Raf al-Yadayn fi al-Salah
- Author died
- 751 AH
- Editions
- Dār ʿAṭāʾāt al-ʿIlm
Raf al-Yadayn fi al-Salah (Raising the Hands in Prayer) is a legal and hadith treatise by the Hanbali scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (691–751 AH / 1292–1350 CE), dedicated to examining the jurisprudential rulings and textual proofs concerning raising the hands during ritual prayer .
Subject Matter and Scope
The treatise concentrates entirely on a single jurisprudential issue: the practice of raising the hands (raf' al-yadayn) in prayer . Ibn al-Qayyim frames the disagreement as existing between two main groups:
- The vast majority (jamahir) of scholars among the Companions, the Successors, and the leading imams, who maintain that raising the hands when bowing (ruku'), rising from bowing, and standing up after the first two rak'ahs is an established prophetic sunnah .
- A segment of scholars, including Hanafi jurists and others, who hold that raising the hands is not prescribed in those specific postures of prayer .
Beyond this primary divergence, the book addresses subsidiary questions discussed among jurists who endorse raising the hands . These include the evidence for raising the hands at four distinct points (the opening takbir, bowing, rising from bowing, and rising after the initial two units), the view recommending raising the hands at every descent and ascent (kull khafd wa-raf'), the question of whether raising the hands at the opening takbir is an obligation (wajib) or a sunnah, the status of raising them during prostration, the legal assessment of a prayer if deemed invalidated by extraneous hand movements, and whether one who leaves the practice of raising the hands may be described as abandoning the sunnah or engaging in religious innovation (bid'ah) .
Structure and Methodology
Ibn al-Qayyim employs an analytical hadith-based approach, combining transmission criticism with jurisprudential deductions :
- Presentation of Arguments: He details the scriptural narrations and rational arguments used by both parties, citing around forty hadiths on the subject and detailing the narrations of Companions and early authorities .
- Refutation and Hadith Analysis: He examines the proofs cited by those who reject raising the hands, analyzing them narration by narration in terms of authenticity (thubut) and textual implication (dalala), evaluating chains of transmission (asaneed), texts (mutun), and subtle defects ('ilal) .
- Rebuttal and Defense: He surveys the counter-arguments and objections raised against the majority's hadiths and responds to them, defending the soundness of the prophetic traditions regarding raising the hands .
In the extant text, the defense and evidentiary presentation for the position affirming the raising of the hands occupies over two hundred pages, while the presentation of the opposing arguments spans roughly thirty-three pages .
Reception and Manuscripts
The book is cited across classical biographical and bibliographical literature under the titles Raf al-Yadayn fi al-Salah and simply Raf al-Yadayn . It is recorded by his student Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, who noted it as a single volume (mujallad), and by his contemporary al-Safadi, who described it as a medium-sized volume (sifr mutawassit) . Subsequent scholars who documented it include al-Suyuti, al-Ulaymi, Ibn al-Imad, Hajji Khalifa, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, and al-Shawkani .
The surviving primary manuscript was transcribed in Aleppo in mid-Sha'ban 740 AH—during the author's lifetime, eleven years before his death—by one of Ibn al-Qayyim's students, who copied and collated it directly against the author's own autograph manuscript . A critical edition of the book was prepared by Ali ibn Muhammad al-Umran under the project supervision of Bakr Abu Zayd, published jointly by Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm .
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