sunnistudent

Zalzala in english, can be downloaded from the below link. It is a must for all those who want to know more about sunni-deobandi dispute and deobandi hypocrisy. http://www.falaah.co...67-zalzala.html Zalzala In Urdu (Takhreej Shuda with Refrences From Books Published In Pakistan) http://www.islamimehfil.com/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=55708

saaf scan upload ka diye gau hain. Yahan mulahiza farmaein http://www.islamieducation.com/en/refutation/kufr-fatwa-from-shaykh-ashraf-ali-thanvi.html Kya aap Maktaba madiniya , lahore ka nuskha scan karnay ki zahmat kar paeyegein?

Is link per scans upload kar diya gai hain. http://www.islamieducation.com/en/refutation/kufr-fatwa-from-shaykh-ashraf-ali-thanvi.html

http://www.marifah.net/forums/index.php?sh...=2981&st=15 ( post 29 to post 38)

Awais , please read here http://www.islamieducation.com/en/refutati...-fazle-haq.html And if you are a sincere seeker come with truth by reading original book. Do not rely on your deobandi friends who are spreading lies on internet. Also you would like to read this to see how deobandis lie openly http://www.islamieducation.com/en/refutati...ethodology.html Hope you will relaize how your friends fool public by giving wrong information . Abdullah Qadri

I did not check the book. When your reply will come insha Allah we will discuss.

Just to inform you, the wahabis are divided into many sects. Two major groups are MADHKHALIS AND QUTUBIS. Most pakistani wahabis are Madhkhalis . This group supports saudi rulers . This is the same MADhakhli group which has invited JEWISH owned STAR BUCKS coofee chain in Makkah al mukkarramh . Concerning your previous post, Please check Tafwiyatul Iman of Ismail Dehalvi for wrong interpretation of quranic ayats. Imam Bukhrai has narrated a statement of Sayyedina Ibn Umar rd that it is a habit of Khawarij to use those quranic verses which were revelaed for non muslims upon muslims. If you do not consider Ismail Dehalvi to a wahabi , please make it clear. The founder of wahabism , ibn Abdal al wahab najdi al tamimi started this trick of using quranic verses revealed for non muslims upon muslims. He was refuted by his own blood brother sulayman and many other scholars of Ahlus sunnah . They all said the first mistake of Ibn Abdal al wahab najadi al tamimi was wrong interpretation of quranic verses just to cal muslims as Mushriks. The book is online. You can read if you wish. Read Divine text released by Hanbali text society. Pick any history book written by a non wahabi scholar and see the truth. There are plenty . So the scholars like Ibn Hajar , Imam nawawi , Imam suyiti , Ibn Jawji were all wrong when they stuck to one school of fiqh? Wahabis are teaching anthropomorphism to young muslims. Wahabism is a sect which was born just 200 years back , how can it unite the ummah which is already united since1400 yeras ? The Madhkhali sect of wahabism is against jihad and they supported USA in attacking iraq. Killing innocent people is not Jihad. Please do not spoil the name of Islam.

Lets see which are the other tribes and regions prophet has praised 1.Amr ibn Abasa said: ‘Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) was one day reviewing the horses, in the company of Uyayna ibn Hisn ibn Badr al-Fazari. [...] Uyayna remarked: “The best of men are those who bear their swords on their shoulders, and carry their lances in the woven stocks of their horses, wearing cloaks, and are the people of the Najd.” But Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) replied: “You lie! Rather, the best of men are the men of the Yemen. Faith is a Yemeni, the Yemen of [the tribes of] Lakhm and Judham and Amila. [...] Hadramawt is better than the tribe of Harith; one tribe is better than another; another is worse [...] My Lord commanded me to curse Quraysh, and I cursed them, but he then commanded me to bless them twice, and I did so [...] Aslam and Ghifar, and their associates of Juhaina, are better than Asad and Tamim and Ghatafan and Hawazin, in the sight of Allah on the Day of Rising. [...] The most numerous tribe in the Garden shall be [the Yemeni tribes of] Madhhij and Ma’kul. [Ahmad ibn Hanbal and al-Tabarani, by sound narrators. Cited in Ali ibn Abu Bakr al-Haythami, Majma‘ al-zawa’id wa manba‘ al-fawa’id [Cairo, 1352], X, 43).] 2. Umm Salama narrated that Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) gave the following counsel on his deathbed: ‘By Allah, I adjure you by Him, concerning the Egyptians, for you shall be victorious over them, and they will be a support for you and helpers in Allah’s path.’ (Tabarani, classed by al-Haythami as sahih [Majma‘, X, 63].) (For more on the merit of the Egyptians see Sahih Muslim, commentary by Imam al-Nawawi [Cairo, 1347], XVI, 96-7.) Qays ibn Sa‘d narrated that Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) said: ‘Were faith to be suspended from the Pleiades, men from the sons of Faris [south-central Iran] would reach it.’ (Narrated in the Musnads of both Abu Ya‘la and al-Bazzar, classified as Sahih by al-Haythami. Majma‘, X, 64-5. See further Nawawi’s commentary to Sahih Muslim, XVI, 100.) Allah’s Messenger said: ‘Tranquillity (sakina) is in the people of the Hijaz.’ (al-Bazzar, cited in Haythami, X, 53.) On the authority of Abu’l-Darda (r.a.), the Messenger of Allah (s.w.s.) said: ‘You will find armies. An army in Syria, in Egypt, in Iraq and in the Yemen.’ (Bazzar and Tabarani, classified as sahih: al-Haythami, Majma‘, X, 58.) This constitutes praise for these lands as homes of jihad volunteers. ‘The angels of the All-Compassionate spread their wings over Syria.’ (Tabarani, classed as sahih: Majma‘, X, 60. See also Tirmidhi, commentary of Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Mubarakfuri: Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi bi-sharh Jami‘ al-Tirmidhi, X, 454; who confirms it as hasan sahih.) Abu Hurayra narrated that Allah’s Messenger (s) said: ‘The people of Yemen have come to you. They are tenderer of heart, and more delicate of soul. Faith is a Yemeni, and wisdom is a Yemeni.’ (Tirmidhi, Fi fadl al-Yaman, no.4028. Mubarakfuri, X, 435, 437: hadith hasan sahih. On page 436 Imam Mubarakfuri points out that the ancestors of the Ansar were from the Yemen.) ‘The people of the Yemen are the best people on earth’. (Abu Ya‘la and Bazzar, classified as sahih. Haythami, X, 54-5.) Allah’s Messenger (s) sent a man to one of the clans of the Arabs, but they insulted and beat him. He came to Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) and told him what had occurred. And the Messenger (s) said, ‘Had you gone to the people of Oman, they would not have insulted or beaten you.’ (Muslim, Fada’il al-Sahaba, 57. See Nawawi’s commentary, XVI, 98: ‘this indicates praise for them, and their merit.’) The above hadiths are culled from a substantial corpus of material which records the Messenger (s.w.s.) praising neighbouring regions. Again, it is striking that although Najd was closer than any other, hadiths in praise of it are completely absent. TRIBES Allah’s Messenger (s) said: ‘O Allah, bless [the tribe of] Ahmas and its horses and its men sevenfold.’ (Ibn Hanbal, in Haythami, Majma‘, X, 49. According to al-Haythami its narrators are all trustworthy.) Ghalib b. Abjur said: ‘I mentioned Qays in the presence of Allah’s Messenger (s) and he said, “May Allah show His mercy to Qays.” He was asked, “O Messenger of God! Are you asking for His mercy for Qays?” and he replied, “Yes. He followed the religion of our father Ismail b. Ibrahim, Allah’s Friend. Qays! Salute our Yemen! Yemen! Salute our Qays! Qays are Allah’s cavalry upon the earth.”’ (Tabarani, declared sahih by al-Haythami, X, 49.) Abu Hurayra narrated that Allah’s Messenger (s) said: ‘How excellent a people are Azd, sweet-mouthed, honouring their vows, and pure of heart!’ (Ibn Hanbal via a good (hasan) isnad, according to Haythami, X, 49.) Anas b. Malik said: ‘If we are not from Azd, we are not from the human race.’ (Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 72; confirmed by Mubarakfuri, X, 439 as hasan gharib sahih.) Abdallah ibn Mas‘ud said: ‘I witnessed Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) praying for this clan of Nakh‘.’ Or he said: ‘He praised them until I wished that I was one of them.’ (Ibn Hanbal, with a sound isnad. Haythami, X, 51.) On the authority of Abdallah ibn Amr ibn al-As, who said: ‘I heard Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) saying: “This command [the Caliphate] shall be in Quraysh. No-one shall oppose them without being cast down on his face by Allah, for as long as they establish the religion.”’ (Bukhari, Manaqib, 2.) The hadith which appears to praise Tamim is hence not exceptional, and can by no stretch of the imagination be employed to indicate Tamim’s superiority over other tribes. In fact, out of this vast literature on the merits of the tribes, only one significant account praises Tamim. This runs as follows: Abu Hurayra said: ‘I have continued to love Banu Tamim after I heard three things concerning them from Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.). “They will be the sternest of my Umma against the Dajjal; one of them was a captive owned by ‘A’isha, and he said: ‘Free her, for she is a descendent of Ismail;’ and when their zakat came, he said: ‘This is the zakat of a people,’ or ‘of my people’.”’ (Bukhari, Maghazi, 68.) On the authority of Imran ibn Husayn (r.a.): ‘A group of Tamimites came to the Prophet (s.w.s.), and he said: “O tribe of Tamim! Receive good news!” “You promise us good news, so give us something [money]!” they replied. And his face changed. Then some Yemenis came, and he said: “O people of Yemen! Accept good news, even though the tribe of Tamim have not accepted it!” And they said: “We accept.” And the Prophet (s.w.s.) began to speak about the beginning of creation, and about the Throne.’ (Bukhari, Bad’ al-Khalq, 1.) The harsh waywardness of the Tamimi mentality documented in the Qur’an and Hadith casts an interesting light on the personality of Abu Jahl, the arch-pagan leader of Quraysh. Abu Jahl, with his fanatical hatred of the Prophet (s.w.s.), must have been shaped by the Tamimi ethic in his childhood. His mother, Asma’ bint Mukharriba, was of the tribe of Tamim. (al-Jumahi, Tabaqat Fuhul al-Shu‘ara, ed. Mahmud Shakir [Cairo, 1952], p.123.) He also married the daughter of ‘Umayr ibn Ma‘bad al-Tamimi, by whom he had his son, predictably named Tamim. (Mus‘ab ibn Abdallah, Nasab Quraysh [Cairo, 1953], p.312.) An attribute recurrently ascribed to the Tamimites in the hadith literature is that of misplaced zeal. When they finally enter Islam, they are associated with a fanatical form of piety that demands simple and rigid adherence, rather than understanding; and which frequently defies the established authorities of the religion. Imam Muslim records a narration from Abdallah ibn Shaqiq which runs: ‘Ibn Abbas once preached to us after the asr prayer, until the sun set and the stars appeared, and people began to say: “The prayer! The prayer!” A man of the Banu Tamim came up to him and said, constantly and insistently: “The prayer! The prayer!” And Ibn Abbas replied: “Are you teaching me the sunna, you wretch?”’ (Muslim, Salat al-Musafirin, 6.) Banu Tamim and the Khawarij Perhaps the best-known of any hadith about a Tamimite, which again draws our attention to their misplaced zeal, is the hadith of Dhu’l-Khuwaysira: Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri (r.a.) said: ‘We were once in the presence of Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) while he was dividing the spoils of war. Dhu’l-Khuwaysira, a man of the Tamim tribe, came up to him and said: “Messenger of Allah, be fair!” He replied: “Woe betide you! Who will be fair if I am not? You are lost and disappointed if I am not fair!” And Umar (r.a.) said, “Messenger of Allah! Give me permission to deal with him, so that I can cut off his head!” But he said: “Let him be. And he has companions. One of you would despise his prayer in their company, and his fast in their company. They recite the Qur’an but it goes no further than their collarbones. They pass through religion as an arrow passes through its target.”’ Abu Sa‘id continued: ‘I swear that I was present when Ali ibn Abi Talib fought against them. He ordered that that man be sought out, and he was brought to us.’ (Bukhari, Manaqib, 25. For the ‘passing through’ see Abu’l-Abbas al-Mubarrad, al-Kamil, chapter on ‘Akhbar al-Khawarij’ published separately by Dar al-Fikr al-Hadith [beirut, n.d.], pp.23-4: ‘usually when this happens none of the target’s blood remains upon it’.) This hadith is taken by the exegetes as a prophecy, and a warning, about the nature of the Kharijites. There is a certain type of believing zealot who goes into religion so hard that he comes out the other side, with little or nothing of it remaining with him. One expert who confirms this is the Hanbali scholar Ibn al-Jawzi, well-known for his hagiographies of Ma‘ruf al-Karkhi and Rabi‘a al-Adawiya. In his book Talbis Iblis. (Beirut, 1403, p.88) under the chapter heading ‘A Mention of the Devil’s Delusion upon the Kharijites’ he narrates the hadith, and then writes: ‘This man was called Dhu’l-Khuwaysira al-Tamimi. [...] He was the first Kharijite in Islam. His fault was to be satisfied with his own view; had he paused he would have realised that there is no view superior to that of Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.).’ Wahabis have this habit of showing banu tamim to be THE ONLY tribe which has been praised. What they faile to realize or deliberately hide is the fact , other tribes have also been praised The only tribe which has been cursed most in Quran and hadith is Banu tamim. This wahabi formula is old and has been exposed long back.

