The questioner asks: Is placing the right hand over the left hand on the chest after rising from the bowing a recommended practice or an innovation? What is the evidence? May Allah guide us and you to what He loves and is pleased with.
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The questioner : The questioner asks: Is placing the right hand over the left hand on the chest after rising from the bowing a recommended practice or an innovation? What is the evidence? May Allah guide us and you to what He loves and is pleased with?
The Shaykh : The correct view is that it is a recommended practice (sunnah), based on the hadith of Sahl ibn Sa'd, which is in "Sahih al-Bukhari". He said:Sahih al-Bukhari 740 This hadith is general, and his statement: is also general for all its states, except for what evidence indicates as an exception.
Let the questioner stay with us so we can look at whether standing after the bowing falls under this hadith or not. We say: The word is general and includes, first, standing before the bowing. It does not include the bowing itself, because the placement of the hands in the bowing is known to be on the knees.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : We remain silent on standing after the bowing because that is the subject of the question. It does not include prostration, because the placement of the hands in prostration is known to be on the ground.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : It does not include sitting between the two prostrations, because the placement of the hands in sitting between the two prostrations is known to be on the thighs.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : It does not include sitting for the first or the second tashahhud, because the placement of the hands in that is also known to be on the thighs.
What remains is standing after the bowing. We say: Standing after the bowing is covered by the generality of Sahl's hadith; that is, it covers the ruling for the hands after rising from the bowing. Accordingly, the ruling for the hands after rising from the bowing is the same as the ruling for them before the bowing, meaning the right hand is placed over the left. As for the one who says that it is an innovation, meaning placing the right hand over the left after standing up from the bowing, he has not reflected on this hadith. If he had reflected on it, the matter would have become clear to him as we have clarified it.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) explicitly stated that one has the choice between placing the right hand over the left after standing up from the bowing and letting them hang down. Perhaps (may Allah have mercy on him) the ruling in this issue was not clear to him, so he made it a matter of choice. Or perhaps he looked at hadiths other than the hadith of Sahl ibn Sa'd that indicate letting the hands hang down.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So he made it a matter of choice. What is befitting for a student of knowledge, if he does not find a text on an issue, is to refrain from ruling and not to make it a matter of choice. For the statement that it is a matter of choice is a ruling, and a ruling is not permissible except with evidence. And Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) could not rule that it is a matter of choice unless he had evidence for it. The important point is that the statement that it is an innovation, meaning that placing the right hand over the left after the bowing is an innovation, is a statement with no basis. Rather, the correct view, which is indicated by the hadith of Sahl, which is in "al-Bukhari", is placing the right hand over the left after standing up from the bowing.
And Allah knows best.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : The correct view is that it is a recommended practice (sunnah), based on the hadith of Sahl ibn Sa'd, which is in "Sahih al-Bukhari". He said:
The people were ordered to place the right hand on the left forearm in the prayer.
كان الناس يؤمرون أن يضع الرجل يده اليمنى على ذراعه اليسرى في الصلاةin the prayer
في الصلاةLet the questioner stay with us so we can look at whether standing after the bowing falls under this hadith or not. We say: The word
in the prayer
في الصلاةThe questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : We remain silent on standing after the bowing because that is the subject of the question. It does not include prostration, because the placement of the hands in prostration is known to be on the ground.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : It does not include sitting between the two prostrations, because the placement of the hands in sitting between the two prostrations is known to be on the thighs.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : It does not include sitting for the first or the second tashahhud, because the placement of the hands in that is also known to be on the thighs.
What remains is standing after the bowing. We say: Standing after the bowing is covered by the generality of Sahl's hadith; that is, it covers the ruling for the hands after rising from the bowing. Accordingly, the ruling for the hands after rising from the bowing is the same as the ruling for them before the bowing, meaning the right hand is placed over the left. As for the one who says that it is an innovation, meaning placing the right hand over the left after standing up from the bowing, he has not reflected on this hadith. If he had reflected on it, the matter would have become clear to him as we have clarified it.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) explicitly stated that one has the choice between placing the right hand over the left after standing up from the bowing and letting them hang down. Perhaps (may Allah have mercy on him) the ruling in this issue was not clear to him, so he made it a matter of choice. Or perhaps he looked at hadiths other than the hadith of Sahl ibn Sa'd that indicate letting the hands hang down.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So he made it a matter of choice. What is befitting for a student of knowledge, if he does not find a text on an issue, is to refrain from ruling and not to make it a matter of choice. For the statement that it is a matter of choice is a ruling, and a ruling is not permissible except with evidence. And Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) could not rule that it is a matter of choice unless he had evidence for it. The important point is that the statement that it is an innovation, meaning that placing the right hand over the left after the bowing is an innovation, is a statement with no basis. Rather, the correct view, which is indicated by the hadith of Sahl, which is in "al-Bukhari", is placing the right hand over the left after standing up from the bowing.
And Allah knows best.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.