that are unruly?”

Shums (“unruly”) is the plural of shamūs, commonly pronounced shamūs with a sād. It describes a horse that swishes its tail to the right and left—a movement without stillness. As for raising the hands when bowing and when rising from bowing, just as they are raised at the opening of the prayer, this is prescribed by agreement of the Muslims. How, then, could the hadith prohibit it?

His words, “Remain still in prayer,” encompass this as well. Thus, one of the imams who did not regard this raising of the hands as prescribed once prayed beside ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak. When Ibn al-Mubārak raised his hands, he asked him, “Are you trying to fly?” He replied, “If I am flying the first time, then I am flying the second time; otherwise, I am not.” This refutes the reasoning he had put forward.

Moreover, reports from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his Companions establishing this raising of the hands have been mass-transmitted. Thus, the hadith cannot be a prohibition of it, nor can it contradict those reports. Even if they did conflict, the hadiths establishing this raising of the hands are numerous and mass-transmitted, and must be given precedence over a report that is not mass-transmitted, were it to contradict them.

This raising of the hands is accompanied by stillness. His words, “Remain still in prayer,” therefore do not preclude it, just as they do not preclude raising the hands at the opening of the prayer or the other actions of prayer. Rather, his command, “Remain still,” requires stillness in every