the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him. Its wording is: “Whoever, upon hearing ‘I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,’ says, ‘Welcome to my beloved and the delight of my eyes, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah,’ then kisses his thumbs and places them over his eyes, will never go blind or suffer from sore eyes.” More than one scholar has expressly stated that this hadith is false and cannot authentically be attributed to the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him.1 Among the absurd tales of the Sufis is the claim by some of them that this was a saying of al-Khidr—peace be upon him.2
Another innovation in this regard is the practice of some people who bring together the fingers of the right hand and place them over the right eye, and the fingers of the left hand over the left eye, then mumble some recitation or supplication.
Another practice that has no established basis is for a person to place his right hand on his head after concluding the prayer with the salutation and supplicate. They base this on what is narrated from Anas ibn Mālik—may Allah be pleased with him—who said: “When the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—completed his prayer, he would wipe his forehead with his right hand and say: ‘In the name of Allah, other than whom there is no deity, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. O Allah, remove distress and sorrow from me.’” It was narrated by al-Tabarānī in al-Awsat and by al-Bazzār, but this hadith is not authentically established from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him.3 Another error in this regard is that some worshippers point with both index fingers during the tashahhud. It is authentically established in the hadith that “the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—passed by a man who was supplicating while pointing with both index fingers, so the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said: ‘Use one; use one.’” It was narrated by al-Tirmidhī.4
Another violation in this regard is that some people designate particular times for raising their hands in supplication without any religious basis for singling out those times, such as one who raises