Shaykh Nuh keller does not read urdu and was given wrong information by deobandis.For example shaykh nuh said Imam Ahmed Raza Khan (rh) was the first to use this term"imkan e kidhb". This is wrong , as we know it was used by the deobandis. This error along with other mistakes were highlighted long back on different forums. Also the stand which shaykh Nuh keller has taken with regard to imkan e kidhb is no where found in Ashari or Maturidi text. This was also pointed on other forums. Shaykh Nuh also wrote that the deobandi "akabir" did not deliberately wrote those statements which shows disresoect to prophet . This was another mistake from shaykh Nuh which was refuted by quoting a fatwa from deobandi scholar Shaykh Rashid Ahmed gangohi. In short everyhting has been refuted . Insha Allah soon , everything will be compiled and presented under one topic. It will be posted on www.islamieducation.com/en ( refutation section) Shaykh Nuh should have made contacts with Ahlus sunnah scholars of subcontinent who know the isseu in detail. Shaykh Nuh relied totally on deobandis , whom we know are famous for tampering books and providing wrong information about their sect to people out side subcontinent. Insha Allah , very soon this issue will be addressed on www.islamieducation.com Abdullah Chisti

Its nice to see that wahabis are slowly relaising this fact. That is why now they are divided into many camps like Madhkhalis ( saudi supporting and against Jihad) and qutubis who are pro jihad and against saudis! Tribe of banu tamim in quran http://ahlussunnahwaljamah.blogspot.com/20...m-in-quran.html More hadiths can be provided about the tribe of banu tamim. Zul Khawasair was also from the tribe of banu tamim. Other hadith about these"bare foot naked , dumb desert people" has been given on other thread.

Jazak Allah for your inputs. Brother Jeddawi it was nice to see those artciles on this forum. The fitnah of wahabism was fast spreading in the west. The Scholars of Ahlus sunnah took great measures and now the wahabi propogation has gone down. You can google" rise and the fall of salafi dawah in west". It gives some insight as to how wahabis tried to fool our revert brothers and sisters. Wahabism and love for money go hand in hand. Among the signs of the Hour mentioned by the Noble Messenger of Allah in the well-known hadith of Gibril in Sahih al-Bukhari is "when the destitute camelherds compete in building tall structures." Another version in al-Bukhari has: "when the barefoot and the naked are the heads of the people." In Muslim: "you shall see the barefoot, naked, indigent shepherds compete in building tall structures." Another version in Muslim says: "when the naked and barefoot are the top leaders of the people." A third version in Muslim has: "when you see that the barefoot and naked, the deaf and dumb are the kings of the earth." Ibn Hajar said in commenting this passage of the hadith in Fath al-Bari: It was said that "barefoot and naked," "deaf and dumb" are their attributes by way of hyperbole, showing how coarse they are. That is, they did not use their hearing or sight in anything concerning their Religion even though they are of perfectly sound senses. The Prophet's words : "The heads of the people" means the kings of the earth. Abu Farwa's narration names the kings explicitly. What is meant by them is the people of the desert country, as was made explicit in Sulayman al-Taymi's and other narrations: "Who are the barefoot and naked?" He answered: "The Bedouin Arabs." Al-Tabarani relates through Abu Hamza, on the authority of Ibn `Abbas from the Prophet , that "one of the signs of the change of the Religion is the affectation of eloquence by the rabble and their betaking to palaces in big cities." Al-Qurtubi said: "What is meant here is the prediction of a reversal in society whereby the people of the desert country will take over the conduct of affairs and rule every region by force. They will become extremely rich and their primary concern will be to erect tall buildings and take pride in them. We have witnessed this in our time as well as the import of the hadith: 'The Hour will not rise until the happiest man will be the depraved son of a depraved father (lukka` ibn lukka`),' and 'if the leadership is entrusted to those unfit for it, expect the Hour,' both in the authentic collections." [ Shaykh GF haddad] _________________________ Wahabis are competing in building the worlds tallest building. http://www.shoppingblog.com/cgi-bin/sblog.pl?sblog=403081 All this reminds us that the end time is near. Wahabism has damged the ummah from inside , like the jews and christinas have attacked us from outside. Promoting anthropomorphism, making each individual into a Mujtahid and abusing the salaf as saliheen is what wahabism has taught .

Taleen e Noor Saheb ,kya aap urdu lughat ( dictionary) say MUJRA lafz ko matlab dekh kar usaka ma'ani yahan batla saktey hain? Agar nahee, tab insha Allah main aapki khidmat mein Scan pesh karoonga. Please note: 1) Shaykh Dabbagh ke waqaye ka jawab tafseelan diya ja chuka hai. 2) Mujra lafz wali ibarat zeray guftagu hai. 3) Ghaus wali ibarat bhee zeray guftagu hai. Sirf aap se itani guzarish hai ki MUJRA lafz ka mani URDU LUGHA se dekh kar batla dein.

Hizbut tahreer is a political organisation and it has nothing to do with Ahlus sunnah. They do not believe in lone narrator reports ( khabar ahaad) . They do not believe in punishment in grave. The group has spilt up into many subgroups with each sub group claiming to represnt the ummah!. They usually target college studnets. The organisation is banned in UK. Use google search to know more about them.

