Tuhfah al-Awathee the explanation of Jaami’ at-Tirmidhi [2/81-95]
By the Imaam Haafidh Abee ‘Alee Muhammad Abd ar-Rahmaan ibn Abd ar-Raheem al-Mubaarakpooree [May Allaah have Mercy on him]
The Chapter of placing the right hand over the left in Salaah [Chapter no.187]
Hadeeth no. 252: It was narrated to us by Qutaybah who was informed by Aboo al-Ahwas on the authority of Simaak ibn Harb on the authority of Qabeesah ibn Hulb who narrated from his father that:
The Messenger of Allaah [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] led us in prayer and he would hold his left hand with his right hand.
There are other narrations narrated via Waa’il ibn Hujr, Ghutayfah ibn Haarith, Ibn ‘Abbaas, Ibn Mas’ood and Sahl ibn Sahl.
Aboo ‘Esaa at-Tirmidhi said that this hadeeth above of Hulb is Hasan.
The Companions [May Allaah be Pleased with them all] and the people of knowledge have accepted it and acted upon it as well as the Taabi’een and those who came after them.
They stated that the man should place the right hand over the left hand during the Salaah.
Some of scholars stated that the hands should be placed above the navel whilst others said it should be placed below the navel. Some of the scholars stated that the issue is a broad scope so they can choose.
Imaam Haafidh Muhammad al-Mubaarakpooree [May Allaah have Mercy on him] says in explanation:
Imaam at-Tirmidhi narrated this narration from Qubaydah ibn Hulb who is from Koofah who is accepted in his narrations as Haafidh Ibn Hajar said in Taqreeb. His father was a companion who moved and stayed in Koofah, it was said that his name was Zayd and that Hulb was his nickname.
“he would hold his left hand with his right hand” meaning he would place them on his chest as it was narrated in Musnad Ahmad that he [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] would place his hands on his chest. So it has been described that he [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] would place the right hand over the left, but more details on this will follow, Allaah Willing.
He, Imaam at-Tirmidhi, then said: ‘There are other narrations narrated via Waa’il ibn Hujr, Ghutayfah ibn Haarith, Ibn ‘Abbaas, Ibn Mas’ood and Sahl ibn Sahl’. These narrations have narrated by other such as Ahmad and other readings of at-Tirmidhi state that it was narrated from Sahl ibn Sa’d, this is correct and Sahl ibn Sahl is incorrect.
As for the narration that came through Waa’il ibn Hujr then this hadeeth was reported in Saheeh Muslim which states, ‘I saw the Messenger of Allaah raise his hands when he started the prayer, then he would do Takbeer, then he would, then he would places the right hand over the left hand….’. Ibn Khuzaymah narrated it with the wording, ‘I prayed with the Messenger of Allaah and he would put his right hand over the left hand and place them on his chest’.
As for the hadeeth of Ghutayfah then this was reported by Ibn Abd al-Barr in Tamheed and Istadraak with the wording, ‘…I saw the Messenger of Allaah place his right hand over his left hand’. This was also narrated in I’laam al-Mawaqi’een.
As for the narrations of Ibn ‘Abbaas and Ibn Mas’ood we shall see these narrations below.
As for the narrations of Sahl ibn Sa’d then this was narrated in Saheeh al-Bukhaari with the following wording, ‘…the men would be ordered to place the right hand over the left forearm in the Salaah’.
‘….this hadeeth above of Hulb is Hasan’ was also narrated by Ibn Maajah.
Imaam at-Tirmidhi then said, The Companions [May Allaah be Pleased with them all] and the people of knowledge have accepted it and acted upon it.’
The Maaliki scholars stated that the hands should be left hanging on ones sides during the Salaah. Haafith Ibn al-Qayyim said in I’laam after mentioning the ahadeeth of placing the right hand over the left, “These narrations refute the opinion that was attributed to Imaam Maalik of letting the hands hang down; the narration that states Imaam Maalik’s opinion was narrated by Qaasim that Maalik said, ‘To leave the hands dangling is better in my view’ however this is the only narration which has been attributed to Imaam Malik, there are no other narrations except this.” End Quote. What is strange is that some of the Maaliki scholars have taken this narration of Qaasim to Imaam Maalik despite the fact that there are no authentic narrations that permit one to let the hands hang down during the Salaah. Furthermore they left the authentic narrations that state that the person should place the right hand over the left hand during the Salaah, this was narrated by Maalik himself via the way of Sahl ibn Sa’d. In fact Maalik has a chapter which states ‘The placement of the hands; one of them to be placed over the other during the Salaah’. He mentioned the narration narrated via Abd al-Kareem ibn Abee al-Kaariq that he said, ‘From the words of Prophethood is; if you have no shame them do whatever you feel like doing and place one of your hands over the other during the Salaah, place the right hand over the left hand and hasten the futoor and delay the Suhoor’. He then mentioned the hadeeth of Sahl ibn Sa’d which states, ‘I saw some of them place their hands above their navels and I saw some of them place their hands below the navels.’ Imaam at-Tirmidhi summarised the various views and we shall explain the issue in more detail.
The Madhab of Aboo Haneefah states that the mane should place his hands below the navel and the woman should place them on the chest. This is the official opinion of the Madhab as nothing in contrary has been reported from the Hanafee scholars.
