Narration:
"The Messenger of Allah ﷺ raised his hands in supplication, and the people raised their hands as they supplicated."

Al-Bukhari records it in suspended form, while al-Bayhaqi and others supply a connected chain. The report contains no indication that the congregation exaggerated in lifting their hands; that detail is confirmed only for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself, as in the ḥadith of ʿĀʾishah cited in this book and the ḥadith of Anas in the two Ṣaḥīḥs. Accordingly, I regard exaggerated raising of the hands as prescribed for the imam alone, not for those praying behind him.

His statement under no. 1: "…from ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zayd al-Māzinī that the Prophet ﷺ went out with the people to seek rain and led them in two rakʿahs in which he recited aloud… the ḥadith. It was recorded by all the compilers."

I say: This attribution is somewhat lax, for the clause "recited aloud" is not reported by Muslim—as Zaylaʿī explicitly notes in Naṣb al-Rāyah 2/239—nor is it reported by Ibn Mājah. See Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl no. 664.

His statement under no. 3: "On the authority of what Ibn Mājah and Abū ʿAwānah narrated: Ibn ʿAbbās said, ‘A Bedouin came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I have come to you from a people for whom no shepherd can store provisions and no sire camel approaches a female.’ The Prophet ﷺ mounted the pulpit, praised Allah, and then said: ‘O Allah, send us wholesome, life-giving rain—plentiful, copious, immediate and not delayed.’ Then he descended…’ Ibn Mājah and Abū ʿAwānah recorded it, its transmitters are trustworthy, and al-Ḥāfiẓ remained silent about it in al-Talkhīṣ."

I say: Its transmitters are trustworthy, as he stated, yet that alone does not render the chain sound, as we clarified in the Introduction. A defect that undermines its authenticity is that it is transmitted by Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit from Ibn ʿAbbās, and Ḥabīb was known for extensive tadlīs (concealing his intermediary), as al-Ḥāfiẓ mentions in al-Taqrīb. A mudallis’s report is not accepted when he employs ʿanʿanah, as we likewise explained in the Introduction. Therefore, whoever deems this report authentic