Qabd al-yadayn

183215

Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answer updated 1 year ago

Leading Sunni Shaikh Sayyed Saabiq of Al-Azhar stated that there is no single Hadeeth which can be considered as authentic suggesting that the Prophet (SAWA) ever crossed his hands during Salah (Fiqh Al-Sunnah).  That is why you find none of Sunnis is claiming folding or crossing the hands during Salah as Wajib and you find different verdicts among them. Imam Malik who is one of the four main Sunni Imams stated that the Salah of the Prophet (SAWA) and his companions after him is with open hands and never with holding or crossing hands. Imam Malik was asked about crossing hands in Salah, he replied: I don't know it , which means that it was not practiced by the Prophet nor his companions. (Al-Moghni by Ibn Qudamah, page 514).
'This crossing or folding hands was ordered first by Omar ibn al-Khattab when prisoners of war were brought from Persia to Madina and they did that as it was part of their culture or religious practice when they saw him as a sign of respect to the head of the state. He liked it and ordered his people to do it in Salah.(Jawahir Al -Kalam, V.11, page 19). Many leading companions rejected it as it was never done or approved by the Prophet (SAWA).

Imam Ali (AS) who is the best who knows about the Prophet, has repeatedly objected on crossing hands and called it emitting non Muslims as Jewish and Majoos fold their hands during their prayer. Imam Ali (AS): أسبلوا ولا تتشبهوا باليهود. أسبلوا ولا تتشبهوا بالمجوس Pray with your hands open and never imitate Jewish people. Keep your hands open while praying and never resemble Majoos.

Wassalam.

128333

Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 2 years ago

Woman is recommended to put her hands separately on the two sides of her chest. That is not folding hands at all. 
Wassalam.

133706

Amina Inloes, Amina Inloes is originally from the US and has a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter on Shi'a hadith. She is the program leader for the MA Islamic Studies program at the... Answered 3 years ago

The chain of narration is: حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو تَوْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا الْهَيْثَمُ، - يَعْنِي ابْنَ حُمَيْدٍ - عَنْ ثَوْرٍ، عَنْ سُلَيْمَانَ بْنِ مُوسَى، عَنْ طَاوُسٍ،

The first narrator, Tawus, is considered to be Tawus ibn Kaysan, who was born in 30 AH. Since the Prophet (S) passed away in 11 AH, obviously he did not see this directly and was reporting from someone else whose name is not mentioned.

So, from that angle, one could introduce a question mark into the narration.

Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 3 years ago

This narration is in Sunan Abi Dawood (volume 1, page 495). It is in fact against folding hands and it never says that the Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) folded his hands but it says that the Prophet (SAWA) said: As if I am seeing the Rabbis of Bani Israel putting their right hands on their left Hands in their Prayer.
It is in fact against folding hands in Prayer because it proves that it is a Jewish practice. That is why Sunni Ulama don't mention it to prove folding hands but they mainly mention a narration of Sahl ibn Sa'd in Bukhari (740) saying: People were been ordered to fold their hands during Salah. He never said that the Prophet did that, nor ordered it. People were obviously been ordered by the governments to do so.

'Wassalam.

134115

The default position when you stand up to commence prayer is putting hands on the side - sadl al-yadayn. This was the way Muslims in Medina, Makka, and later in cities such as Kufa, would have been praying, until the rise of the Umayyads in Syria.

The contrary position of qabd - folding hands - almost certainly got introduced by Mu’awiya and this Umayyad custom survived into Sunni orthodoxy, except for the Maliki madhhab.

Professor Yasin Dutton has written an interesting paper - Amal vs Hadith in Islamic Law - that tackles this topic where he says:

  • The non-Sunni madhhab’s, however - the Ithna Asahri Shi’a, the Zaydi’s, the Isma’li’s and the Ibadi’s (Khawarij) - are all agreed, along with the majority of the Maliki’s, on sadl.

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, a prominent contemporary Sunni scholar, has explained, in a video you can find online, how the act of folding hands, versus not, was seen as an indicator of political affiliation during those days such as the civil war between Imam ‘Ali and Mu’awiya. Clearly he sees sadl as the more authentic and well-evidenced position.

He makes the following key points:

  • People who were on the side of Imam ‘Ali in the civil wars prayed with their hands by the side (sadl)
  • Even the Khawarij who seceded from the side continued to pray like that.
  • Later Shi’a Imams, for instance Imams al-Baqir and Ja’far al-Sadiq, prayed the same way, without folding.
  • Basically the outward form of a person, practicing sadl or qabd, used to be an immediate and visual indicator of their political position with respect to Imam ‘Ali or Mu’awiya.

Hope this helps.

107525

Zoheir Ali Esmail, Shaykh Zoheir Ali Esmail has a Bsc in Accounting and Finance from the LSE in London, and an MA in Islamic Studies from Middlesex University. He studied Arabic at Damascus University and holds a PhD... Answered 4 years ago

Bismillah

Evil thoughts especially when they are not within a person's control are not considered sins. The best way to rid yourself of these thoughts is to absolutely ignore them. They will become less and less until they fade away completely. They are not really what you think but something that just crosses your mind and they should be treated as such. If it has reached the stage when you cannot help making yourself think these things then again the best remedy is not to punish yourself at all, but to completely ignore them as if they did not even occur. Over time it will pass.