As for Imaam Maalik then there are three opinions attributed to him:
1) The famous one that states that the hands should be left hanging on the sides, this was narrated by author of al-Hidaayah and Sarkasi in his Muheet and others narrated this opinion. Allaamah Aboo Muhammad Abd Allaah ash-Shaashee al-Maaliki mentioned in his book called ‘Aqd a;-Jawaahir that this was the common practice of the people of Madeenah. Az-Zarqaanee mentioned in his explanation of Muwatta’ that the hands should be left hanging on ones dies as Ibn Qaasim narrated this from Maalik and then mentioned that this was the opinion of most the Maalikis.
2) To place the hands below the chest and above the navel, this is what has been narrated by ‘Ainee in Sharh al-Hidaayah that this was the opinion of Maalik. It was also mentioned in ‘Aqd al-Jawaahir that this opinion was narrated from al-Mutraf and al-Maajisoon that this was Maalik’s opinion.
3) You have a choice in letting the hands hang or to place them, it says in ‘Aqd al-Jawaahir and in Sharh Muwatta’ that this was the view of the companions of Maalik in Madeenah
As for Imaam Shaafi’ee, there are also three narrations about his opinion:
1) One of the views is to place the hands below the chest, above the navel. This is opinion which Shafi’ee mentioned in al-Umm and it is the well-known opinion of the Madhab, as this is the favoured opinion by the majority of the Shafi’ee scholars.
2) The second view is to place them on the chest, this is the view that was mentioned in al-Hidaayah that ash-Shafi’ee held this opinion. Al-Ayn’ee said this is what has been mentioned in their books.
3) To place them underneath the navel. This has been mentioned in the Sharh al-Muhtaaj where it mentions that this was the view of some of the companions of ash-Shaafi’ee.
As for Imaam Ahmad, then again he also has three views attributed to him.
1) One of the views that has been attributed is to place them below the navel.
2) The second view is to place them on the chest
3) And the last view is to say that the person has a choice between the two above. This is the most common and well-known opinion of the Madhab and this is the view of the majority of Hanbali scholars.
Some of the scholars stated that the issue is a broad scope so they can choose; meaning that some scholars stated that there is a difference of opinion and because of this the person has a choice to where he may place them, the difference of opinion for these scholars is to which is better out of the two but both being permissible.
You must know that the narrations about this topic has a huge amount of variation therefore the scholars [May Allaah have Mercy on them all] differed into their interpretations; so I will explain their meanings using three different chapters.
Chapter 1: The explanation of the Madhab about placing the hands below the navel and the evidences they used.
The first hadeeth they use is the hadeeth of Waa’il ibn Hujr [May Allaah be Pleased with him] which was narrated by Ibn Abee Shaybah in his Musannif. He stated; It was narrated to us from Wakee’ from Moosa ibn ‘Umayr from ‘Alqamah ibn Waa’il from his father Waa’il ibn Hujr [May Allaah be Pleased with him] that he said, “I saw the Messenger of Allaah [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] place his hands, the right above the left in his Salaah, below his navel.”
Al-Haafith al-Qaasim ibn Qaatlaboogha said in the Takhreej of this hadeeth in the book al-Ikhtayaar Sharh al-Mukhtaar that the chain for this hadeeth is Jayyid. Shaykh Aboo al-Teebi al-Madani said in Sharh al-Tirmidhi stated that this hadeeth is strong in its chain. Shaykh ‘Aabid al-Sindee in Tawaali’ al-Anwaar stated that the men in this chain are trustworthy. I say that the chain in this hadeeth is Jayyid or acceptable, whoever the wording ‘below the navel’ in this hadeeth is controversial. Shaykh Muhammad Hayaat as-Sindee said in his treatise Fath al-Ghafoor that this addition stating ‘below the navel’ has not been narrated in this chain and then mentioned after talking about this hadeeth that the opinion of holding the hands below the navel was also reported from Naka’iee. This chain of Naka’iee is the closest thing we have to state ‘below the navel’, so it may be that the compiler may have misplaced this wording from one place to another making it an addition to this hadeeth which wasn’t narrated, thus this wording of ‘below the navel’ is stopped and cant be attributed to the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him]. End quote.
The author of the treatise al-Musaamah Baadira fee Ithaar Ghish naqd al-surah stated that there is extensive research and comments on the narration of Waa’il which was narrated by Ibn Abee Shaybah. Ibn Abee Shaybah narrated this hadeeth and then he narrated a narrated a narrated from Nakaa’iee whose wording is the closest thing we have. As for the wording ‘below the navel’ then the copies of Ibn Abee Shaybah’s Musannif differed, some have this wording and others don’t have this wording and they don’t have the narration of Nakai’ee. This indicates that the person compiling the Musannif left this extra wording out of forgetfulness or left the wording out and instead mixed it with the narration of Naka’iee. It is also possible that the extra wording of ‘below the navel’ was left out in the previous manuscript of the book. Therefore the wordings in the two copies of Musannif differed, some had the extra wording and the other didn’t, because of this difference permission was given to add the extra wording of ‘below the navel’ to the narration attributed to the Prophet. End Quote.
Because of this Shaykh Muhammad Faakir Muhaddith Ilaaha Baadee stated in his poem al-Masaarah bee noor as-Sunnah that the opinion of Al-Qaasim al-Qaatlaboogha should not be paid any attention.
I say: Those scholars who stated that this narration has the extra wording of ‘below the navel’ use the narration found in Musnad Ahmad which has the same chain as the one in Ibn Abee Shaybah but without the wording ‘below the navel’. It was narrated that Ahmad heard from Wakee’ from Moosa ibn ‘Umayr al-‘Anbari from ‘Alqamah ibn Waa’il from his father Waa’il ibn Hujr [May Allaah be Pleased with him] that he said, “I saw the Messenger of Allaah [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] place his hands, the right above the left in his Salaaah.”
