadith would have transmitted it, even though this action is famous. The fact that those who narrated the description of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) Hajj did not mention it.

The Shaykh : This, may Allah reward you, is not applicable here, because we are speaking about the Companions. I don't know if you were present at the previous session inside. You were not present, it seems. It appears to me that I must repeat my words. We call to the Book and the Sunnah and upon the methodology of the righteous Salaf. So it is from the category of what we said to our companion, who is facing me and I am facing him, that he is with us in what we mentioned earlier. So I also say to you that you are with us in acting upon the Book and the Sunnah and upon the methodology of the righteous Salaf, is that not so?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : This is the assumption. On this basis, how do we understand the methodology of the righteous Salaf from the athar? There are matters in which we understand the Sunnah of the Messenger by derivation from the athar transmitted by the Salaf, by derivation, not by explicit text. Perhaps this is of that type. And perhaps we have, as they say, killed two birds with one stone. It is reported in Sahih al-Bukhari from the hadith of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) taught me the tashahhud, and my hand was between his hands." He mentioned, "The blessings are for Allah, and the prayers..." to the end. He said, "And he was among us. So when he died, we said, 'Peace be upon the Prophet.'" Now, do not hold me accountable if I ask you: What do you say in the tashahhud? Do you say "Peace be upon you" or do you say "Peace be upon the Prophet"?

The questioner : I say "Peace be upon the Prophet."

The Shaykh : Good. Why?

The questioner : The saying of Ibn Mas'ud is stronger for me.

The Shaykh : This is my position. So if someone said to you, as you said, to the one who says to you now: "This Messenger, hadiths were reported from him from Ibn Mas'ud, from Ibn Umar, from the Lady Aisha, and so on, and there is not a single hadith that the Messenger said, 'When you say so and so, say Peace be upon the Prophet,'" what would you answer? I will relieve you of your answer and my answer. And peace be upon you.