May you always be successful

72572

Abolfazl Sabouri, Abolfazl Sabouri is based in New Zealand and has an MA in Jurisprudence and Islamic Studies. He is a graduate of Elmiyeh seminary in Qom with more than 15 years of study and research where he has... Answer updated 4 years ago

It is because of different ahadith.

The position of the hand in prayer may not be very important, but a scholar must determine who he should refer to after the demise of Prophet to receive the his Sunnah, and  he should know that who is his Ulolamr. Should he refer to the Ahl al-Bayt or he can refer to the companions of the Prophet, even though some of them, they don't know deeply about Islam?

The followers of Ahlulbeit are called Shia and the followers of companions are called Sonni.

97788

Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 5 years ago

1, Folding arms while praying was never practiced nor permitted by the Prophet Muhammad (SAWA). It was started by Omar Ibn al-Khattab when he saw the Zoroastrian prisoners of war who were brought from Persia to Madina folding their arms as a sign of respect. He ordered people to do that during Salah. Leading Sunni scholars like Ibn Rushd in Bidayat al-Mujtahid page 323 admitted that there is no evidence at all that the Prophet (SAWA) ever folded his hands or arms during praying.
Sunni well know scholar Malik ibn Anas who is the founder of Maliki Sunni sect refused this practice of folding hands while praying.

'Many well known Sahaba (Companions) refused folding hands like Ibn Abbas, Ibn Mas'ood, and above all and most importantly Imam Ali (AS) who was ordering Muslims to do this practice which is from non Muslims.

2.Sajdagah: We follow the real Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) who never prostrated during prayers on carpet or textile and used to put his forehead on the earth. He said: The earth was made for me as place for prostration and purification. جُعِلت لى الأرض مسجدا وطهورا 

That is why we put Sajdagah to put our forehead on the clay of the earth like the practice of the Prophet (SAWA).

Wassalam.

76505

Abbas Di Palma, Shaykh Abbas Di Palma holds a BA and an MA degree in Islamic Studies, and certifications from the Language Institute of Damascus University. He has also studied traditional Islamic sciences in... Answer updated 5 years ago

as salam alaikum

the opinion of the Ahl al-Bayt and the ijma' of their scholars is that sadl (praying without hands folded) should be performed while standing during salat.

Imami sources establish it through several ahadith on the authority of the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt like when Imam al-Sadiq describes the modality of salat to Hammad Ibn 'Isa (see "Man la yahduruhu al-Faqih" by Shaykh Saduq, vol. 1, p. 196).

In Zaydi sources there is a hadith on the authority of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his family, in the "Manahi" of Ibn Mansur where he stops a man while praying with folded hands saying that this is the way of the prayer of Ahl al-Kitab.

In Sunni sources many scholars of the Malikiyyah and some of the Shafi'iyyah brought forth a sahih hadith from Sunan al-Nisa'i as evidence.

Ibadi sources report an hadith on the authority of the Prophet in this regard (see "al-Idah" by 'Amir Ibn 'Ali al-Shamakhi).

As far as the Qur'an, some scholars have quoted the verse "The believers are successful! Those who have khusu' in their prayers" (23:1-2) and said that praying with folded hands would invalidate the khusu' during salat. Wa Allahu A'lam.

With prayers for your success.

74038

Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 5 years ago

The habit of folding ( crossing) 

hands during Salaah came from non-Muslims (notably Zoroastrians) and wasn’t part of the Salaah of the Holy Prophet (sawa), nor during the government of Abu Baker. However, during the rule of Umer ibn Khattab, when Persia was concurred by Muslims, several prisoners of war were brought from Persia to Madina. They folded their hands in front of Umer, who asked them why they did so. They responded that it was their habit in front of respected people. Umer liked it and decided to keep it in the prayer. Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s) and many of the Sahaba refused this, because no one has the right to change or add or to omit anything from the Salaah, and the Prophet (sawa) had famously said, “Pray as you saw me praying.
Therefore Amir ul Mo’mineen (a.s), his followers (Ammar ibn Yasir, Salman al Farsi, Abu Dhar al Ghifari) and all of his other pious companions continued opening their hands while praying, exactly like the Prophet (s) used to. 
In the Sunni school of thought, none of the four leading jurists (Abu Hanifa, Shafi’i, Malik ibn Anas, Ahmad ibn Hanbal) ever said that it was obligatory to fold hands during Salaah, because there was no evidence to support it. Imam Malik even said it was not good to fold hands, and all Malikis thus open their hands in Salaah. A famous Sunni ‘Aalim from Egypt, Sayyid Sabiq, wrote in his book Fiqh as Sunnah: “we do not have even a single authentic Hadith that the Prophet (s) ever folded his hands in the Salaah.
 Numerous famous individuals from the Sunni school of thought such as Abdullah ibn Zubayr and Laith bin Saad didn’t fold their hands either. Folding hands in Salaah was therefore not part of Islam, it was brought to Muslims from non Muslims by Umer ibn Khattab.

Wassalam.