It was also narrated by Daraqutnee with the same chain as Ibn Abee Shaybah but without the wording ‘below the navel’; It was narrated to us from al-Hussayn ibn Ismaa’eel and ‘Uthmaan ibn Ja’far ibn Muhammad who both narrated from Yoosuf ibn Moosa who heard from Wakee’ from Moosa ibn ‘Umayr al-‘Anbari from ‘Alqamah from Ibn Waa’il from his father who said, “I saw the Messenger of Allaah [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] place his right hand over his left during his Salaah”.
Ibn Turkmaanee mentioned that Shaykh al-Haafidh Zayla’ee supported his Madhab as he mentioned in his Jawhar al-Naqee by quoting two weak narrations where he stated these two hadeeth, Ibn Hazm said, “It was narrated to us that Aboo Hurayrah would place his right palm over his left palm, below the navel, during the Salaah. And that Anas said, ‘There are three things that where from the characteristics of the Prophet: To hasten the Iftaar, to delay the Suhoor and to place the right hand over the left hand below the navel.’”
Before ibn Turkmaanee mentioned the two weak narrations above, he mentioned a narration from Abee Majlaz which was narrated in Ibn Abee Shaybah. It stated in Ibn Abee Shaybah that he heard from Yazeed ibn Haaroon that Hajaaj ibn Hisaan heard Abee Majlaz was asked, “How do you place your hands?” in which he replied, “To place the inside palm of the right hand over the outside palm of the left hand, below the navel”. Ibn Turkmaanee mentioned all the narrations in Ibn Abee Shaybah on the issue of ‘below the navel’ and did not mention any other narration beside the one mentioned above. Therefore the hadeeth of Waa’il ibn Hujr that was mentioned in Ibn Abee Shaybah with the wording ‘below the navel’ was not present in the earlier copies. Had this been in the earlier copies then Ibn Turkmaanee would have mentioned this. Had there been this narration he surely would have mentioned it to support his Madhab and the two weak narrations that have been narrated above of Aboo Hurayrah and Anas. He only mentioned the narration of Abee Majlaz who was a taabi’ee and he did not mention any other narration that could be attributed to the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him], especially not the narration of Waa’il ibn Hujr.
Supporting this, Shaykh Muhammad Hayaat as-Sindee said in his treatise ‘Fath al-Ghafoor’ that “more than one scholar from the people of Hadeeth narrated this hadeeth and none of them mentioned the extra wording ‘below the navel’. Furthermore I have not seen anyone from the people of knowledge nor have I heard from them narrating this hadeeth with this extra wording, except al-Qaasim[1]”.
Al-Haafith Ibn Abd Al-Barr added in his Tamheed, “Ath-Thawree and Aboo Haneefah held the opinion of below the navel. This was narrated on the authority of Alee and Ibraaheem an-Nakhaa’ee however this is not authentically traced back to them. If this hadeeth was authentic with this extra wording reported in Ibn Abee Shaybah, then there would exist various chains with the same wording and others besides Ibn Abee Shaybah would have reported it as well.”
Al-Haafith Ibn Hajar said in his Fath, “It was narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah from the hadeeth of Waa’il that he [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] would place his hands on his chest. This was also narrated by Bazzar and Ahmad from the chain on the authority of Hulb. It says in the Takhreej of al-Hidaayah that ‘the narration going back to Alee is weak and what is correct is the hadeeth of Waa’il ibn Hujr who said, “I prayed with the Messenger of Allaah [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] and he placed his right hand over his left on his chest’”. This indicates that these narrations over placing the hands on the chest are raised in its level of authenticity and there been an extra wording of ‘below the navel’ then it would have been mentioned elsewhere and its chains and the narrations would be recorded, this what was mentioned by Suyooti in his Sharh al-Fayy. Furthermore the opinion of Zayla’ee can’t be used as anything significant as he was mentioning the proofs used in his Madhab and he only mentioned them to show what the people have based their opinion on.
Based on this, as-Suyooti who was a Haafidh in his time stated in his treatise Al-Yawm wa Laylah, “He [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] would place his right hand over the left and he would grip them whilst placing them on his chest”. He also narrated in his book Jaami’ al-Kabeer on the authority of Waa’il and nine other chains which have been narrated with the wording; ‘I saw the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] place his right hand over the left hand in the Salaah’, this is the wording that has been mentioned and recorded without the extra wording of ‘below the navel’, had this extra wording been narrated then as-Suyooti would have mentioned this.
Added to this, al-‘Aynee gathered the weak narrations and those with extra wordings in his book explanation of Saheeh al-Buhaari stating, “Imaam ash-Shaafi’ee used the hadeeth which was reported by Ibn Khuzaymah in his Saheeh on the authority of Waa’il as proof who said, ‘I prayed with the Messenger of Allaah [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] and he places his right hand over the left placing them on his chest’. Our Hanafi scholars used as proof ahaadeeth or narrations which are not trustworthy, and had the extra wording of ‘below the navel’ been existent then it would certainly been narrated and it would be recorded in the books as well as the scholars would have used them as proof and narrated them.
