Seeking Assistance From Other Than Allah

Khalid bin Hazzah

Imam Dhahabi and Hafidh Asqalani write:

Imam ibn sa’ad khalid, was not an authentic Imam. Abu khatam said that khalid’s narrated Hadith cannot be used as evidence. When khalid came to Syria, he told Hadith to the people but the scholars rejected his narrations. he had also lost his memory. But still, Ibn mu’een and nisaa’ee praised him.

(Tahdheeb-ut-tahdheeb, meezaan-ul-I’tidaal, Muqaddamah Fath-ul-baari, biography of khalid bin Hazza).

Abu Qalabah’s other student Ayyoob also narrated this Hadith, but he never mentions raf-ul-yadain. This Hadith is also found in Sahih Bukhari. The scholars of Hadith agree that Ayyoob was more knowledgeable than khalid.

Nasr bin Aasim

Hafidh Asqalani writes:

Imam Da’ood said that he was from amongst a misled sect, but others said that he repented from his wrong beliefs.

(Tahdheeb-ut-tahdheeb, biography of Nasr bin Aasim)

Qatadah

Imam Dhahabi and Hafidh Asqalani write:

Qatadah was a great scholar and a mufassir. He was very intelligent, and many scholars praised him. He narrated Hadith of such people whom he had never heard, met, nor seen. He saw only one companion of the Prophet, Malik bin Anas, but he attributed narrations from many other people despite this.

He had evil beliefs about Islam; he openly declared his sinful beliefs. Despite the fact that Qatadah held wrong beliefs, the scholars still took narrations of Hadith from him (May Allah forgive him)

(Meezaan-ul-I’tidaal, Tahdheeb-ut-tahdheeb, tadhkarat-ul-huffaad and biography of Qatadah basri).
From all the above references, it cannot be proved that the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] did raf’ul-yadain all the time. Also, Malik bin Huwairis did not stay with the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] during the last period of the Prophet’s [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] life. The four main narrators of this Hadith have been criticized by the scholars of Ahadith.
This Hadith does not stand at the same level as Abdullah bin Ma’sood’s Hadith.

The third evidence used to support raf’ul-yadain

Qadhi Shawkani writes that the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace], when performing his last Salaah, performed raf’ul-yadain.

(nayl ul-awutar, chapter On raf’ul-yadain)
The people who perform raf’ul-yadain say that the above narration proves that raf’ul-yadain was not abrogated. In response, to this we say that this Hadith is not authentic. This is the reason why it was not written in Sahih Bukhari, or Muslim, even Imam Bayhaqqi did not include it in his book of sunan. All the narrators of this Hadith are weak.

Examining the narrators of the Hadith

Abdur-Rahman Harwi

Imam Dhahabi writes that Harwi used to fabricate Hadith and telling them to people.

(meezaan-ul-I’tidaal, biography of Abdur-Rahman Harwi)
Harwi used to fabricate all his narrations of Hadith, now, how could we accept a Hadith that has been totally fabricated?
lAnother narrator of this narration is Usama-bin-Muhammad Ansari, the student of Musaa bin Uqbah.
Imam Dhahabi writes:
Imam Abu Khatim said that Usama was not strong in the knowledge of Hadith. Imam Yahyaa bin Mo’een said that he fabricated Hadith and attributed them to the great scholars of Hadith. He was a liar. Imam Dar-qutni said that he was not reliable and that is why the scholars did not take any narrations of Hadith from him. Imam Ibn Addi said that all his narrated Hadith are not safe. He narrates one Hadith that says that you should make dua to Allah Almighty when you see a beautiful face, and He will accept it.

(Meezan-ul-itidaal, biography of Usama-bin-muhammad Ansari)

Qadi Shawkani writes that Usama-bin-Ansari was a liar and he fabricated Hadith.

(Al-majmoo’at-ul-Ahadith, Chapter on Sadaqag pg.67 by Qadi Shawkani)

Surprise

It is strange that Qadi Shawkani wrote in his book, that Usama bin Muhammad was a liar, but despite this took his narration as evidence in his other book.