Mainey Quran sherif aur hadith ka zikar , Rasul Allah ke "ummi" honay per sirf isliye kiya tha taki Haqqeqat sahab ka jawab dekh sakoon! Lekin as usual , haqeeqat sahab ko koee jawab nahee sujha. Quran , sura Al araf , ayat 22-23 , adam alayhis salam ke taubay ka zikar kartee hai. Adam alayhissalam ne kafee muddatt tak bahut see duaein mangee. Yahan per un sab ka zikar hai. Jab unhonay ne nabee paak ka waseela istemal kiya tab unakee dua qubool kee gayee. Usool e tafsir----> Jab quran mein kisee waqiye ya hukm ka zikar sirf isharay sey hota hai , tab sahih hadith ki roshnee mein us waqiye ya hukm ko pura samjhaya jata hai. Jaisey Namaz ka hukm quran mein, aur tafseel hadith mein. Fiqh mein qanoon ke liye jo darza quran ka hai wahee darza sahih mutawatir hadith ka. Jab sahih hadith quran ke kisee ayat se zahiri taur per takrati hai tab" Tabteeq" ka istemal hota hai. Jaisey Quran wazu ke mutalliq paaon dhoney ka nahee paaon "pocheny" ( masah) ka hukm deta hai. Lekin Hadith mein paaon dhonay ka hukm hai. Ab yahan per tabteeq ki jati hai. Adam alayhusalam ke masaley per suta al Araf ( 7:23) na kisee hadith ko radd nahee kartee isliye yahan tabteeq ka istemaal ki zaroorat hee nahee! Yeh ayat ek waqiye ke taraf isharah kar rahee hai , jisaka tafseeli zikar hadith mein hai. CHAND ULEMA KE NAAM JINHONAY IS WAQIYE KO ( nabe pak se wasiley ka zikar) SAHEE KAHA aur in sab ka ilm hum sab sey zyada tha. Wah apaney marzi ki tafsir nahee pesh kartey they! 1. Imam Al Hakim ( rh) 2. Imam Al bulqini (rh) 3.Imam Al subki (rh) 4. Imam qadi Iyad (rh) 5.Imam Ibn al Jawzi al Hanbali (rh) 6. Imam Suyuti (rh) 7. Imam Ibn Kathir (rh) 8. Imam Al Haythami (rh). 9. Shaykh Ibn Taymiah 20 aur ulema ke naam pesh kiya ja saktey hain, lekin koee fayada nahee. Haqeeqat sahab , agar aap "mufassir" hain to khud tafseer bataein aur agar arabee nahee aatee , tafseer ke qanoon nahee aatey, usool e fiqh nahee aata , yani , aap bhee hamari tarah hain, us haalat mein mufasireen ki tafseer qubool karein. Aapney jo ayat pesh kee hai... wah koee proof hai hee nahee us hadith ko galat/ daeef/ munkar/ mawdu saabit karney ke liye. Waqt lijiye aur koee achha sa jawab dijiye is hadith ke mutallik. TAHQEEQ kijiye ki ulema ney kya kaha hai is hadith ke mutallik aur jab tahqeeq puri ho jaye tab tawassul ke baki muddon per baat ho saktee hai. Aap ke ilm ke ,liye chand ulema jinhonay "tawassul" ko apanee dua mein istemal kiya. 1) Ibrahim Al-Harbi (Tarikh Baghdad 1:122) 2) Abul-Rabi' bin Salim (Siyar A'lam Al-Nubala 21:251) 3) Abul-Shaikh Al-Asbahani (Siyar A'lam Al-Nubala 16:400) 4) Abu 'Ali al-Khallal (Tarikh Baghdad 1:120) 5) Abu Zar'ah Al-Razi (Al-Muntadhim 9:74) 6) Ibn Abil-Dunya (Qurra al-Dayf 5:225) 7) Ibn Al-Jazari (Iddatul-Hisn Al-Husain) 8) Ibn Al-Jawzi (Zad Al-Maseer 4:253) 9) Ibn 'Asakir (Tarikh Dimishq 6:43) and in his Arba'iniyat 10) Ibn Kathir (Bidayah 13:192) 11) Al-Bayhaqi (Al-Muntadhim 11:211) 12) Al-Darimi (Sunan Al-Darimi: Chapter on what Allah blessed His Prophet with) 13) Al-Sakhawi (Fath Al-Mughith 2:261) 14) Al-Suyuti (Al-Itqan 2:502) 15) Al-Tabarani (Siyar A'lam Al-Nubala 16:400) 16) Al-'Ijluni (Kashf Al-Khafa 2:55) 17) Al-Mundhiri, in his Risalah 18) Al-Qurtubi (Tafsir Al-Qurtubi 8:240) 19) Al-Haythami (Majma' Al-Zawaid 9:420) 20) Al-Ghazali (Ihya 'Ulum Al-Din 1:260). Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajar departed this life in 852. His funeral was attended by ‘fifty thousand people’, including the sultan and the caliph; ‘even the Christians grieved.’ He was remembered as a gentle man, short, slender, and white-bearded, a lover of chess and calligraphy, much inclined to charity; ‘good to those who wronged him, and forgiving to those he was able to punish.’ A lifetime’s proximity to the hadith had imbued him with a deep love of the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), as is shown nowhere more clearly than in the poetry assembled in his Diwan, an original manuscript of which has been preserved at the Egyptian National Library. A few lines will suffice to show this well: By the gate of your generosity stands a sinner, who is mad with love, O best of mankind in radiance of face and countenance! Through you he seeks a means [tawassala], hoping for Allah’s forgiveness of slips; from fear of Him, his eyelid is wet with pouring tears. Although his genealogy attributes him to a stone [hajar], how often tears have flowed, sweet, pure and fresh! Praise of you does not do you justice, but perhaps, In eternity, its verses will be transformed into mansions. My praise of you shall continue for as long as I live, For I see nothing that could ever deflect me from your praise. Ab baat , yahan per aaye hai ki , haqeeqat sahab ko in ulema ki pairee nahee karnee! Yeh sab ulema galat they! Haqeeqat sahab, agar aap khud qabiliyat rakhtey hain to apanee daleel laiye aur nahee to kisee Aalim ke daleel. Jab uloom al tafseer nahee maloom to quran sheif ki aayaton ka istemaal apanee baat manwaney ke liye na kijiye.

Haqeeaqt sahab. Adam aalyhis salam ki mainey jo hadith dee thee ,usaka MATAN ( TEXT) aur ISNAD ( chain) DONON aapki pesh kardey hadith se alag hai. Ummed karta hoon yeh baat wazeh ho gayee hogee. Aap ney jo hadith pesh ki hai usmein Zayd ibn Asalam hain , zo daeef hain, jisakee wajah sey wah isanad daeef hai. Mainey jo hadith pesh kee hai , usmein zayd ibn asalam nahee hain. Dusaree baaat, apaney man sey tafseer mat pesh kijiye. Ek hadith ka mafhoom hai " agar apany man sey tafseer batao to jahannam ki aag mein jana padega" ( Ibn kathir). ( man kala fil quran bi rayeehe fatwa zauuana bi azzani minnnaaar) Adam alayhi salam ney nabee paak ka naam le kar dua maangee , jisaka imam suyuti (rh) , Imam Ibn kathir (rh) aur baaki mufassirren ney zikar kiya hai. Aap koee naee baat laein to daleel zaroor dein. Ulum hadith ke kis qawaid ke mutabik sey aapney hadith ko zaeef keh diya? Kya aap yeh bataney ki takeelf kareigein? Quran kehta hai nabee paak ' ummee" they aur sahih bukhari mein hadith hai ki rasul paak ney apana naam khud apaney hathon sey likha .. tab aap to sahih bukhari ki hadith ko bhee daeef kahengein! Bhai sahab, SOLID POINTS aur daleel le kar aaiye. In topic mein discussion kar key intenet per sarey forum full ho chukey hain!

There are some who claim that placing the hands below the navel whilst performing the prescribed prayers is either of a weaker opinion than that of placing the hands upon the chest or has no evidence at all. This chapter will address this issue in the light of the Sunna and prove that this false claim has absolutely no foundation. According to Imam Abu Hanifa, it is part of the Sunna for a man performing the ritual prayer, salat, to place his hands beneath the navel. Many Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and their students (Tabi'un) performed their salat in this manner. Imam at-Tirmidhi writes that it is Sunna to place one hand over the other but there are different opinions amongst the Companions and their students regarding the actual positioning of the hands [at-Tirmidhi, Watal-yamin 'ala ash-Shimal] Qadi Shawkani states that there existed different opinions amongst the scholars regarding the positioning of the hands during salat. The following consider it correct to place the hands beneath the navel: Imam Abu Hanifa, Sufyan ath-Thawri, Ishaq ibn Rahwia and Abu Ishaq [Nayl al-Awtar, Watal-yamin 'ala ash-Shimal] The aforementioned scholars were outstanding in the field of Hadith sciences and clearly knew the differences between authentic, acceptable, weak and fabricated narrations. Furthermore, if the ahadith stating that the hands should be placed beneath the navel were fabricated then why would Imam Ahmed and Yahya ibn Mu'in, the teacher of both Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim, act upon these narrations? Evidence About The Validity of Placing the Hands Below The Navel During The Prayer Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal writes: " 'Ali said that it is a Sunna to place one hand over the other and beneath the navel" [Musnad Ahmed ibn Hanbal; also Daraqutni & Abu Dawud, Watal-yamin 'ala ash-Shimal] Imam Ibn Abi Shayba writes: "Alqama reported from his father that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would place his right hand over his left and beneath the navel. Imam Ibrahim says that 'Ali said it is a Sunnato place your hands beneath the navel during the salat" [Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba, ash-Shimal'ala al-Yamin] Ibn Hazm writes that the hands should be placed beneath the navel and Anas reported that there are three things which are Sunna: 1. Not to delay the breaking of the fast [during Ramadan] 2. To end the fast aftet the very last minute 3. To place the hands beneath the navel during the prayer [ibn Hazm, Muhalla, Watal-Yamin] The aforementioned narrations prove that it is an established Sunna to place the hands beneath the navel. These ahadith are neither weak nor fabricated as Ibn Hazm would have declared them as being such because he was in strong opposition to the Hanafi School of thought. Evidence About The Validity of Placing The Hands Upon The Chest During The prayer Wyle relates: "I saw that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was performing his prayers with his hands placed upon his chest" [sahih Ibn Khuzayma, Chapter on Salat] We respond to the above narration with the observation that it is neither present in Sahih Muslim or Bukhari. It is amazing how people who rigorously promote Bukhari and Muslim as the only books to follow for Sunna will quickly use a hadith that does not appear in either, just as long as they feel it will win them an argument! A close examination of the hadith in question will show who is following a sahih hadith and who is blindly following the mistakes of their scholars - the same people who have the audacity to criticise scholars of the orthodox four schools of fiqh but do not see their own glaring mistakes. Secondly, the main narrator of this hadith,Muammal ibn Isma'il has been criticised by the scholars of Hadith. Imam adh-Dhahabi and Ibn Hajar al-'al-'Asqalani write: "Imam al-Bukhari said that Muammal ibn Isma'il was amongst the Mukirul Hadith (deniers of hadith). Imam Abu Khatim, Imam Abu Zahra, Imam Saje, Imam Ibn Sa'd, Hafiz Marwaze and Daraqutni all consider Muammal ibn Isma'il as having a weak memory. When informing others of hadith Muhammad ibn Isma'il would make many mistakes. He has been known to have burnt his books and hence made errors in transmitting his ahadith from memory.He also made erroneous claims by stating that he heard many of his narrations from the great scholars, whereas he had not done so. Only some scholars, such as Ibn Habban and Ibn Khuzayma claim that he was a knowledgeable scholar" [Mizan al-I'tidal & Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Muammal ibn Isma'il] Allama Ghulam Rasul Sa'idi writes that Imam al-Bayhaqi wrote another two ahadith in his book, Sunan, regarding the placement of the hands upon the chest during the salat. However, neither of these ahadith are authentic as their narrators have been criticised by the scholars of Hadith. We will look at each one in turn. First Hadith One of the narrators of the hadith is Muhammad ibn Hujjar, whom Imam adh-Dhahabi writes as having been criticised. Notably, he did not fit the criterion that Imam al-Bukharihas for accepting hadith from someone. Imam al-Bukhari says that it is impermissible to accept any hadith narrated by him because he narrates doubtful ahadith from his uncle. The other narrator of that hadith is Umm Jabbar; she is unknown. Imam al-Bayhaqi himself wrote that this hadith is weak. Second Hadith The second narrator is known as Ibn 'Abbas while the main narrator is Ruh ibn Musayyib. Imam Ibn 'Adi says that Ruh ibn Musayyib has been criticised by the scholars of Hadith. Imam Ibn Habban says that Ruh narrates fabricated hadith and therefore it is impermissible to accept his narrations. Also, Imam Fikri considers Ruh as transmitting unknown hadith which should not be accepted [Allama Sa'idi, Sharh Sahih Muslim, Wujubi Qira'at] We close this chapter by stating that there exists no single authentic hadith proving the permissibility of placing the hands upon the chest during the salat.

