One of the characteristics of a believer is that after taslim in every obligatory prayer he must raise his hands up to his ears and then bring them back down to his thighs, repeating this action three times and each time say: Allahu Akbar. ‘Ali Ibn Ibrahim, Sayyid Ibn Tauss, and Ibn Babwayh Qummi have reported that Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (‘a), through a very reliable chain of narration that Mufadhil Ibn Amr asked the Imam about the justification of the three takbirat after salat. The Imam replied that the Holy Prophet (S) after the conquest of Makkah offered the Zuhr prayer along with his companions near the black stone. The Prophet (S) after taslim repeated the takbir three times and in each time doing so raised his hands and said the following du’a:

“Laa ilaha illallahu wahdahu wahdah wahdah wanjaza wahdah

Wa nasara ‘abdah wa ‘izza jundah wa ghalabul ahzaha wahdah

Falahul mulku walahul hamd yuhyi wa yumitu wa huwa ‘ala kulli shay in qadeer”

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, He is alone He is alone He is alone. And he fulfilled his promise and awarded victory to his slave, and dignified his soldiers, and dominated the parties by himself. So, to him be the kingdom and to him be the praise. He gives life and death and he has power over everything.

Then the Prophet (S) turned his face towards his companions and emphasized not to abandon these three takbirat and du’a after every salat, and that whoever does so after taslim, he in fact thanks Allah for His bounties.

Also, one of the main authorities of Sunni literature, Sahih Muslim, we see that Ibn Abbas narrates: “We knew that the Prophet had concluded his prayers when he recited the three takbirat.”1

• 1. Sahih Muslim 1:219, Inquiries about Shi’a Islam, page 68 by Sayed Moustafa Al-Qazwini.