Those who held that only one salam should be given cited the following evidence:
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A report whose authenticity is questionable. (1)
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The reasoning that this prayer is founded upon brevity, and one salam is lighter.
However, if he gives two salams, there is no harm in it, and he should not be reproached for doing so.
Likewise, if the imam gives one salam, the follower may give two salams, since this does not constitute differing from him.
His statement, “He raises his hands with each takbir”: the pronoun in “he raises” refers to the one praying; that is, he raises his hands with each takbir in the same manner that he raises them in the obligatory prayer—until they are level with his shoulders or with the upper parts of his ears.
His statement, “with each takbir”: this is the correct view, and the evidence for it is as follows:
- The sunnah has been reported to this effect (2) through a sound chain, as Shaykh Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz—may Allah preserve him—said. Al-Daraqutni considered it defective because of Umar ibn Shaybah (3), but Shaykh Abd al-Aziz said: Umar is reliable, and an addition narrated by a reliable transmitter is accepted by hadith scholars if it does not conflict with anything else—and here there is no conflict;