Our teacher said: “Shortening these two essential postures was among the changes and innovations the Umayyad rulers introduced into the prayer, just as they introduced the practice of omitting some (1) of the takbīrs (declarations of Allah’s greatness), delaying the prayer excessively, and other practices contrary to his guidance (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Some came to regard certain such innovations as recommended (2), until this was thought to be part of the Sunnah.”
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Then he would say the takbīr and fall into prostration without raising his hands. It has also been reported that he would raise them, and some leading hadith scholars, such as Ibn Hazm (3), graded this report authentic. This, however, is an error: no such practice is authentically reported from him (4) at all. What (5) misled him was that the narrator mistakenly changed the wording from “He would say the takbīr whenever he lowered or raised himself” (6) to “He would raise his hands whenever he lowered or raised himself,” although the narrator was trustworthy (7); and he did not
(1) k: tamām (“completion”).
(2) The phrase wa-ra’ā fī dhālika man ra’ā (“some adopted that view”) occurs only in q. It means that some, following their own judgment, considered certain practices introduced by those rulers to be recommended. This resembles the author’s statement in Kitāb al-Salāh (The Book of Prayer): “… This—namely, shortening the two upright postures—became a hallmark, to the point that some jurists considered it recommended and disliked prolonging them.” In n: wa-rubbiya fī dhālika man rubbiya (“some were brought up with this practice”).
(3) In al-Muhallā, 3:235.
(4) The word ‘anhu (“from him”) is omitted in k, which also reads wa-lam yasihh (“and it was not authentic”).
(5) The word alladhī (“what”) is omitted in k.
(6) Reported by al-Bukhārī (785) and Muslim (392), both through Mālik (199), from Abū Hurayra. Al-Bukhārī also reported it from ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib (784) and ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Abbās (787).
(7) He is the trustworthy narrator ‘Ubayd Allāh ibn ‘Umar al-‘Umarī, transmitting from Nāfi‘, from Ibn ‘Umar, in the report recorded by al-Tahāwī in Mushkil al-Āthār (5831). Al-Tahāwī said: “This hadith, as transmitted from Nāfi‘ in ‘Ubayd Allāh’s narration, was anomalous. It has also been transmitted from Nāfi‘ differently from the version ‘Ubayd Allāh transmitted from him.” See the earlier source references. Ibn ‘Umar’s hadith explicitly states that he did not raise his hands when prostrating. Reported by Mālik (196), al-Bukhārī (735, 736, 738, 739), and Muslim (390).