Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, together with Abū Zurʿah, likewise said, “His ḥadith is not admissible as proof.” Al-Nasāʾī judged him “weak.” Al-Bukhārī related: “Muḥammad narrated to us, al-Humaydī narrated to us, from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, that he considered him to be of no significance whatsoever.” Muslim wrote: “Wakīʿ, Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān, and Ibn Mahdī all abandoned him,” while Maymūn al-Makkī is unknown.

Among the reports on this issue is what Abū Dāwūd and al-Nasāʾī recorded in their Sunans, transmitted by al-Naḍr ibn Kathīr—meaning al-Saʿdī—who said: “ʿAbdullāh ibn Ṭāwūs prayed next to me in the Mosque of al-Khayf. Whenever he completed the first prostration and raised his head from it, he would raise his hands in front of his face. I found this strange, so I mentioned it to Wahīb ibn Khālid. Wahīb said to him, ‘You are doing something I have never seen anyone else do.’ Ibn Ṭāwūs replied, ‘I saw my father do it, and my father said, “I saw Ibn ʿAbbās do it,” and—so far as I know—he added, “The Prophet ﷺ used to do it.”’ ”

Al-Mundhirī remarked in Tadhīb al-Sunan, “Al-Naḍr ibn Kathīr Abū Sahl al-Saʿdī al-Baṣrī is weak in ḥadith.” Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Aḥmad al-Nīsābūrī said, “This is a rejected report from the narrations of Ibn Ṭāwūs.” I add: Abū Ḥātim said of al-Naḍr ibn Kathīr, “He is questionable,” while al-Bukhārī said, “He has objectionable narrations.” Ibn Ḥibbān declared, “He transmits fabrications from reliable narrators; it is never permissible to cite him as evidence.”

In view of what has been mentioned, the soundest report I have come across on this subject is the one al-Nasāʾī included in his Sunan: Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā informed us, saying, ‘Ibn Abī ʿAdī narrated to us, from Shuʿbah, from Qatādah, from Naṣr ibn ʿĀṣim, from Mālik ibn al-Ḥuwayrith (may Allah be pleased with him): that he saw the Prophet ﷺ raise his hands in his prayer, and when he bowed…’