Added to this, Ibn Ameer al-Haaj in his checking of the book of his Shaykh, Ibn al-Hamaam, which is called Sharh al-Maniyyah; “It is confirmed in the Sunnah that one should place the right hand over the left hand, however it was not narrated nor confirmed as to where to place, except the hadeeth of Waa’il.” Furthemore, the author of the book al-Bahr al-Raqaa’iq stated, “…had this extra wording been narrated then it would have been mentioned by Ibn Ameer al-Haaj and he would have explained it and would have discussed the chains of narrations.”
Based on the above, all of arguments above discredit the extra wording that has been atrtributed and attached to the hadeeth. End of Shaykh Muhammad Hayaat as-Sindi’s words.
I say: the hadeeth of Waa’il ibn Hujr that has been mentioned is acceptable however the extra wording of ‘below the navel’ is controversial as we have witnessed above. So the question arises, how can placing the hands below the navel be correct using this hadeeth?
There is a another hadeeth that has been used by those who hold the opinion of below the navel, that is the hadeeth of ‘Alee [May Allaah be Pleased with him] that has been recorded by Aboo Dawood, Ahmad, Ibn Abee Shaybah, Daaraqutni and Bayhaqee that Abee Juhfah narrated from ‘Alee [May Allaah be Pleased with him] that he said, “The Sunnah is to place the right palm over the left palm below the navel”.
I say: the chain for this narration contains a man called Abd ar-Rahmaan ibn Ishaaq al-Waasitee who affects this chain. He is weak and can’t be used to accept narrations from; this is what has been narrated by Haafith al-Zayla’ee.
He said about this hadeeth, “Ibn Qattaan said that Abd ar-Rahmaan ibn Ishaaq is Ibn al-Harb Aboo Shaybah al-Waasitee about whom Ahmad ibn Hambal and Aboo Haatim said, ‘He is to be rejected’, Ibn Ma’een said, ‘He is nothing’, Bukhaari said, ‘He is controversial’, Bayhaqee said in Ma’rifah, ‘His chain are not correctly attributed’. Thus Abd ar-Rahmaan ibn Ishaaq al-Waasitee is to be rejected in his narrations.”
Imaam an-Nawawee said Sharh Saheeh Muslim, “The scholars are agreed that his narrations are weak. Shaykh Aboo Hammaam said in Tahreer that if Bukhaari says about a man that ‘he is controversial’ then the meaning is that we can’t use that narrator as proof and he can’t even be used to support another narrator.” End Quote
With this established it becomes apparent that this hadeeth is not authentic and can’t be used a proof or as a supporting narration to support other narrations.
Furthermore the hadeeth which has been attributed to ‘Alee [May Allaah be Pleased with him] above also contradicts the tafseer which he gave of the meaning of the word;
“أنحر” [al-Kawthar 108:2]
The tafseer ‘Alee gave for this word is to place the right hand on the left forearm on the chest whilst in Salaah, this was narrated by al-Bayhaqee, Ibn Abee Shaybah, Ibn Munthir, Ibn Abee Haatim, ad-Daaraqutnee, Aboo Shaykh, al-Haakim and Ibn Mardawee as well as it being recorded in Durr Manthoor of Suyootee.
Al-Faadil Malaa al-Hadaadee said in his Haashiyyah al-Hidaayah, “If the hadeeth of placing the hands below the navel is weak then the opposed view is to be accepted because of the narration of ‘Alee as he explained the meaning of the word;
“أنحر” [al-Kawthar 108:2]
To mean placing the right hand over the left on the chest. It is obligatory for to accept and act upon this and also because of the hadeeth of Waa’il which was mentioned by an-Nawawi. The hadeeth of ‘Alee, which is in regards to below the navel, has been narrated by scholars from the Hanafee madhab. The author of al-Durrah said in explaining confusion behind the position held by Hanaafee scholars; ‘Aboo Dawood narrated from Jareer al-Dabbi who said, ‘I saw Alee hold the right hand hold the left writs above the navel. The principle we have in our madhab is that if a statement of a companion contradicts what has been narrated to the Prophet then we say it is abrogated. This is our approach, if there are contradictory narrations and we can not differentiate the stronger one from the weaker one[2]’” End Quote.
I say: the chain of the narration to ‘Alee [May Allaah be Pleased with him] which was narrated by Aboo Dawood on the authority of Jareer al-Dabbi is authentic as we shall come to know below.
The third narration used by those who wish to present for their position of placing the hands below the navel is the hadeeth of Aboo Hurayrah which was reported by Aboo Dawood in his Sunan that Abee Waa’il said that Aboo Hurayrah said, “To place the right palm over the left palm in the Salaah, below the navel.”
I say: the chain of narration for this narration also has Abd ar-Rahmaan ibn Ishaaq al-Waasitee, therefore this hadeeth also can not be used as proof as it is unauthentic.
The fourth narration used by those who wish to present for their position of placing the hands below the navel is the hadeeth of Anas which was talked about by Ibn Hazm in his book Muhalla which stated that he said, ‘There are three things that where from the characteristics of the Prophet: To hasten the Iftaar, to delay the Suhoor and to place the right hand over the left hand below the navel.’”
I say: there is no chain for this narration. The Hanafee scholars who used this as proof which has been mentioned in their books have always been mentioned without a chain. Therefore, if there is no chain then the narration by default is unauthentic and can not be used as proof.
The author of Durrah said, “As for the hadeeth of Anas (mentioned above), al-‘Aynee said about this that Ibn Hazm narrated this but the chain of its narrations is unknown, thus we are not able to judge whether the narrators of this narration are acceptable or not. This hadeeth has been narrated by more than one of the Muhadditheen however the extra wording of ‘below the navel’ wasn’t narrated so this extra wording however the extra wording in principle is acceptable on the condition that the extra wording comes from someone who is trustworthy and well-known” End Quote from Durrah.
