Among the sunna practices of the prayer he said: “It is recommended to raise one’s hands in four situations: first, at the opening takbīrah of consecration; second and third, when bowing (rukūʿ) and when rising from it; and fourth, when standing up for the third rakʿah.”

I say: The raising of the hands is authentically established for the other takbīrahs as well. As for raising them when moving down to prostrate (sujūd) and when rising from it, there are many ḥadiths transmitted from ten Companions; I have documented them in Al-Taʿlīqāt al-Jiyād. Among them is the report of Mālik ibn al-Ḥuwayrith, who related that he saw the Prophet ﷺ raise his hands in prayer whenever he bowed, whenever he lifted his head from bowing, whenever he prostrated, and whenever he lifted his head from prostration, until they were level with the lobes of his ears. Al-Nasāʾī, Aḥmad, and Ibn Ḥazm recorded it with a chain that meets Muslim’s criteria, and Abū ʿAwānah included it in his Ṣaḥīḥ, as cited by Ibn Ḥajar in Fatḥ al-Bārī, who then said:

“This is the soundest report I have encountered concerning the raising of the hands during prostration.”

With respect to raising the hands for the remaining takbīrahs, several ḥadiths state that the Prophet ﷺ used to raise his hands at every takbīrah.

There is no contradiction between these ḥadiths and the earlier narration of Ibn ʿUmar cited in the book, which says “…and he did not raise them between the two prostrations,” for that narration is negative, whereas these are affirmative, and—as is well known in uṣūl—an affirmative report takes precedence over a negative one.

Indeed, raising the hands between the two prostrations has been established from a number of the early generations, among them Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), and even from Ibn ʿUmar himself: Ibn Ḥazm transmitted through Nāfiʿ that Ibn ʿUmar used to raise his hands when he prostrated and between the two rakʿahs, and its chain is strong. Al-Bukhārī, in his monograph Rafʿ al-Yadayn, p. 7, likewise narrated through Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh that his father, when he raised his head from prostration