at the opening takbīr—it is a prescribed practice acknowledged by the unanimous agreement of the Muslims.
I add: the earlier dissent of the people of Kūfa has already been noted. Shaykh al-Islām remarked that they are excused until the Sunnah of Allah’s Messenger ﷺ reaches them.
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Another narration reads: “He would raise his hands until they were level with the upper parts of his ears.” The sound reconciliation between the two reports is to view them as a latitude that reflects differing circumstances; both positions are sunnah.
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Sharḥ al-Iqnaʿ states: “Raising the hands as one begins to bow is recommended, because the ḥadith says, ‘When he uttered the takbīr for bowing….’”
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Raising the hands at all of these points is among the recommended acts of prayer. Ibn al-Qayyim said: Around thirty Companions transmitted that he raised his hands at these three positions, the Ten Promised Paradise unanimously relate it, and no authentic report contradicts them. Sharḥ al-Iqnaʿ further comments: “Raising the hands in its proper place is part of the completeness and sunan of the prayer; therefore, the one who raises his hands where prescribed performs a more perfect prayer than the one who does not, on account of the transmitted reports.”
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The scholars have differed regarding the wisdom behind raising the hands. Concerning the inaugural takbīr they said: it removes the veil of heedlessness from Allah and signals entrance into His presence, while in the subsequent positions it is an act of magnifying Allah. Others likened it to surrender and submission, like a captive who yields. Still others saw it as an adornment of the prayer; this is related from Ibn ʿUmar. In every case it is an act of following a Sunnah firmly established from Allah’s Messenger ﷺ.
Benefit: A fourth occasion in which it is legislated to raise the hands has also been reported—namely, when one rises from the first tashahhud in prayers that contain two tashahhuds. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (736) records, in the ḥadith of Ibn ʿUmar, that “when Allah’s Messenger ﷺ stood after two rakʿahs he would raise his hands until they were level with his shoulders, just as he did when inaugurating the prayer.” The same report is also found in Sunan Abū Dāwūd (721), al-Tirmidhī (218), and Ibn Ḥibbān.