Raising the hands before and after Sujood

10-4-2015 | IslamWeb

Question:

asalaam alaikum is there raising hand before doing first sujood, and raise from first sujood, and before doing second sujood, and againd raise from second sujood before standing for another rakah, and if there is raising hand, do we have to raise with level of shoulder?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

There are some Ahaadeeth that were reported about raising the hands before Sujood and when rising from Sujood, and the scholars differed in opinion about the authenticity of these Ahaadeeth. Some scholars classified them as authentic and some classified them as weak. Ibn ‘Umar when describing the prayer of the Prophet negated the raising of the hands besides in three positions: Ibn ‘Umar narrated: "I saw the Messenger of Allaah when he started the prayer, he raised his hands to the level of his shoulders when he said: Allaahu Akbar; and when he bowed in Rukoo‘, he did the same; and when he said 'Sami’a Allaahu li-man hamidah', he did the same and he said Rabana wa laka al-Hamd; but he did not raise his hands before Sujood or when he rose from Sujood." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Some scholars took the approach of reconciling between the Hadeeth of Ibn ‘Umar and the Ahadeeth which provide the permissibility of raising the hands before Sujood and after it, saying that raising the hands (in these positions) should be done sometimes, while most of the time, the hands should not be raised. We have favored this view in our Fataawa.

A Fatwa from the Permanent Committee reads: "Some scholars took the approach of preference concerning this; they considered the Hadeeth reported in Al-Bukhari and Muslim on the authority of Ibn ‘Umar to be more valid – that one should not raise his hands before Sujood and when rising from Sujood. They considered the narration regarding raising the hands in these two positions as Shaath (odd) as it contradicts the more reliable narration (in Al-Bukhari and Muslim).

Other scholars took the approach of reconciling between the narrations, as this is possible, so that one would not have to consider which Hadeeth is more valid. This is because reconciling requires acting in accordance with all the narrations that are confirmed while preference requires rejecting some narrations that are confirmed, which is contrary to the principle (i.e. all confirmed narrations should be acted upon). To explain, the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, sometimes raised his hands before Sujood and when rising from Sujood, and at other times he did not do this, so each Companion narrated what he saw from the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and acting in accordance with the first approach (i.e. reconciling between the narrations) is more appropriate according the rule mentioned with it." [End of quote]

According to the view that it is permissible to raise the hands, the way the hands should be raised in Sujood is the same as when saying Takbeer at the beginning of the prayer, and when bowing down (in Rukoo‘) and when rising from Rukoo‘, as in the Hadeeth: "he raised his hands to the level of his shoulders". An-Nawawi said describing how to raise the hands: "One raises his hands to the level of his shoulders such that the tips of his fingers are parallel to the top of his ears, and his thumbs are parallel to the bottom of his ears."

Allaah Knows best.