the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—in the hadith cited earlier: “When you ask Allah, ask Him with the palms of your hands.”

Some people turn their hands in various directions when raising them in supplication, shake them, or move them in different ways.

Others rub one hand with the other or flick their hands before or while supplicating. Some kiss their hands after raising them in supplication, for which there is no basis.

Others wipe their faces with their hands after supplicating. Some hadiths have been narrated concerning this, but none is authentically established from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him. Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyya—may Allah have mercy on him—said: “As for the Prophet raising his hands in supplication, many authentic hadiths have been narrated concerning it. As for wiping his face with his hands, only one or two hadiths have been narrated from him, and they do not constitute sufficient proof.”1

Among the innovated forms of raising the hands is kissing the thumbs and placing them over the eyes when the Prophet’s name—peace and blessings be upon him—is mentioned during the adhān or at any other time. A fabricated hadith has been narrated concerning this, but it cannot authentically be attributed to