When we perform our salat behind the Imam and he recites"Waladdallin" loudly, we say, "Amin" quietly.This is because "Amin" is a du'a' and it should always be read quietly.Some people say that during the performance of salat behind the Imam, you should say "Amin" loudly with rhythm. We argue that there is no such hadith which mentions that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) ordered this action or even encouraged anyone to do this. The people who follow this action put forward one hadith which says that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, "Amin" loudly in the salat. We claim that it is true that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said "Amin" loudly a few times. However, the Prophet used to sometimes carry out actions only to educate people. For example, in Zuhr salat part of the Qur'an was recited loudly. Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim write: "When the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was performing his Zuhr and 'Asr prayers, he recited part of the Qur'an loudly, which we could hear" [Bukhari and Muslim, chapter on 'Qira'at, Zuhr and 'Asr'] After reading this hadith no one in the whole Umma says that the Imam should recite any part of the Qur'an loudly in the Zuhr and 'Asr salat. This is because everyone knows that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) only did this to educate the people. In the same way, the hadith that mentions that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said "Amin" loudly does not mean that it is Sunna to say, "Amin" loudly. There is also proof from the Qur'an and Sunna that Amin should be said quietly behind the Imam. Proof From the Qur'an That Amin is a Du'a' Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes: "When someone finishes reciting Surat al-Fatiha, it is preferable to say "Amin". Amin means, 'Oh Allah, accept our du'a'!' "There is proof from the Qur'an that Amin is a du'a'. For example, Allah Most High says in the Qur'an that Prophet Musa (peace be upon him) prayed to Allah by saying: 'Oh Allah, destroy the wealth of Pharaoh!' [sura Yunus, verse 87] "The Prophet Musa's brother, Harun (peace be upon him) was standing beside him and said, "Amin." Allah accepted their du'a' by saying: 'I accept both of your du'a's' [sura Yunus, verse 89] "The Prophet Musa (peace be upon him) supplicated to Allah whereas Harun only said "Amin." And yet Allah attributed the du'a' to both of them.This proves that Amin is a du'a'" [Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Sura Fatiha] Qadi Shawkani and Imam al-Qurtubi also wrote, in the interpretation of Sura al-Fatihah, that Amin is a du'a' [Tafsir Qurtubi and Fath al-Qadir, Surah Fatiha] Now that it has been proved that Amin is a dua, we should supplicate quietly to Allah. Proof from the Qur'an and Sunna show that du'a' should be recited quietly. Proof From The Qur'an That Du'a Should be Recited Quietly Allah Most High says in the Qur'an: "Invoke your Lord with humility and in secret. He likes not the aggressors" [sura al-A'raf, verse 55] It is proved from the above verse that all should supplicate to Allah with humility and secrecy. Allah says in the Qur'an: "And remembering your Lord by your tongue and within yourself, humbly and with fear, without loudness in words" [sura al-A'raf, verse 205] Qadi Shawkani writes: "In the above verse, the word 'Remember' means du'a' and du'a' should be said secretly" [Fath al-Qadir, Sura al-A'raf, verse 205] Allah Most High says in the Qur'an: "This is a mention of mercy of your Lord to his slave Zakariyya. When he called out to his Lord - a call in secret" [sura Maryam, verse 2-3] Proof From Hadith That Du'a' Should be Recited Quietly Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal writes: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said that Allah Most High is pleased with those who remember him secretly" [Musnad Ahmad, Narration of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, vol. 1, p.172] Thus it is proven from the Qur'an and Sunna that du'a' should be supplicated to Allah quietly and since "Amin" is also a du'a' it should also be said quietly. That is the reason why all du'a's are read silently. For example, thana, takbir, ta'awwudh, tasbih, tashahhud, salutation and the final sitting's du'a' are all read silently, so Amin should also be included in the above. The reason why the Imam says the takbir loudly is only to inform his followers that he is moving from one position to another. Proof From Hadith to Say Amin Quietly Imam Muslim and Imam Bukhari write: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said that when the Imam says 'Waladdallin' then you must say 'Amin' because the angels also say 'Amin' and whosoever's 'Amin' is similar to that of an angel, their past sins will be forgiven" [Bukhari and Muslim, chapter on 'Ta'min'] There are two ways in which "Amin" can be similar to the angels' "Amin": 1) To say "Amin" loudly with the Imam 2) To say "Amin" silently because the angels say "Amin" with the Imam and also silently. If someone proclaims "Amin" loudly it would not be similar to the angels' as no one hears the angels. Imam Muslim writes: "Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said that when the Imam says 'Sami'allahu liman Hamida' you should say, 'Rabbana lak al-Hamd.' Whoever's tahmid [saying of praise]becomes similar to the angels', his past sins will be forgiven" [Muslim, Bab Ta'min] The Hadiths of "Amin" and Tahmid are Written Under The Same Chapter Both of these ahadith mention that whosoever's "Amin" or Tahmid coincides with that of the angels' their past sins will be forgiven. It is clear now that "Amin" should be said as "Rabbana lak al-hamd" i.e. silently and individually, without rhythm. Imam Nasa'i writes: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said that when the Imam says 'Waladdallin", you should say 'Amin' This is because the angels and the Imam also say 'Amin.' Whosoever's 'Amin' coincides with that of the angels', his past sins will be forgiven" [Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, Darimi, chapter on 'Tahmid'; Musnad Ahmad, Narrations of Abu Hurayra] This hadith proves that "Amin" should be said as the Imam says his "Amin". No one hears the Imam's "Amin", so no one should hear the follower's "Amin".The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) has also ordered us to follow the Imam, so we should say "Amin" quietly. One Doubt Some people claim that the Imam should say "Amin" loudly. Imam Daraqutni writes: "Wyle said that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) led the salat and read 'Amin' loudly" [at-Tirmidhi and Daraqutni, chapter on 'Ta'meen'] This hadith provides evidence that "Amin" should be said loudly. There is also another hadith which Imam Daraqutni wrote: "It is reported by Abu Hurayra that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) led the salat and said 'Amin' loudly" [Daraqutni, Ta'meen] There is also a third hadith which is reported by Umm Hasin: "She relates that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) read the salat and said 'Amin' loudly" [Zali, Ta'min] All the above narrations appear to prove that the Imam should say "Amin" loudly and the followers should also say "Amin" loudly. We clear this doubt by saying: Al-Bukhari or Muslim did not write the above narrations. All these narrations prove that the Imam says "Amin" loudly sometimes. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said "Amin" loudly sometimes. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said "Amin" loudly so that his followers would know that after "Waladdallin", "Amin" should be said. These narrations cannot be used as evidence because they are not authentic. Examining the Narrators The first narrator was called Muhammad ibn Kathir. Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Imam Ahmad said that Muhammad ibn Kathir is weak. Imam an-Nasa'i said that he is not reliable in the science of Hadith. 'Abdullah ibn Ahmad said that he narrates false narrations of hadith, which is why the scholars of Hadith reject his narrations and say that Muhammad ibn Kathir is weak. Imam al-Bukhari, Imam Abu Dawud, Imam Salih, and Hafiz Jazrah say that he made many mistakes in his narrations, all his narrations are weak and that his narrations are difficult to understand. Imam Ibn Adhi mentions his unknown narrations in his book Kamil. Imam Ibn Habban said Muhammad ibn Kathir is authentic but made many mistakes. Imam Laith and Ibn Mu'in praised him" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal; al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Muhammad ibn Kathir] The other narrator of these narrations is Muhammad ibn Khalid. Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Muhammad is a truthful man but is unknown. Imam Ibn Abi Khatim said that I asked my father about Muhammad but he replied that he was unaware of his existence" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal;, Biography of Muhammad ibn Khalid] Another narrator of these narrations is called 'Abd al-Jabbar ibn Wyle. Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Imam Bukhari, Imam at-Tirmidhi and Imam ibn Habban said that Ibn Wyle had never heard any hadith from his father. The other scholars of Hadith say that he was born after his father's death which explains why it was not possible for hom to have heard any hadith from his father. Imam Ibn Sa'd said that Ibn Wyle has only narrated a few hadith" [Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of 'Abd al-Jabbar ibn Wyle] 'Abd al-Jabbar's narrations cannot be used as evidence because he said that he narrated directly from his father whereas his father had died before his birth. Ishaq ibn Ibrahim az-Zubedi was another narrator of these narrations. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "Imam Dawud and Imam an-Nasa'i said that he had no knowledge of Hadith and he was not authentic. Imam Ati said that he was a liar" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal;, Biography of Ishaq ibn Ibrahim az-Zubedi] Another narrator of these narrations is called 'Abdullah ibn Salim. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "He was a Nasibi [from a misled sect]. 'Abdullah ibn Salim contempted Hazrat 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and he used to say that Hazrat 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) helped those people who killed Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and Hazrat 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him)" [Mizan al-I'tidal;, Biography of 'Abdullah ibn Salim] Another narrator of these narrations is Isma'il ibn Muslim Makki. Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Imam Ahmad, Imam Abu Zur'a, Imam an-Nasa'i, Imam 'Ali, and Imam al-Bukhari say that he is weak and that he narrates unknown ahadith. This is why the scholars of Hadith began to avoid his narrations. Imam ibn Mu'in said that he combined the text from one hadith into another" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal; al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Isma'il ibn Muslim Makki] How can the above narrations be used as evidence when the narrators of these ahadith have been highly criticized by the scholars of Hadith. The ahadith that have been narrated by these narrators cannot be authentic; they can only prove that "Amin" is to be said loudly by the Imam and not that the followers say "Amin" loudly together with the Imam. If this was the case, the Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) should have said, 'When the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said "Amin" loudly, we also said "Amin" loudly.' But they only reported that the Prophet said "Amin" loudly. It is established that the Imam says "Amin" loudly sometimes. The way of the Companions was to follow this and to listen to the "Amin" quietly - not to read "Amin" loudly themselves. Secondly, there are other ahadith that mention that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to say "Amin" silently: Imam Ibn Abi Shayba writes: "Wyle reported that he performed salat behind the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and he said, 'Amin' silently" [Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba, Chapter on 'Ta'min'] Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal writes: "Wyle reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) led the salat and said, 'Amin' silently" [Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Narrations of Wyle ibn Hajjar] Both of the above narrations prove that when the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) led the salat he said Amin silently. Imam Abu Dawud writes: "When the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) led the salat, after saying, 'Waladdallin', he became silent" [Abu Dawud, al-Qira'at] The above narration proves that when the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) became silent, it was to say "Amin" silently. If the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was to say "Amin" loudly then there was no point in him remaining silent after saying "Waladdallin." Examination of the Evidence in support of saying "Amin" Loudly Behind the Imam 1) Imam al-Bukhari writes: "Ata ibn Rubah said that "Amin" is a du'a'. 'Abdullah and the people who were behind him said "Amin" loudly and this sound echoed throughout the masjid" [Bukhari, Chapter on 'Ta'min'] Those who believe "Amin" should be recited loudly use this hadith to prove their assertion as the sound echoes throughout the masjid. We argue that although this narration is written in Bukhari, he did not write the chain of this narration. Imam al-Bukhari was born at the very end of the second century AH and 'Abdullah ibn Zubayr died in the 73rd year AH. This means that Imam al-Bukhari was born 125 years after the death of 'Abdullah ibn Zubayr. How then could Bukhari know that the masjid echoed with the sound of "Amin", at the time of 'Abdullah ibn Zubayr? Ta'liq (To Suspend) When a scholar of Hadith writes a hadith without mentioning the chain between himself and the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), or he mentions a little part of the chain, the hadith such as this is called hadith mu'allaq (suspended hadith). This is because this type of hadith is chain-less. The scholars of Hadith call it a suspended hadith. Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "When a scholar of Hadith writes a chainless hadith directly from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) or from a Companion, or a student of a Companion, this type of narration is not accepted because he never met the Companion of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) or the Companion's student. It is not known whether the narrators, whom he does not mention, are authentic or weak. The majority of scholars of Hadith agree that if a scholar who writes a chainless hadith claims that the narrators are authentic, his claim will not be accepted until he mentions their names. Both Muslim and Bukhari contain some chainless hadith which cannot be accepted" [al-'Asqalani, Sharh an-Nukhbah and Muqaddama Fath al-Bari, Chapter on Hadith Mu'allaq] According to the majority of scholars, chainless narrations are not acceptable. Ibn Zubayr's above narration is a chainless narration and so it cannot be accepted as evidence. Secondly, it is not clear from Ibn Zubayr's narration if the followers said "Amin" after "Waladdallin" or during the du'a' in the Fajr salat. It is also not clear as to whether the followers in the salat said "Amin" in all their salat or just once. Thirdly, the hadith does not show the Prophet ordering the Companions to say "Amin". The above mentioned hadith cannot be used to prove that "Amin" should be said behind the Imam. 2) Imam Ibn Majah writes: "Bishar ibn Rafir said that Abu Hurayra's cousin Abu 'Abdullah told me that he heard Abu Hurayra saying, 'The people have stopped saying "Amin" although the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to say "Amin" after "Waladdallin." The people in the first row offering salat could hear him. The sound echoed throughout the masjid' " [Ibn Majah, Chapter on 'Ta'min'] Examination of the Narrators The first narrator of this narration is Abu 'Abdullah. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "He is Abu Hurayra's cousin, but is unknown. Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim did not take this narration from him" [Mizan al-I'tidal, Biography of Abu 'Abdullah] The second narrator is Bishr ibn Rafir. Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Imam al-Bukhari said that no one could verify his narration. Imam Ahmad said that his narrations are weak and he has no knowledge of Hadith. Imam Yahya ibn Mu'in said that his narrations are unknown. Imam an-Nasa'i said that he is not strong in the knowledge of Hadith. Imam Ibn Habban said that he narrates false ahadith. Imam Abu Khatim and Imam at-Tirmidhi say that he is weak and that he narrates unknown hadiths. This is the reason why his narrated ahadith are weak. Imam Ibn 'Abdi'l-Barr said that all the scholars of Hadith agree that all his narrations should be thrown away. The scholars of Hadith did not accept his narrations. Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim did not take any narrations from him. There were only two or three people who praised him" [Mizan al-I'tidal & Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Bishr ibn Rafir al-Harsi] The above statements show that the narrators of these narrations have been highly criticized by the scholars of Hadith. The Text of the Hadith Abu Hurayra was a famous Companion of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and he died in 59 AH. He complained that the people had stopped saying "Amin". In his time, a large number of the Companions were alive thus if it was a Sunna to say "Amin" loudly behind the Imam, then the Companions would have done so and Abu Hurayra need not have complained. Abu Hurayra saw this in the time of the Khulafa' ar-Rashidun but did not mention that they, or their followers, used to say "Amin" loudly - it has been proven that the Khulafa' ar-Rashidun and their followers did not practice this. Abu Hurayra continued to say that when the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to say "Amin" the people in the first row heard it and the sound echoed throughout the masjid. This statement proves that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to say "Amin" sometimes to teach the people, but the people behind him did not say "Amin" loudly. The statement, "The sound echoed throughout the masjid" requires attention because the sound can only echo if the place is made of cement and also has a dome. The roof of the masjid at the time of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was made from palm tree branches and no cement was used. This means that it is not possible for the sound to have echoed throughout the masjid. The interesting thing is that Imam Dawud also wrote this narration in his chapter on Ta'min, but did not mention the above words (i.e. "The sound echoed throughout the masjid"). The above narration is not authentic and the text does not prove that "Amin" should be said loudly behind the Imam. This is because in the whole narration there is no proof that the Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to say "Amin" loudly behind the Imam.