Shaykh Haashim as-Sindee said in his treatise called Draahim as-Surrah, “….and those who mentioned this were az-Zaahidee in his Sharh al-Qadwaree as well as Ibn Ameer al-Hajj and Ibn Nujay in Bahr Raqaa’iq said, ‘He narrated from the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] that ‘There are three things that where from the characteristics of the Prophet: To hasten the Iftaar, to delay the Suhoor and to place the right hand over the left hand below the navel’ however there is no narration to this hadeeth. Az-Zaahidee went further to say that this narration was narrated on the authority of ‘Alee ibn Abee Taalib which he attributed to the Messenger of Allaah [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] however Ibn Ameer al-Hajj as well as Ibn Nujaym both said, ‘Those who inspected this hadeeth didn’t attributed the wording ‘below the navel’ to the Prophet nor ‘Alee’. End Quote from Haashim as-Sindee.
After discussing the narrations that are used to support the view of placing the hands below the navel, we can now see that none of these narrations are authentic and can not be used as proof to support the opinion of below the navel.
Chapter 2: What has been mentioned by those who hold the view of placing the hand above the navel.
There are no narrations that can be attributed to the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] to support this view except the narration of ‘Alee [May Allaah be Pleased with him] which was narrated by Aboo Dawood in his Sunna on the authority of Jareer al-Dabbi who said, “I saw ‘Alee [May Allaah be Pleased with him] place his right hand on the left wrist above the navel.”
I say: the chain of this narration is Saheeh or it may be Hasan, however this narration proves it’s an act of the ‘Alee [May Allaah be Pleased with him] and can’t be attributed to the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him]. The meaning of above the navel means the area chest area or the lower chest area, this description also occurs in the hadeeth of Waa’il ibn Hujr and the hadeeth of Hulb and the narration of Tawoos, which is not connected to the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him], however the explanation of these three ahadeeth are soon to be explained below as well as the explanation of the word;
“أنحر” [al-Kawthar 108:2]
All of these narrations prove that the placing of the hand during the Salaah is on the chest.
Chapter 3: That which has been narrated to support the view of placing the hands on the chest.
The scholars who held this opinion had several proofs from them is the hadeeth of Waa’il ibn Hujr who said, “I prayed with the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] and he places his right hand over the left on his chest” this was narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah which is authentic. This hadeeth was authentic by Ibn Khuzaymah and this was supported by Ibn Sayyid al-Naas in Sharh al-Tirmidhi.
Shaykh Muhammad Qaaim as-Sindi al-Hanafee acknowledged this hadeeth in his treatise called Fawz al-Kiraam to be authentic with the conditions of Ibn Khuzaymah as he said, “…Ibn Sayyid al-Naas after mentioning this hadeeth of Waa’il ibn Hujr in his Sharh at-Tirmidhi stated that Ibn Khuzaymah classified this narration to be authentic” End Quote.
Ibn Ameer al-Haaj said in explaining the statement of his SHyakh Ibn Hamaam in Sharh al-Maniyyah, “It is confirmed in the Sunnah that the right hand is to be placed over the left hand. It is not been confirmed as to where to places them on the body except for the hadeeth of Waa’il (narrated above).”
This was also mentioned by the author of al-Bahr al-Raqaa’iq and by Shaykh Hayaat Sindee in Fath al-Ghafoor. Ash-Shawkaani said in Nayl al-Awtaar, “Ibn Khuzaymah narrated it is in his Saheeh and he authenticated it himself” End Quote.
Haafith Ibn Hajar said in Fath al-Baaree, “Sahl ibn Sa’d didn’t state where to place the hands on the body. It was narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah which was narrated by Waa’il that he would place his hands on the chest which was narrated by Al-Bazaar. Imaam Ahmad narrated that Hulb did the same and he also narrated in his Musnad that ‘Alee would place them below the navel, however that narration is weak. End Quote.
What is apparent from the explanation of Ibn Hajr above that the the hadeeth of Waa’il is authentic Saheeh or at very least Hasan as he narrated three other narration that state the same thing in support of if placing the hands on the chest, these are the hadeeth of Waa’il, Hulb and ‘Alee however he pointed out that the narration of ‘Alee is weak and he didn’t say there is any weakness in the hadeeth of Waa’il or Hulb which means they are accepted, had there been weakness in these narrations it would have been mentioned. This was his methodology as he stated in the introduction of his book Fath al-Baaree, “…I will talk about the chapter and its narrations then I will mention their relationship to each other as to why they have been placed in the manner they have. Then I will I discuss the benefits behind the hadeeth and talk about its chains of narrations, including the ones with extra wording and explain any weakness in other narrations. I will explain the areas of where is appears to be connecting in the chain when it actually isn’t….explaining the conditions for the hadeeth or narration to be Saheeh or Hasan and what else has been narrated about the topic” End Quote.
Al-Haafith clearly states that he will ‘explain the conditions for the hadeeth or narration to be Saheeh or Hasan and what else has been narrated about the topic’ which illustrates that the hadeeth of Waa’il and Hulb is Saheeh or at very least Hasan.
Al-Haafith also explained the classification of the hadeeth of Waa’il as he mentioned it and stated that it was reported by Ibn Khuzaymah and it was initially narrated by Imaam Muslim in his Saheeh without the wording ‘on the chest’. End Quote.