The other surprising thing is that Qadi shawkaani always discusses the narrators of the Hadith, but with this Hadith, he does not mention or discuss anything about them. It seems as if he is totally unaware of them.
We are also surprised concerning those people who present this Hadith as evidence of their practice of radf’-ul-yadain. They are proud and say that they are following the sunnah of rasoolullah [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace].

Performing Salaah without Raf’ul-yadain – Proof from Hadith

Imam Muslim writes:

Once we were performing Salaah and the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] came to us and asked us: “Why are you doing raf’ul-yadain as a stubborn horse waving its tail?” He also told us: “Perform your Salaah with peace.”

(Muslim, chapter Sukoon fisSalaah)

The above Hadith proves that one must not perform Raf’ul yadain in the middle of one’s salaah.
Imam Muslim writes in another narration after the above one that:
Jaabir bin Samrah reported:

At the end of the salaah, we used to wave our hands left and right when saying Salaam, the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] told us not to wave our hands but only to say the Salaam.

The above narrations prove that the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] stopped raf’ul-yadain as well as waving the hands during the Prayer.
Imam Humaidi, who was the teacher of Imam Bukhari and Muslim writes:
Abdullah bin Umar said:
The Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] only perform raf’ul-yadain at the beginning of Salaah, not before or after doing ruku’.

(Musnad Humaidi, Volume 2 pg. 277, Printed Maktabah Salafiyyah, Madeenat-ul-munawwarah)

Imam Ibn Abee Shaibah and Imam Abdur-Rakaq writes:
Ali (Radiall hu anhu) reported:

The Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] performed raf’ul-yadain at the beginning of Salaah.

Abdullah bin Mas’ood and Brabin Azib reported:

We saw the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] only performing Raf’ul yadain at the beginning of the Salaah.

Aswad, Imam Shabi, Ibrahim Nakhee and Ali and Ibn Mas’ood’s student (Radialla hu anhu) only performed raf’ul-yadain at the beginning of Salaah.

(Musnad Ibn Abi Shaibah and Musnad Abdur-Razaq, chapter on raf’ul-yadain)

Imam Ibn-ul-Qasim writes:

Imam Malik said that Imam Zuhri told him that he heard from Salim, who said that his Father (Abdullah bin Umar) reported, that the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] only performed raf’ul yadain at the beginning of the Salaah and not in any other part of it.
This narration also proves that Imam Zuhri narrated a hadith stating that the practice of raf’ul yadain was only performed at the beginning of the Salaah.
Imam Malik also said that he has no knowledge of doing raf’ul-yadain in any other part of the Salaah apart from the beginning.

(Al madoonah-chapter on raf’ul-yadain)

Imam Malik also said:
To do raf’ul yadain is weak except at the beginning.

[Al Madoona chap Raf ul yadain]

How can Imam Malik say that he had no knowledge of someone who practices raf’ul-yadain, even when he himself heard a Hadith supporting it from Imam Zuhri?
The answer to this is, as mentioned earlier, that Imam Malik knew the Hadith of raf’ul-yadain but he never saw anyone in Makkah or Madinah who practiced it. The reason for this is that the practice of raf’ul-yadain was abrogated.
Imam Tirmidhi writes:

Abdullah bin mas’ood said that he would perform the Salaah the way that the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace] did. When he performed the Salaah, he only did raf’ul yadain at the beginning of the Salaah.

Many companions of the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace], their students (Tabe’een), Sufyan, the Scholars of Koofah and many other Scholars followed this Hadith.

(Tirmidhi, baab-raf’ul-yadain)

Even other scholars wrote this Hadith in their books for example, Imam Aboo Da’ood, Ibn Abi shaibah, Imam Abdur-Razaq, Imam abu ya’ala and many others.
Imam Tirmidhi wrote in his narration:
The companions of the Prophet [May Allah bless him and grant Him peace], Tabi’een and scholars of Kufa were performing salaah without Raf’ul yadain.