Those of us who adhere to the madhab of Imam Abu Hanifa believe that when an individual performs salat alone then it is wajib to recite al-Fatiha, but when one is praying behind the Imam then al-Fatiha should not be recited, whether the Imam is reciting loudly or quietly.The evidence available from the Qur'an and Sunna are as follows: Allah says in the Qur'an: "When the Qur'an is recited, listen to it" [sura al-A'raf: 204] Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: 'The Imam's recitation is enough for the followers' " [Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Sura al-Fatiha] Hence the position taken by those who adhere to this madhab is that it is impermissible to recite behind the Imam in any salat. There are people who believe that we should recite behind the Imam even when the Imam recites loudly or quietly. Their evidence is from the hadith in which the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "The salat of the person who does not recite al-Fatiha is not accepted" [Bukhari & Muslim, Kitab as-Salat, Wujub al-Qira'at] Rather than reading this hadith in isolation, when we read other sources of Islamic law we can establish that the meaning of this hadith is that it is essential to recite al-Fatiha when praying salat alone. Some people have also established from the above hadith that it implies that the recitation of al-Fatiha in every rakat is fard (compulsory). It is also worth mentioning that this hadith is established from a single narration, and an action cannot be proved to be fard from such type of narration. There is proof from Qur'an and Sunna which supports the view that if someone reads any part of the Qur'an in the salat, the salat will be accepted. Allah says in the Qur'an: "Recite the Qur'an [in salat] that which is easy for you" [sura al-Muzzammil, verse 20] If Surat al-Fatiha was fard then the verse would have stated this explicitly. There is also another hadith which states that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) taught a man how to perform salat, yet he did not mention al-Fatiha. Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim write: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was sitting in the masjid and a man came and performed salat. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) ordered him to perform salat again. When he finished, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) told him again to perform salat. The man said, 'This is the best way that I can perform salat. Teach me a better way.' The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said 'When you stand, say takbir then recite from the Qur'an whatever is easy for you' " [Bukhari & Muslim, Bab al-Wujub al-Qira'a] Imam Daraqutni writes: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said that whoever joins the salat with the Imam in ruku' [before the Imam stands straight], that ruku will not have to be repeated" [Daraqutni, Adrak Imam Qabla ar-Ruku'] If the recitation of Sura al-Fatiha was fard, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would have told the man to reciteal-Fatiha first and then to recite any other part of the Qur'an which was easy for him. Also the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would not have said that the ruku' of the person who joins the Imam in ruku' does not have to be repeated. In such a case al-Fatiha is missed. If al-Fatiha was fard the person joining the salat at ruku' would have had to repeat his salat, simply because a fard was missing. Allama Sa'idi writes: "The meaning of the above debated hadith is similar to the following ahadith: The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, 'Whoever lives close to the mosque and does not pray in the mosque his salat is not accepted.' "There is another hadith, which states that if a person makes wudu' and does not recite bismillah, the wudu' is invalid. There is also another hadith stating that a person is not Muslim if his neighbour sleeps in a hungry state. Another hadith states that if a person does not fulfil their promise then he is not a Muslim.Of course, the person who fails to fulfil their promise is still a Muslim and, in the same way, if someone does not recite al-Fatiha in salat, his salat is still accepted but without full perfection. If this was not the case the Prophet should have said: 'The salat of the one who does not recite al-Fatiha is false' " [sa'idi, Sharh Muslim, Bab Wujubi Qira'at] There is a further explanation of this hadith, which we shall touch upon later insha'llah. We accept that there are scholars who hold the view that people should recite al-Fatiha behind the Imam. The scholars have also written books on this subject. Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya writes: "Some scholars say that al-Fatiha should be recited behind the Imam. The scholars of Hadith say this opinion is weak. Qur'an and authentic ahadith and the opinion of the early Muslims [salaf] is with those scholars who say that al-Fatiha should not be recited behind the Imam" [ibn Taymiyya, Tanaw Ibadat, p. 76] Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes: "Imam Ahmad and Imam Abu Hanifa say there should be no recitation behind the Imam during any salat. This is more accurate because Imam ash-Shafi'i has one opinion which is similar to this" [Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Sura al-A'raf, verse 204] Imam Abu Dawud writes: "One day the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was leading the prayer. After he had finished praying he asked, 'Perhaps some of you were reciting behind me?' The followers replied, 'Yes.' The Prophet said, 'That was why I was facing difficulty in reciting." Abu Hurayra, Imam Zuhri and Imam Awza'i said that after this advice from the Prophet everyone stopped reciting behind the Imam" [Abu Dawud, Bab Man al-Qira'at] From this narration, we can see that people used to recite behind the Imam but stopped it afterwards. Surely, after reading such statements, it should suffice to understand which position is in accordance with the Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) command of 'Pray as you see me pray.' Whoever decides to embark on their own research on this subject will find it difficult not to arrive at the same conclusion of Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya and Hafiz Ibn Kathir. Evidence For Reciting al-Fatiha Behind the Imam Let us now examine the evidence of the people who insist that they should recite behind the Imam. Essentially, they claim that there are three ahadith which state that the Prophet said that we should recite behind the Imam. In fact, there is not a single hadith in which the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) has commanded us to recite behind the Imam. As we have seen thus far, there is proof from the Qur'an and Sunna to suggest that we should NOT recite behind the Imam. Let us examine the three narrations which have been put forward. The first narration is from 'Ali ibn 'Abdullah from Sufyan from Zuhri from Mahmud who reported: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said that the salat of whoever does not recite al-Fatiha is not complete" [Bukhari & Muslim, Bab al-Wujib al-Qira'a] Those who recite behind the Imam put forward this hadith as their evidence to recite Sura al-Fatiha in every salat behind the Imam. There is no word in this hadith that proves that al-Fatiha should be recited behind the Imam. If we take the literal meaning of reciting behind the Imam, then this narration would go against the Qur'an and authentic ahadith. The actual meaning of this narration is that when a person is praying alone and does not recite al-Fatiha then his salat is not complete. This is the actual opinion held by narrators of this narration. The following proves this: Imam Muslim writes: "Ma'mar reported from Zuhri that the Prophet Muhammad said, 'The salat of the person who does not recite Sura al-Fatiha and another part of the Qur'an is not accepted' " [Muslim, Bab al-Qira'a] Imam Muslim's narration confirms that this hadith is for the person who is praying alone because when a person prays alone he reads Sura al-Fatiha and another part of the Qur'an. Even the people who recite al-Fatiha behind the Imam do not say that there should be another part of the Qur'an recited. So it is clear that this hadith is for those people who are praying alone. An Objection Raised Imam al-Bukhari narrated a narration from Sufyan which is about the wujub of only reciting al-Fatiha whereas Imam Muslim narrates from Ma'mar a hadith which says that the person's prayer is not accepted if they do not recite Sura al-Fatiha AND another part of the Qur'an. We prefer Sufyan's narration over Ma'mar's because Sufyan is more reliable. This objection can be cleared easily by looking at what the books of al-jarh wa ta'dil say about the quality of hadith narrators. Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Imam Yahya ibn Mu'in was asked by his students as to who had memorised more of Imam adh-Dhahabi's narrations and whom he prefered. He replied: 'Imam Ma'mar. Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal said that Sufyan heard ahadith from Imam Zuhri at a young age, so this is why when he reported ahadith from Zuhri he made mistakes in twenty of them' " [al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib; adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal, Biography of Sufyan and Ma'mar] This reference proves that Ma'mar's narration is more authentic than Sufyan's narration. Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes: "Sufyan sometimes committed tadlis [which means that when he narrated some of the hadith he made out that he heard it directly from Zuhri, but he had actually heard it from someone else who in turn heard it from Zuhri].One day, Sufyan was sitting with his students and he told them a hadith, which he was narrating from Zuhri. One of the students questioned: 'Did you hear this directly from Zuhri?' Sufyan paused and said: 'No, I heard it from 'Abd ar-Razzaq, who heard it from Ma'mar, who heard it directly from Zuhri" [ibn Kathir, Iftisar 'Ulum al-Ahadith, Bab at-Tadlis] This reference proves that Sufyan at times committed tadlis and since Ma'mar's name is not mentioned under those who committed tadlis, we can safely assert that he did not. Someone may say that Sufyan's narrations are prefered over Ma'mar's even if Ma'mar is more reliable concerning Zuhri's narrations. In response to this we assert that Sufyan's narrations do not actually prove that we should read al-Fatiha even if we are praying behind an Imam. Let us examine what Imam Zuhri and his other students (including Imam Malik and Sufyan himself) understood from this narration. The main narration comes from Imam Zuhri, then his students: Imam Malik, Sufyan, Yunus, Ma'mar, Awza'i and others narrate this narration: Imam Abu Dawud writes: "Sufyan narrates from Imam Zuhri that the hadith, that a prayer of the person who does not recite al-Fatiha and another part of the Qur'an is not accepted, is meant for the person who is praying alone. Imam Zuhri says that when the Prophet used to lead the prayer loudly the people used to recite behind him. This narration is from Imam Zuhri, narrated by Sufiyan, Ma'mar, 'Abdullah ibn Muhammad, Awza'i, 'Abd ar-Rahman ibn Ishaaq, Yunus, 'Usama and Imam Malik" [Abu Dawud, Bab Tark al-Qira'a Khalf al-Imam] From this we can prove that the hadith concerning