So the statements of al-Haafith clearly show that he graded the hadeeth reported by Ibn Khuzaymah to have the same chain of narration as Imaam Muslim in his Saheeh. To conclude the hadeeth of Waa’il ibn Hujr is accepted and used as proof to show that the place of placing the hands during Salaah is on the chest.
There is also the hadeeth of Hulb al-Taa’ee which was narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad through the route of Yahya ibn Sa’d, from Sufyaan, who heard from Samaak ibn Qabeesah who heard from Hulb who heard from his father that, “The Messenger of Allaah [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] would leave the place of prayer from the right or the left and he would place his hands on the chest.” Yahya added the wording, ‘...the right over the left wrist joint’ this was narrated via trustworthy narrators and its chain is fully connected back to the Prophet
[May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him].
Yahya ibn Sa’eed is a man called Aboo Sa’eed al-Qattaan al-Basree, a Haafith, he is used and accepted by the scholars in his narrations. Al-Haafith said in al-Taqreeb, “He is trustworthy”
Sufyaan in this chain is Sufyaan ath-Thawree and al-Haafith said in al-Taqreeb that “He is trustworthy, a Faqeeh, a devout worshipper, an Imaam and accepted.”
Samaak is Ibn Harb ibn Aws ibn Khaalid al-Thahlee al-Bakree al-Koofee Aboo al-Mugheeree., and al-Haafith said in al-Taqreeb that “He is truthful”. He used to especially narrate from ‘Ikrimah. He became confused towards the end of his life, this was stated by Ibn Hajar in at-Taqreeb.
Adh-Dhahabee narrated that Ahmad stated that “Samaak became confused, so in his old age he became weak in his narration”. Ibn ‘Ammaar said, “He would make mistakes”. Al-‘Ajlee said, “Thawree said he was weak in narration” and he said, “He was confused when he would narrate so he isn’t from those who are resolute”. Saalih said “He is weak”. Yahya ibn Ma’een and Aboo Haatim said “He is trustworthy”. End Quote from adh-Dhahabee.
With this said; the statements stating that Samaak was confused don’t affect the authenticity of this hadeeth because Samaak narrated this hadeeth from Qabeesah and narrated it on to Sufyaan, the stage in his life where he got confused was when he would transmit to ‘Ikrimah therefore, Sufyaan narrating this hadeeth from Samaak shows us that this period of time where he narrated from Samaak was before the stage in his life he got confused, this was an explanation given in Tahtheeb al-Kamaal. Ya’qoob said, “When he would narrate to ‘Ikrimah then this was a time in his life he would be confused but the narrations before then, for example when he narrated from Shu’bah, Sufyaan etc, then this would be a stage in his life where he wasn’t confused” End Quote.
Qabeesah is also trustworthy and his father was a Companion [May Allaah be Pleased with him].
The hadeeth of Hulb al-Taa’ee his Hasan as the narrators of hadeeth and narrations collected this with a Hasan chain of transmission. Therefore it is accepted and used as proof to support the view of placing the right hand over the left, placing them on the chest during the Salaah.
There is also another narration which was narrated by Tawoos which was collected by Aboo Dawood in his book Maraaseel who said; It was narrated to us by Aboo Tawbah Who narrated from Haytham ibn Humaid who narrated from Thawr who narrated from Sulaymaan ibn Moosa who narrated from Tawoos who said, “The Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] would place his right hand over the left and place them on his chest whilst praying Salaah.” This hadeeth is present in some of the collections and manuscripts of Aboo Dawood.
Al-Haafith al-Mizzee said, “The Hadeeth was narrated by Aboo Dawood in his book Maraaseel and al-Bayhaqee said in Ma’rifah fil Hadeeth that this narration was Mursal[3]”
Tawoos is a Taabi’ee and the narration leading up to him is Hasan but the hadeeth is Mursal, however the hadeeth that is Mursal is accepted as proof with Aboo Haneefah, Maalik and Ahmad without exception, although ash-Shaafi’ee placed some conditions. He stated that there needs to be another chain supporting it or a chain that is similar to it in order to support the text of the mursal hadeeth, then it would be accepted. This mursal hadeeth is supported by the ahaadeeth of Waa’il and Hulb, therefore this narration of Tawoos can be used as proof to support the view of placing the right hand over the left, placing them on the chest during the Salaah.
Note: Some Hanafee scholars say that the hadeeth of Waa’il is weak because the wording has some confusion in it as Ibn Khuzaymah narrated the hadeeth with the wording ‘on the chest’ and al-Bazzaar narrated with the wording ‘near the chest’ and Ibn Abee Shaybah with the wording ‘below the navel’.
I say: from the principles found in the sciences of Hadeeth is that if there is a difference of wording we don’t automatically conclude that the narration is weak due to the confusion, rather we must investigate the differences and take the most correct saying, this prevents the authentic narration from being accused of being weak, thus investigation is necessary by gathering the statements of the scholars of hadeeth. In this instance there is a difference of opinion however the difference between the scholars isn’t balanced. The view of ‘below the navel’ narrated by Ibn Abee Shaybah has been heavily criticised as previously explained above. As for the narration of Ibn Khuzaymah with the wording ‘on the chest’ and al-Bazzaar ‘near the chest’ then this is the most correct opinion because, as previously stated above, it is authentic. Added to this are two points which prove that it is the correct opinion; fact that there are many supporting proofs, such as the hadeeth of Hulb supports the narration of Tawoos and that there is no such supporting proof for the other view of ‘below the navel’. Had both parties been correct and had authentic narrations to support their views, then we would reconcile between the two views. Shaykh Aboo Muhaasan Muhammad as-Sindee said in his treatise Fawz al-Kiraam, “Al-Allaamah Shaykh Aboo Hasan stated in his treatise that this it is permissible to act upon the ahaadeeth of Waa’il, Hulb, Taawoos and that the Tafseer given by ‘Alee, Anas and Ibn ‘Abbaas and then stated; these narrations have been used as proof by ash-Shaafi’ee however the their view was to place the hands underneath the chest which reconciles the ahaadeeth stating ‘on the chest’ and ‘near the chest’” End Quote.
