used to raise his hands for every takbir of the funeral prayer.” Indeed, it has also been narrated from him in a report traced back to the Prophet, and some scholars authenticated it as such.

Note: The author did not explain how the hands are to be raised, as this was discussed previously at the beginning of the description of the prayer. As for the Eid prayer, it is reported from Umar that “he would raise his hands with every takbir in the funeral and Eid prayers.” The same is reported from Zayd ibn Thabit. Both reports were narrated by al-Athram (1).

His statement, “And he says: ‘Allah is Most Great, greatly so …’”: that is, between each takbir and the next, he says, “Allah is Most Great, greatly so; and all praise is due to Allah, abundantly …,” and so on.

This remembrance requires a report from the Prophet, because it is a specific, prescribed remembrance within an act of worship. Yet it has not been transmitted from the Prophet that he used to say this. Rather, it is reported from Ibn Masud that he said: “He praises Allah, extols Him, and sends prayers upon the Prophet” (2).

Praising and extolling Allah may be done by saying: “All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful.” This is praise and extolling, according to the explicit wording of the hadith in which Allah says: “When the worshipper says, ‘All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds,’ Allah says, ‘My servant has praised Me.’ And when he says, ‘The Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful,’ He says, ‘My servant has extolled Me’” (3). But this lengthy remembrance requires a textual proof, and there is no such proof.

Some scholars said that he should pronounce the takbirs without reciting any remembrance between them.