nullification of the prayer of the one who does not recite Al-Fatiha in their prayer is meant for that person who is performing salat alone, and not behind the Imam. This is what Imam Sufyan, his teacher and colleagues understood by this narration. This hadith is found in two versions: one version is narrated by Sufyan concerning just reading Al-Fatiha (and without any clarification). The other version is that the person's prayer is not accepted who does not recite al-Fatiha AND another part of the Qur'an. This narration comes from Sufyan, Ma'mar and others. The second narration is an explanation of the first one. Imam Sufyan himself explained that this narration is for that person who is performing salat alone. More Evidence Supporting the Recitation Behind the Imam Imam Muslim writes: "Someone asked Abu Hurayra, 'What do we do when we are behind the Imam? Should we recite al-Fatiha or not?' He answered, 'Recite it in your heart' " [Muslim, Bab Wujubi Qira'at] The people who recite behind the Imam take evidence from this narration by saying that reciting al-Fatiha behind the Imam is fard as Abu Hurayra said that it should be recited in the heart. These words are neither from Allah nor the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), but are the words of Abu Hurayra himself. In Bukhari, Muslim, and other books of ahadith there is no such narration which says that when you are behind the Imam you must recite al-Fatiha in your heart. There are,however, narrations which say that when the Imam is reciting al-Fatiha one should listen to it. Imam Muslim writes in Sahih Muslim: "Abu Hurayra relates that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, 'When the Imam recites, listen and stay quiet' " [Muslim, Bab at-Tashahhud] How can it be possible that Abu Hurayra contradict his own narrations? The actual meaning of Abu Hurayra's words concerning reciting in the heart is to contemplate its meanings. This is the true meaning which does not go against the Qur'an and the Sunna. Qadi Shawkani (Imam al-Qurtubi has also written something similar) writes: "The word 'Nafsaka [Your self] means to think about the meaning" [Fath al-Qadir, Sura al-A'raf, verse 203] Imam an-Nawawi writes: "Some Maliki scholars have explained Abu Hurayra's words about 'reading in the heart' as to mean thinking about the words of al-Fatiha, because if you read something in the heart it cannot be called recitation because recitation is actually when one reads from the tongue. So it is only called recitation when the tongue is actually moving. The proof of this is that all the scholars say when a woman is in an impure state she cannot recite with the tongue, but she can think about the meaning in her heart" [Sharh Muslim, Bab Wujubi Qira'at] From the above we can see that Abu Hurayra's words do not mean to recite behind the Imam but rather they mean to think about the meaning in the heart. The Status of the Words of the Companions It is said that the words of Abu Hurayra prove that recitation behind the Imam is fard. This objection can be easily cleared, as the words of the Companions cannot prove something to be fard, wajib, halal or haram, as only the Qur'an and ahadith of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) can prove this. This is particularly so when the words of the Companion contradict any hadith that the Companion himself reported. The words of the Companions are normally proof of something when there is nothing related to it (from the Qur'an and Sunna). Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya writes: "The words of the Sahaba cannot prove anything to be fard, wajib, halal or haram, especially when words go against authentic hadith. So when the words go against the hadith it is not necessary for Muslims to follow it. There is a narration saying that Abu Hurayra used to wipe his neck during wudu. We know that to perform this wiping is against Sunna. This is why groups of scholars criticise those people who wipe the neck during wudu" [Kitab al-Wasila, Bab Hadith al-Ama] After Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya's statement one cannot prove that reciting al-Fatiha behind the Imam from Abu Hurayra's words. More evidence supporting recitation behind the Imam Imam Abu Dawud writes : " 'Ubada ibn Samid reported: 'Once we prayed Fajr behind the Prophet and he experienced difficulty in his recitation. When he finished praying he asked, 'Maybe one of you was reciting behind me?' We said, 'Yes.' The Prophet said, 'Do not recite anything behind me except al-Fatiha.' Narrated by Muhammad ibn Ishaq, Muqhul, and Naf'i from 'Ubada." [Abu Dawud, Bab al-Qira'at fi as-Salat] From this narration one cannot prove that the recitation behind the Imam is necessary. Here are some reasons for this: 1) This narration opposes the Qur'an and the authentic ahadith which say that one should not recite behind the Imam (of which we have mentioned but a few, above). 2) This narration is very weak. The reason for this is that the narrators of this hadith have been criticised by the scholars of Hadith. 3) Abu Dawud, who collected this hadith, wrote a second chapter in which there is the full explanation of this hadith. When we read the full explanation we can see that we should not recite behind the Imam. 4) The narrator of this narration himself, never recited behind the Imam. The Narrator of This Hadith Abu Dawud writes: "Muqhul sometimes got this narration confused because sometimes he said he got the narration from 'Ubada and sometimes that he said he heard it from Naf'i and sometimes he said he heard it from Mahmud" [Abu Dawud, Bab Qira'a Khalf al-Imam] The other narrator of this hadith is Naf'i, who is unknown. Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Naf'i only ever narrated one hadith [which was the one above]. This is the reason why Imam Ibn 'Abdi'l-Barr says that he is unknown. Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Abu Hatim never mentioned Naf'i's name in their books. Ibn Habban said that Naf'i's narration is weak, but he was not a liar" [Mizan al-'Itidal, Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Naf'i ibn Mahmud] The other narrator of this narration is Muhammad ibn Ishaq, who was very knowledgeable in Islamic history but very weak in narration of hadith. Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "The scholars of Hadith have different opinions about Muhammad ibn Ishaq. Yahya ibn Mu'in says that he is authentic but his narration of hadith is not good. 'Ali ibn Madini says his two narrations are unknown. An-Nasa'i said that he is not strong in the knowledge of Hadith. Imam Daraqutni said that his hadith cannot be used as evidence. Imam Abu Bakr said that Muhammad ibn Ishaq was Qadri. Imam Hasham and Imam Sulayman said that he was a liar. Imam Malik said that he is a liar and is a Dajjal. 'Abdullah ibn Mubarak said, 'I saw Muhammad ibn Ishaq in Masjid al-Haif. I did not go near him because people might have said that I have wrong beliefs like him.' Imam Ahmad said, 'When he narrates hadith, he narrates hadith from those people whom he never met. Imam Yahya ibn Sa'id says, 'I bear witness that Muhammad ibn Ishaq is a liar. He has narrated one thousand ahadith which no one else has narrated.' Imam al-Bukhari never wrote any hadith that was narrated by Muhammad ibn Ishaq. No one can use his narration of hadith as evidence for halal and haram but there are a few people who praised him, like Imam Shoba" [Mizan al-I'tidal, Tahzib at-Tahzib, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, Biography of Muhammad ibn Ishaq] We can see that the majority of scholars have criticised Muhammad ibn Ishaq so how can we use his narration as evidence? Imam Abu Dawud writes : "Naf'i reported: One day, 'Ubada and I performed salat behind Abu Na'im. 'Ubada was standing besides me. He recited behind the Imam. When the salat was over, I asked him, 'Why, when the Imam was reciting loudly, did you recite behind him?' He told me about the hadith that has been mentioned above" [Abu Dawud, Bab Qira'at Khalf al-Imam] From this we can see that Naf'i (who is the narrator of the hadith) did not recite behind the Imam, and nor did the other people who were there. Secondly, it is proved that 'Ubada was reciting al-Fatiha loud enough so that the next person could hear him. So the people who use this hadith as evidence should only recite loud enough so that the next person can hear them. If everyone recites loudly behind the Imam it would sound like similar to the "Amin" said in unison. So these are the reasons why this narration cannot be used as evidence. We also know that there are authentic ahadith that exhort one to listen to the Imam when he is reciting. So how can we leave the authentic hadith and follow the weak hadith? Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya writes : "To listen to the recitation of the Imam is mentioned in the Qur'an and the authentic ahadith. The whole Umma agrees on this. All the Companions say that when the Imam recites al-Fatiha or any other Sura it is fard to listen and to stay quiet. Imam Shafi'i saying is also like this. This is the reason that the knowledgeable Shafi'i scholars, like Imam Qadri and Imam Abu Muhammad, say that if the Imam is reciting loudly, and someone recites behind him, that person would be denying the Qur'an, Sunna and the opinion of all the Companions" [ibn Taymiyya, Tanaw al-'Ibadat, p. 87] After Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya's statement no-one can say that recitation behind the Imam is fard and that the one who recites behind the Imam risks his salat beingnot accepted. Evidence From the Qur'an For Not Reciting Behind the Imam Allah says in the Qur'an: "When the Qur'an is being recited, listen to it and be silent" [sura A'raf, verse 204] Hafiz Ibn Kathir explains the meaning of this verse as follows: "You should remain quiet when the Imam is reciting Qur'an loudly in the fard salat. There is a hadith in which the Prophet said, 'When offering salat behind the Imam you should recite takbir. When he recites takbir, and when he recites qira'at you should remain quiet "There is also another narration: ' 'Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud heard some people reciting Qira'at behind the Imam and said to them, "What is wrong with you? Why are you not obeying the Qur'an?" ' "This implies that when the Qur'an is being recited one should remain quite. Imam Zuhri states that this verse was revealed because one man used to recite behind the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Abu Hurayra said that before this verse was revealed people were in the habit of reading behind the Imam aloud in salats Fajr, Maghrib and Isha and when this verse was revealed they stopped this practice. "Imam Zuhri says that in the salat, where the Imam recites loudly, you should not recite behind him because the Imam's recitation is sufficient for you, even if you cannot hear. But there were some people who thought that they could recite behind the Imam if his voice did not reach them, but I [ibn Kathir] say that this is wrong; no-one should recite behind the Imam, whether his voice reaches them or not. This is because Allah says in the Qur'an: 'When the Qur'an is being recited, listen to it and remain quiet.' "A group of scholars say the following: 'Imam Ahmad and Abu Hanifa say that a person should not recite qira'at behind the Imam in any salat because