Some of the people of knowledge stated that there are two ways of praying and gave examples of the difference of opinion by drawing examples of the issues of raising the hands in the beginning of salaah, do we raise it to the ears or the shoulders, so some of the Hanafees stated that there was some confusion in the hadeeth of Waa’il and where to place the hands, thus both being acceptable.
Note: al-Nimawee said about the narrations in the Sunnah after mentioning the hadeeth of Hulb, “Ahmad narrated this and the chain of this hadeeth is Hasan however the wording ‘on the chest’ was not part of the original narration, therefore it being strange and not originally narrated and that this extra wording came from Yahya ibn Sa’eed al-Qattan which was not narrated from any one of the Companions [May Allaah be Pleased with them] and Sufyaan and Samaak didn’t narrate this extra wording of ‘on the chest’. We can also tell that this wording of ‘on the chest’ is strange and abnormal as trustworthy narrators narrated otherwise and this was narrated by trustworthy narrators and collected by a group of scholars. Are these narrators, who narrated below the chest, more trustworthy and greater memorisers then those who narrate otherwise or not? This was the view of ash-Shaafi’ee, Ahmad, Ibn Ma’een, Bukhaari and others from the earlier scholars of hadeeth used these narrations to prove their view and they speculated that the extra wording of ‘on the navel’ is strange as it goes against what was commonly narrated, thus they stated that this extra wording was wrong and negated it due to the principles set in the sciences of hadeeth.”
I say: stating that this hadeeth of ‘on the chest’ is strange is not correct and it certainly wasn’t the view of the early generation of the scholars of hadeeth. The reason why he stated that the narration of ‘on the chest’ was not authentic because he argued that the extra wording that get added on to narrations must be narrated by trustworthy narrators which are narrating the original narration or that the extra wording which occurs in narrations need to be examined as to which one is more authentic. These assumptions that he made where false and incorrect because extra wording which can be narrated need to be examined by the earlier scholars of hadeeth like ash-Shaafi’ee and Bukhaari and others like them from the earlier and later scholars. These scholars stated that the narrations that come with extra wording must come with supporting chains of narrations, if it doesn’t have this then the hadeeth would be deemed to be strange or abnormal.
Do we not see that Imaam al-Bukhaari [May Allaah have Mercy on him] mentioned in his Saheeh narrated narrations that were strange in their extra wording because they weren’t part of the original hadeeth which was narrated by others, however the extra wording narrated by Bukhaari is obviously accepted to be authentic. Some of the scholars of hadeeth criticised al-Bukhaari for adding these hadeeth in his Saheeh and they also stated that these narrations were not authentic. However the scholars who researched this issue answered these doubts by stating, “….these narrations that come with the extra wording are authentic”. Al-Haafith Ibn Hajar said in his introduction on page 402 of Fath al-Baaree stated, “The ahaadeeth al-Bukhaari and Muslim narrated are of various types” …he then went on to mention the different types and then said that the “third type are those ahaadeeth which were narrated with extra wording which the majority of other scholars didn’t narrate. This fact doesn’t discredit the authenticity of the narration…” he also said after narrating a hadeeth which had an extra wording, “…the extra wording narrated by Abee Ghasaan is trustworthy, he is a haafidh and Bukhaari accepted the extra wording.” End Quote. It was also mentioned that Ibn Turkmaanee discussed the issue of extra wording and he accepted as was stated his book al-Jawaahir as well as stating that Haafith az-Zayla’ee accepted them in more than one location.
Rather an-Nimawee himself stated in his book Athaar as-Sunan that extra wording is accepted on page 17 until he said, “the extra wording narrated by al-Humaydee is accepted and it is not disregarded because he is trustworthy.” End Quote.
Therefore we can see that the explanation given above by an-Nimawee is wrong as he defined the extra wording which has been narrated by narrators which wasn’t part of the original narration which was narrated by trustworthy narrators as being strange and abnormal, however we can now se that this isn’t the correct definition and approach as the scholars of hadeeth.
I say: al-Haafith Ibn Hajar stated in the introduction of his book al-Fath al-Baaree on page 445, “A hadeeth is deemed to be strange or abnormal if there are two narrations and they contradict each other, so we look at which one has more authentic narrators, if the narrators of one chain has narrators who are more precise, truthful and memorised more and they outnumber the other narration and the early scholars of hadeeth couldn’t reconcile, then this is technical definition of strange or abnormal.” End Quote.
This is the definition given by the earlier scholars of hadeeth and this is what was mentioned and accepted by Ibn Hajar in his Sharh an-Nukhbah on page 27, “so if there are narrators who are stronger in their precision or have narrated more or other reasons similar to these, then these narrators are taken above those who are lesser than them. So the correct opinion is to say that two narrations that state opposite things but one view has those narrators and supporting narrations that are more precise and are supported are accepted and those that are the opposite of these are strange or abnormal…”, until he said, “…once we know this then a strange or abnormal narration are not accepted above those that are more precise and this is due to the definition given to the terminology of a hadeeth being strange or abnormal.” End Quote.
