Shaykh al-Albani based his affirmation of raising the hands in prostration and when rising from it on the anomalous reports already cited from Malik ibn al-Huwayrith and Waʾil ibn Hujr (may Allah be pleased with them). One should not build a case on such reports, for they are anomalous and clash with what is more firmly authenticated—namely the hadiths of Ibn ʿUmar and ʿAli (may Allah be pleased with them). Allah knows best.

Seventh Notice
In a footnote on page 100 the author writes: “The Imam of the Sunnah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, also acted upon it.”

What he means is the raising of the hands at the time of prostration. I say: if Shaykh al-Albani intended to assert that Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) practiced this consistently and adopted it as his official doctrine—as his wording in the footnote on page 112 seems to suggest—then that is not authentically established from Ahmad.

If, however, he only meant that Ahmad sometimes held this view or did it on occasion without making it a constant habit, then that has indeed been related from him, although the sound position transmitted from Ahmad is otherwise. On this issue there are three reported opinions. One of them states that raising the hands is restricted to three points: first, when opening the prayer; second, at bowing (rukuʿ); and third, when rising from bowing. This has been transmitted both as Ahmad’s practice and as his explicit statement.