the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) stated that the Imam's reciting is sufficient for the followers. "Imam ash-Shafi'i has two opinions on this subject: 1) A person should recite qira'at behind the Imam 2) A person should not recite qira'at behind the Imam "I [ibn Kathir] say that the second opinion is correct as it corresponds with the Qur'an. "Imam al-Bukhari states that a person is entitled to recite qira'at in every salat behind the Imam whether the Imam recites quietly or loudly, but the Sahaba and Tabi'un say that it is essential to listen to the Imam and remain quiet. This is the opinion held by Ibn 'Abbas, Mujahid, Ibn Jubayr, Ibn Mas'ud, and many other great Sahaba and Tabi'un" [ibn Kathir, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Sura A'raf, verse 204] Imam at-Tabari writes: "This verse was revealed about salat, but some scholars say that the verse is not for salat but is also for the Jumu'a and 'Id Khutba. The Companions agree with this. Ibn Mas'ud, Abu Hanifa, Imam Zuhri, Zayd, Ibn Musayb, Hasan al-Basri, 'Ubaydh, Ata, Dhahak, Ibrahim, an-Nakhai, Qatada, Shabi (who had seen 500 of the Prophets Companions) and Sadai all hold this opinion" [at-Tabari, Tafsir Tabari, Sura A'raf, verse 204] Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya writes: "Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal says that the whole Umma has agreed upon the fact that when the verse: 'When the Qur'an is recited, listen and remain quiet' was revealed for salat all scholars agreed that it is not essential for the muqtadi [follower] to recite but he should stay quite and listen. This opinion is authentic because it is in line with the Qur'an" [Fatawa Ibn Taymiyya, Vol. 2, p. 143, 168 and 412] From the tafsirs of Hafiz Ibn Kathir and Imam at-Tabari it is clear that the verse from Sura al-A'raf was revealed for salat.The Sahaba and Tabi'un also agreed on this. It may still be said that the Sahaba and Tabi'un, who say that this aya was revealed for salat, made a mistake. To remove this doubt, Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Kathir were quoted. These are the names of the people who along with other great scholars have passed the Din down to us. When these people interpret any verse of the Qur'an, they say that their interpretation is authentic and any other opinion is useless. This is because of their knowledge in the Islamic Sciences. Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya writes: "The Tabi'un gained knowledge from the Sahaba and settled in different places. The people of Makka had the most knowledge in Qur'anic Tafsir because Ibn 'Abbas once lived there and his students gained knowledge of Tafsir from him. An example is Mujahid who was the most knowledgeable in interpreting the Qur'an. Imam ash-Shafi'i, Ahmed and al-Bukhari used to prefer the Tafsir of Mujahid over others. Indeed, Mujahid was the 'sign of Allah on this earth.' Students of 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas were Ata ibn Rubah, 'Ikrimah, and Sa'id ibn Jubayr "In Kufa 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud taught the people the knowledge of the Qur'anic Tafsir. They and their students had great knowledge in the field of Tafsir. "In Madina, Zayd ibn Aslam had the most knowledge of the Qur'anic Tafsir. This is the reason why Imam Malik's quotations of Tafsir are from Zayd ibn Aslam. Hasan al-Basri, Musruq, Qatada, and Abu 'Aliya were also great scholars of Tafsir" [ibn Taymiyya, Usul at-Tafsir, p 21] Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes: "Mujahid, 'Ikrimah, Ata, Hasan al-Basri, Musruq, Sa'id and Abu 'Aliya had great knowledge of Tafsir but Mujahid was the 'Proof of Allah on this earth.' Sufyan ath-Thawri used to say that if Mujahid's Tafsir had said such and such a thing then futher research is useless as his Tafsir is sufficient" [Muqaddima Tafsir Ibn Kathir] Therefore, if anyone should state that Sura al A'raf's verse was not revealed for salat, his statement can be ignored. This is because this opinion would be against the Sahaba and Tabi'un. This is proved from the above statements. Evidence From Hadith For Not Reciting Behind the Imam Imam Muslim writes : "Abu Musa al-Ash'ari reported, 'The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) taught us how to perform salat, and said, "First straighten the rows, then one person should become Imam, then follow him; when he says takbir say takbir and when he recites, remain quiet" [Sahih Muslim, Book of Salat, Chapter on 'Tashahhud'; also reported in: Abu Dawud; Ibn Majah; Musnad Ahmad; Nayl al-Awtar, Kitab al-Qira'at; Muhallah Ibn Hazm, Chapter on 'Salat'] Imam Muslim writes: "My student, Abu Nasr, asked me if the hadith narrated by Abu Hurayra in which it says '...when he [the Imam] recites, remain quiet' is authentic. I [imam Muslim] replied, 'Yes, it is authentic" [Sahih Muslim, Chapter on 'Tashahhud'] Imam Muslim writes: "Zayd ibn Thabit was asked if a person should recite behind the Imam and he in reply said, 'Behind the Imam there is no qira'at' " [Sahih Muslim, Chapter on 'Sujudi Tilawa] Imam Malik writes: "Jabir reported that if a person performs salat and fails to read Sura al-Fatiha, his salat is nullified, but if he is behind the Imam then his salat is valid" [Muwatta Imam Malik, Majati Umal Qur'an] Imam Malik further writes: "Nafi' [who was a famous student of Ibn 'Umar] reported that when anyone asked Ibn 'Umar, 'Should a person recite Sura Al-Fatiha behind the Imam?' he used to reply that the Imam's reciting of Sura al-Fatiha is sufficient for you. Ibn 'Umar did not read Sura al-Fatiha behind the Imam" [Muwatta Imam Malik, Book of Salat, chapter on 'Qira'at Khalf al-Imam] Imam Ahmad writes: "Ibn Sirin asked Ibn 'Umar, 'Should I recite al-Fatiha behind the Imam?' He replied, 'The Imam's recitation is sufficient for you' " [Musnad Ahmad, Narrations of Ibn 'Umar] Imam Ahmad writes: "Jabir ibn 'Abdullah reported that the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) said, 'The Imam's recitation is the person's recitation who is reading behind him' " [Musnad Ahmad, Narrations of Jabir ibn 'Abdullah] Ibn Majah also wrote this hadith in his book of salat. In Ibn Majah's narrative chain there is a person called Ja'far who is considered weak. Imam Ahmad writes: "Abu Hurayra narrated that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, 'The Imam is selected to be followed and when he says takbir, you say takbir; when he goes into ruku', you go into ruku'; when he goes into sajda, you go into sajda, but when he reads qira'at, you remain quiet" [Musnad Ahmad, Narrations of Abu Hurayra; also see: an-Nasa'i, Nayl al-Awtar, Muhalla Ibn Hazm, Chapter of salat; Ibn Taymiyya, Fatawa Ibn Taymiyya, Kitab al-Qira'at, vol. 2 p.144] Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal writes: "Abu Darda reported, 'One day the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) told us (and I was the closest to the Prophet) about recitation behind the Imam. He said, 'The Imam's recitation is sufficient for the muqtadi' " [Musnad Ahmad, Narrations of Abu Darda] Imam at-Tirmidhi writes: "Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal said that instruction from the hadith that states, '...salat is not accepted if Sura al-Fatiha is not read...' is for that person who is reading alone" [at-Tirmidhi, Qira'at Khalf al-Imam] Imam 'Abd ar-Razzaq (who was a great teacher of Imam Bukhari and Muslim) writes: " 'Ali said that he who recites qira'at behind the Imam goes against nature. One person asked Ibn Mas'ud whether he should recite behind the Imam. Ibn Mas'ud replied, 'No.' Zayd ibn Aslam reported that the Prophet had prohibited a person from reading Qqra'at behind the Imam. "Abu Ishaq said that Ibn Mas'ud's students did not recite behind the Imam. 'Ubaydullah asked Jabir ibn 'Abdullah whether he recited behind the Imam at Zuhr and 'Asr? He replied 'No?' " [Musannaf 'Abd ar-Razzaq, Qira'at Khalf al-Imam] Imam 'Abd ar-Razzaq, who died in 221AH, was neither a Hanafi nor Abu Hanifa's student. No-one can say that Imam 'Abd ar-Razzaq made up the narration to support the Hanifi position, so it should be accepted that this narration is not fabricated. Imam Ibn Abi Shayba writes : "The Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) said, 'For any person who recites behind the Imam, my wish is that fire should be placed in his mouth.' Nafi', Zayd ibn Aslam, Ibn 'Umar, Jubayr and Sa'id ibn Jubayr all hold that there is no qira'at behind the Imam whether he reads aloud or reads quiet" [Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba, Qira'at Khalf al-Imam] Imam Ibn Abi Shayba, who strongly opposed Abu Hanifa, had written a full chapter against Abu Hanifa. In the same book he wrote the above narration without criticism. If this narration had not been true then he would have rejected it or at least criticised it. Also, because he has not criticised these reports, it is proof in itself that the narration had taken place. No-one can say that he had fabricated these narrations in order to support Abu Hanifa. Imam Daraqutni writes: "The Prophet said that there is no recitation behind the Imam. 'Ali says that a person who recites qira'at behind the Imam has gone against the Sunna" [Daraqutni, chapter on 'Qira'at'] Daraqutni was also opposed to Imam Abu Hanifa and even tried to tamper with ahadiths which supported the Hanafi school. He did not critisise the above true narrations, which supports the contention that the above narrations are authentic. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes : "One man was performing salat behind the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) and was reciting. The person next to him tried to stop him with certain signals or signs. When the prayer had finished, they went to the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) and told their case. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, 'The Imam's qira'a is sufficient for the followers' " [adh-Dhahabi, Talqis Mustadrak, chapter on 'Salat'] The book Mustadrak, is written by al-Hakim. In this book there are all sorts of narrations both authentic and fabricated. Imam adh-Dhahabi has, in his book, examined every hadith to see whether it is authentic. Imam adh-Dhahabi's above hadith has been recorded as authentic. Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya writes: "When the Imam recites loudly it means that the Muqtadi should listen. This is the reason that the Imam recites loudly so the Muqtadi can say Amin with him. When the Imam recites quietly, they do not say Amin with him. If the Imam should recite and the Muqtadis also recite, this will mean that the Imam has been given the order to recite to people who do not want to listen to the qira'at [as if they wanted to listen they would remain quiet]. This is the same as saying to a person to do a speech to a nation that does not want to listen to it. This is such nonsense that Islam does not permit it. There is a hadith which states that when a ­­­­Khutba is being read and a person is talking, it is as though a pile of books is loaded onto a donkey. This is similar to a person reciting qira'at behind the Imam in the audible prayers" [Fatawa Ibn Taymiyya, Vol. 2, p. 147] So now, with all that has been mentioned and all the evidence cited, it should be clear that when the Imam recites qira'at the Muqtadi should stay quiet and listen - for the Imam's recitation is sufficient for the Muqtadi.

