his ears (1). It is also reported that he raised them “up to his shoulders” (2). Abū Humayd al-Sāʿidī and those with him said, “Until his hands were level with his shoulders” (3). Ibn ʿUmar said the same (4). Wāʾil ibn Hujr (5) said, “Level with his ears.” Al-Barāʾ (6) said, “Close to his ears.” Some therefore held that either practice was permissible; others said that the upper part of his hand reached the tops of his ears, while his palm (7) was level with his shoulders, so there was no discrepancy. The reports did not differ concerning the point at which he performed this raising of the hands.
He would then place his right hand on the back of his left, over (8) the wrist and forearm. No authentic report from him establishes where he placed them, but Abū Dāwūd (9) related that ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib said:
(1) Reported by al-Bukhārī (737) and Muslim (391), from Mālik ibn al-Huwayrith.
(2) Reported by Ibn Hibbān (1868), from ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Umar.
(3) Reported by Ahmad (23599), Abū Dāwūd (730), al-Tirmidhī (304), al-Nasā’ī in al-Mujtabā (1181) and al-Kubrā (1105), and Ibn Mājah (862). Graded authentic by al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Khuzaymah (587, 651, 685, 700), and Ibn Hibbān (1865).
(4) Reported by Muslim (380).
(5) Reported by Abū Dāwūd (728). Also reported by Ahmad (18850), al-Tirmidhī (292), and Ibn Mājah (810), with the wording: “Level with his shoulders.” Graded authentic by al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Khuzaymah (690, 713).
(6) Reported by ‘Abd al-Razzāq (2530)—and through him by Ahmad (18702)—and by al-Bukhārī in Juz’ raf‘ al-yadayn (Treatise on Raising the Hands) (35), Abū Dāwūd (749), and al-Dāraqutnī (1126). All transmit it through Sufyān al-Thawrī, from Yazīd ibn Abī Ziyād, from ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Abī Laylā, from al-Barā’, with this wording. Its chain includes Yazīd ibn Abī Ziyād, who is weak.
(7) k, mb, n read: “wa-kaffāhu (and his two palms).”
(8) The word fawq (“over”) is omitted in k.
(9) In al-Sunan (756). Also reported by Ahmad (875), al-Dāraqutnī (1102), and, through him, al-Bayhaqī (2:31). Its chain includes ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Ishāq. Al-Bayhaqī said: “This ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Ishāq is al-Wāsitī al-Qurashī, whose reliability was criticized by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Yahyā ibn Ma‘īn, al-Bukhārī, and others.” The hadith is therefore weak. Abū Dāwūd said: “It was also related from Abū Hurayrah, but it is not strong.” He then cited the hadith (758) from Abū Hurayrah and said: “I heard Ahmad ibn Hanbal declare ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Ishāq al-Kūfī weak.” This al-Kūfī is the al-Wāsitī al-Qurashī mentioned above.
Abū Dāwūd also reported (757), from Ibn Jarīr al-Dabbī, from his father: “I saw ‘Alī, may Allah be pleased with him, holding his left hand with his right at the wrist, above the navel.” Its chain includes Ibn Jarīr al-Dabbī and his father, both of whom are unknown narrators. See Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, al-Tamhīd, 20:75–76.