- “For every gesture a man makes with his hand during his prayer, ten good deeds are recorded—one for each finger.”
Abū ʿUthmān al-Buḥayrī recorded it in al-Fawāʾid (folio 39/2), as did al-Daylamī (4/344), through the route of Ibn Lahīʿah, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hubayrah, who said: Abū Muṣʿab al-Maʿāfirī informed me that he heard ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir ... attributing it to the Prophet.
Through this same route, Muʾammal ibn Ihāb recorded it in his hadith booklet (98/26), as did Ibn Abī al-Ḥadīd al-Sulamī in The Hadith of Abū al-Faḍl al-Sulamī (4/2). However, the two of them said, “from Abū ʿUshshānah,” instead of “Abū Muṣʿab,” and recorded it in a highly abridged form: “For every gesture during prayer, there are ten good deeds.”
The first version is more preponderant, both in its chain of transmission and its text, as shown by al-Ṭabarānī’s narration in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr, through the route of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Muqriʾ, from Ibn Lahīʿah, who said: Ibn Hubayrah narrated to me that Abū Muṣʿab, Mishraḥ ibn Hāʿān al-Maʿāfirī, narrated to him that he heard ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir al-Juhanī relate it. This version contains the additional wording. Though it is not expressly attributed to the Prophet, it carries the ruling of a report attributed to him, as is evident, since such a matter cannot be stated on the basis of mere opinion.
Its chain of transmission is authentic, for Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Muqriʾ—who was ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yazīd al-Miṣrī—was one of the group of transmitters known as “the ʿAbd Allāhs,” who heard from Ibn Lahīʿah before his memory deteriorated. Among them was ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak. Al-Daylamī’s narration is through his route, though it contains someone whom I have not identified. Al-Daylamī also narrated it as a suspended citation from al-Ḥākim, to whom al-Suyūṭī attributed it in al-Jāmiʿ al-Kabīr, while qualifying this by saying, “... in his History.” In that work, as well as in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr, he also attributed it to Muʾammal ibn Ihāb in his hadith booklet. He overlooked attributing it to al-Ṭabarānī, despite its being found in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid, where al-Haythamī said (2/103):
“Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it, and its chain of transmission is good.”