218 – Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported: “The Prophet ﷺ used to raise his hands level with his shoulders when he opened the prayer, when he pronounced the takbīr for rukūʿ (bowing), and when he lifted his head after bowing.” Agreed upon.⦗1⦘

In the report of Abū Humayd, recorded by Abū Dāwūd, it says: “He would raise his hands until they were in line with his shoulders, and then he would pronounce the takbīr.”⦗2⦘

Muslim narrates, on the authority of Mālik ibn al-Ḥuwayrith (may Allah be pleased with him), a report similar to that of Ibn ʿUmar, but it states: “until they were in line with the lobes of his ears.”⦗3⦘

— Hadith grading —
The ḥadith of Abū Humayd is authentic; its principal chain is in al-Bukhārī, and it was declared sound by Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn Ḥibbān, and Ibn al-Qayyim. Al-Ṭaḥāwī objected, claiming that Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr never met Abū Qatādah, for it was transmitted by ʿAṭṭāf ibn Khālid from Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, who said: “A man told me that he found ten of the Prophet’s Companions.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ said: My investigation shows that the Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr from whom ʿAṭṭāf ibn Khālid related is Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAlqamah al-Laythī. He never met Abū Qatādah, nor anything close to that; he narrates from Abū Salamah and other senior Successors.

As for the Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr from whom ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Jaʿfar narrated, he is Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAṭāʾ, a senior Successor about whom al-Bukhārī stated unequivocally that he heard from Abū Humayd and others,