Al-Hafiz (Ibn Hajar) states explicitly in Fath al-Bari (2/177) that raising the hands in positions other than the three widely accepted ones—the opening takbir, the bowing, and the rise from bowing—is authentically reported from Ibn Umar, Ibn Abbas, Tawus, Nafi, and Ata, as transmitted by Abd al-Razzaq and others through strong chains. Several foremost jurists and hadith scholars held this view. Among them is the Imam of the Sunnah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, according to one narration. Ibn al-Qayyim records in Badai al-Fawaid (3/89): “Al-Athram (the manuscript reads: Ibn al-Athram) related that when Ahmad was asked about raising the hands he answered, ‘At every lowering and rising.’ Al-Athram added: ‘I saw Abu Abd Allah (Ahmad) raise his hands in prayer at every lowering and rising.’” Al-Hafiz Abu Zurah Ibn al-Iraqi writes in Tarh al-Tathrib (2/262), after citing the foregoing reports and others: “Ibn Hazm and Ibn al-Qattan declared sound the hadith that prescribes raising the hands at every lowering and rising, whereas the majority judged it defective … Hence the four imams adhered to the narrations that negate raising during the prostrations, because they are sounder, and they weakened whatever contradicted them, as noted above; this is the position of most scholars, early and late. Others relied on the hadiths that mention raising the hands at every lowering and rising, authenticated them, and argued that an affirmative report takes precedence over a negating one. This was the view of Ibn Hazm al-Zahiri, who asserted that the traditions on raising the hands at every lowering and rising are mutawatir and yield certain knowledge. This opinion is also attributed to Ibn Umar, Ibn Abbas, al-Hasan al-Basri, Tawus, his son Abd Allah, and Nafi the client of Ibn Abbas—though, as al-Muhalla points out, the correct attribution is Nafi the client of Ibn Umar.