Ibn Hajar went on to say on page 37 that extra wording attached to a narration can be Saheeh or Hasan and generally accepted if there is nothing that would negate the narration being acceptable, namely another narration which has a stronger chain which doesn’t mention the extra wording. This is because extra wording can be narrated and added to a hadeeth which doesn’t negate or contradict the original text of the hadeeth, this is accepted by all the scholars, the reason being that this extra wording can be narrated or added by someone who is trustworthy and it may be that he heard from his Shaykh whereas others didn’t. It may also be that a narration or hadeeth with extra wording can negate another hadeeth which has extra wording; this means that the scholar would need to reconcile or find the one which is more authentic, thus accepting the authentic one and rejecting the weaker one. End Quote.
Shaykh Ibn Hajar al-Haythamee said in a treatise called al-Mutaliqah bil Basmallah, “A hadeeth which is strange or abnormal is a terminology where the scholars have differed. Ash-Shaafi’ee and those others from the earlier scholars stated that a strange or abnormal hadeeth is a hadeeth which was narrated by a trustworthy narrator which has extra wording or decreased in wording, thus the scholars try to reconcile and find the stronger narration” End Quote.
Shaykh ‘Amr al-Bayqoonee said in his poem about the sciences of hadeeth that the scholars of hadeeth stated that a strange or abnormal hadeeth is what goes against the more trustworthy narration.
In explanation of the poem, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Baaqee al-Zarqaanee said, “An abnormal or strange narration is what goes against a trustworthy narrator with extra wording or decreasing his wording in the chain of narration or the text of the narration, this is what was stated by ash-Shafi’ee and a group of scholars from Hijaaz and this is the correct definition as it was mentioned in Sharh Nukhbah, because the narration which has most narrations is given the preference as well as the narrators being the strongest in their memory. Therefore, the narrator that contradicts another narrator that is more trustworthy and stronger in memory precision, then this is deemed to be strange or abnormal. Similar has been mentioned by Ibn Salaah and other than him. End Quote.
Al-Allaamah al-Majd, the author of the dictionary, stated in his poem on the principles of hadeeth stated that, “A strange or abnormal narration is a narration that is unaided and goes against what has been narrated by others…”
Shaykh Sulaymaan ibn Yahya ibn ‘amr ibn Maqbool al-Ahdee said in explaining this in his book called Manhal al-Raawee, “Strange or abnormal means something that is alone in the Arabic language…however the scholars differed in its Islamic technical meaning….There are two main definitions, the Shafi’ees and the majority of the scholars of Hijaaz stated that a strange narration is a narration which contradicts a narration which is stronger than that one, whether it is weaker in the precision, or amount of narrator or a memory of any of the narrators…If there is a narration that contradicts the trustworthy narrators either by narrating a contradictory report or a narrating a report which has extra wording or leaves some of the wording out, and there is no way of reconciliation….” End Quote.
So I say: The early scholars of hadeeth like ash-Shafi’ee, Ahmad, Ibn Ma’een, Bukhaari, Aboo Dawood, Abee Haatim, Abee ‘Alee al-Naysaapuri, al-Haakim, ad-Daraqutnee and others stated that extra wording narrated to a hadeeth didn’t mean that the hadeeth is weak.
I say: these scholars above didn’t accept the extra wording of ‘on the chest’ because they had evidence to suggest that some of the narrators had a disillusion but they didn’t doubt the hadeeth because it was strange, abnormal or alone, as Nimawee presumed.
[1] Meaning Qaatlaaboogha [TN]
[2] The Hanafee scholars have set a principle in their Madhab. They have stated if there are two narrations and one narration has an extra wording to the other or that the narrations appear to contradict each other, then the principle is that that the one with the extra wording is to be accepted and the other narration is abrogated. There are other examples of this which is a principle known as زيادة على النص and the principle has conditions and rules which have been outlined in the books of Usool of the Hanafee Madhab.
See: al-Fusool fee Usool [2/253] by Shaykh Ahmad ibn ‘Alee al-Raazee al-Jasaas , Al-‘Ilaam al-Muawiqe’een by Ibn al-Qayyim [P.38], Usool ash-Shaashee [p.70] by Nithaam ad-Deen ash-Shaashee, Al-Mukhtasar Sharh al-Rawdah [p.291] by Najm ad-Deen al-Toosee, Al-Mustasfa [p.95-7] by al-Ghazaalee, Al-Bahr al-Muheet [6/259] by Az-Zarkashi, Irshaad al-Fuhool ila Tahqeeq al-Haqq min Ilm al-Usool [2/567] by Shawkaanee, Fath al-Mugheeth [1/245] by as-Sakhaawee, Sharh al-Waraqaat by Shaykh Abd Al-Kareem al-Khudayr, Tape 3, as well as other works on the Usool of the Hanafee Madhab.
This is not the opinion of the majority of the scholars, however the point that is being made here is that there are contradictory narrations about where to place the hands, so according to this principle alone the correct view would be to accept the Tafseer of the word in the Quraan and the other narrations as it abrogates the previous narration of ‘below the navel’, even if we assume that the narration was authentic in the first place. [TN]
[3] Mursal is a narration which is not connected to the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] because the Companion is not mentioned, thus there is a gap between the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] and the Taabi’ee [TN]
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