Raf al-Taraddud fi Aqd al-Asabi ind al-Tashahhud ma Dhayliha
- Author died
- 1252 AH
- Editions
- Dār Sa‘ādat
Raf al-Taraddud fi Aqd al-Asabi ind al-Tashahhud ma Dhayliha (Dispelling Hesitation Concerning the Clenching of the Fingers During the Tashahhud, along with Its Appendix) is a legal treatise written by the Hanafi jurist Ibn Abidin (d. 1252 AH / 1836 CE) addressing the hand positioning and pointing of the index finger during the testification of faith (tashahhud) in ritual prayer .
Background and Composition
Ibn Abidin was motivated to write the treatise after observing that Hanafi jurists and worshippers in his era had widely adopted pointing the index finger while keeping the rest of the fingers outstretched without clenching or forming a circle (aqd or tahliq) . He composed the work to demonstrate that authoritative Hanafi scholars considered combining the gesture with clenching to be the established prophetic Sunnah supported by clear proofs .
The original treatise was completed in Rajab 1236 AH and spans sixteen pages . Later, in Rabi al-Awwal 1249 AH, after reading a related treatise titled Tazyin al-Ibarah li-Tahsin al-Isharah by Mulla Ali al-Qari, Ibn Abidin composed an appendix (dhayl) to incorporate key selections and arguments from al-Qari's work . The text and its appendix have been published as part of the author's collected essays (Majmu'at Rasa'il Ibn Abidin) .
Contents and Legal Positions
The work investigates the hadiths concerning the Prophet's hand gestures during the sitting posture of prayer, evaluating their transmission chains and narrators alongside the textual transmissions of early and later Hanafi authorities . Ibn Abidin clarifies that there are primarily two accredited opinions within the Hanafi school:
- Keeping the fingers outstretched throughout the sitting without making any pointing gesture, which was the well-known position in early manuals .
- Keeping the fingers outstretched until reaching the words of the shahadah, at which point one clenches the little and ring fingers, forms a circle with the middle finger and thumb, raises the index finger upon stating the negation (la ilaha), and lowers it upon stating the affirmation (illa Allah) .
Ibn Abidin argues that the second position is the relied-upon view among later jurists (al-muta'akhkhirun) because it is established through authentic hadiths and directly reported from the three early Hanafi imams: Abu Hanifa, Abu Yusuf, and Muhammad al-Shaybani . He critiques the practice of pointing while leaving all fingers outstretched without clenching, showing that it represents an isolated third view introduced by Ibrahim al-Tarabulsi in al-Burhan and transmitted by Hasan al-Shurunbulali, and refutes the mistaken attribution of that practice to Durar al-Bihar and its commentary . To support his thesis, he cites numerous major references across the school, including Bada'i al-Sana'i, al-Nihayah, Mi'raj al-Dirayah, al-Dhakhirah, al-Fatawa al-Zahiriyyah, Ibn al-Humam's Fath al-Qadir, Ibrahim al-Halabi's commentary on Munyat al-Musalli, and Ibn Nujaym's al-Bahr al-Ra'iq .
Appendix (al-Dhayl)
In the appendix, Ibn Abidin quotes extensively from Mulla Ali al-Qari's Tazyin al-Ibarah, highlighting al-Qari's defense of the pointing gesture as an established Sunnah with abundant narrations approaching recurrent (mutawatir) status . The appendix provides additional hadith citations, such as the narration of Abdullah ibn Umar in Sahih Muslim, explaining the exact manner of clenching the fingers and pointing the index finger to reinforce the conclusions of the primary treatise .
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