1356 – Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Your Lord is Modest and Generous; He feels shy to turn His servant away empty-handed when the servant raises his hands to Him in supplication.” Recorded by the Four except al-Nasaʾi, and declared authentic by al-Hakim. (1)
Degree of authenticity:
Sound chain of transmission.
Ṣiddiq b. Ḥasan stated: It appears in Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi—who graded it “good”—, Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, and al-Hakim, who ruled it authentic according to the standards of al-Bukhari and Muslim through Salman’s narration. Al-Bayhaqi also transmitted it, and al-Hakim judged the isnad sound through the narration of Anas as well.
Al-Dhahabi remarked: “This is a well-known hadith; a number of Companions transmitted it from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), among them ‘Ali, Ibn ‘Umar, and Anas.”
Vocabulary:
• ḥayiyy: derived from ḥayiya (to feel modesty). Bashfulness is an attribute affirmed for Allah the Exalted; we believe in its reality in a manner befitting His majesty, while consigning knowledge of its exact nature to Him.
• ṣifran: with a kasrah on the sād, meaning “empty.” That is, He does not send the servant back without granting what he sought. Al-Miṣbāḥ says: ṣifr, rhyming with ḥiml, denotes being empty-handed, derived from ṣafīr—“a sound devoid of articulated letters.”
Lessons drawn from the hadith:
- The report establishes the legitimacy of raising the hands in supplication, and that raising the hands when making du‘ā’ is among