Raf ul Yad'ain Raf'ay-yadayn simply means to raise the hands during prayer. When people begin their salat, they raise their hands to signify that they have left all things and submitted themselves towards Allah alone. This also signifies the individual's testimony of Allah's Unity. The Hanafis (as members of the Ahl as-Sunna wa'l-Jama'a) believe that this act of raising the hands to the level of the ears should only be undertaken at the start of the prayer and not during it. There are those who hold the opinion that raf' al-yadayn should also be done before and after the ruku'; they hold their position because of the following reasons: 1) The Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) used to do this. 2) This was the practice of the Khulafa' ar-Rashidun and the 'Ashara al-Mubashshara (the ten Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) who were given glad tidings of Janna on this earth during their lives). Altogether, there are proofs from twenty Companions. 3) The narrations of raf' al-yadayn are mutawatir (ahadith which have been narrated by many authentic narrators during the period of the Companions, The Tabi'un, and their students). 4) Raf' ay-yadayn is a pillar of salat and leaving it makes the salat invalid. However, the position of the Hanafi madhab is that towards the end of our beloved Prophet's (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) life the practice of raf' al-yadayn had been abrogated, and that the Messenger of Allah (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) during his last prayers on this earthly life only performed raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of his salat.However, there were still some Sahaba who unknowingly continued the practice of raf' al-yadayn, without realizing that it had indeed been abrogated and obsolete.It was for this reason that at times, those who knew of its abrogation, began to ask those who continued its practice for their reason for doing so. Regarding the claim that twenty Companions, including the 'Ashara al-Mubashshara and the Khulafa ar-Rashidun, performed raf' al-yadayn ,this incidentally proves that the majority of the Companions did not practise raf' al-yadayn . Secondly, if this claim is true then why is this not recorded in Bukhari and Muslim, or in any other famous book of Hadith? If the support for twenty Companions practising raf' al-yadayn is not found in any Hadith book then how can this claim be true? The claim that the hadith regarding raf' al-yadayn is mutawatir is also not true. This is because Imam Muslim and Imam al-Bukhari have only narrated the action of raf' al-yadayn from two Companions: 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and Malik ibn Huwayris. Imam Zuhri narrated the hadith from Salim and Salim in turn narrated from 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar. Abu Qalaba and Nasr narrated from Malik ibn Huwayris, and from them, Khalid and Qatada narrated. In any one of these chains there is only one narrator at a time, whilst in the other there were two at a time. How can this be called mutawatir? The above narrator's position and the narrations which go against the above narrations will be discussed later, insha'llah. Regarding the claim that omitting raf' al-yadayn invalidates salat, nobody from among the Companions or even the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) himself said that omitting raf' al-yadayn invalidates salat. The evidence for raf' al-yadayn being a pillar of salat is not even found in the books which contain collections of fabricated hadith. It is another matter if someone decides to introduce fabricated hadith! Analysis of Those Narrations Which Prove Raf' ay- yadayn Ibn Jurayj narrated from Zuhri who narrated from Salim who narrated from 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I saw the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) offering salat; he raised his hands up to his shoulders at the beginning of salat and also before and after the ruku', but not between the two prostrations" [Bukhari and Muslim , chapter on 'Raf' ay-yadayn'] Those who follow the Hanafi madhab believe that this hadith only proves that the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) performed raf' al-yadayn during his lifetime, but it does not prove that he (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) performed it in his last prayers. Also it does not prove that raf' al-yadayn is an emphasized Sunna. One example is given below: Imams al-Bukhari & Muslim record that when Hazrat 'A'isha (may Allah be pleased with her) was in her menstruation, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to place his head in her lap and recite the Qur'an [Bukhari & Muslim, Bab al-Hayd]. From this hadith we cannot conclude that reciting the Qur'an in the lap of one's menstruating wife is an emphasized Sunna. In the same way, the naration from Ibn 'Umar does not prove that raf' al-yadayn is an emphasized Sunna. Also Ibn 'Umar's narration seems to go against some of his other narrations. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "Ibn'Umar said that he swore by Allah that raf' al-yadayn is bid'a and that he had never seen the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) practicing it (adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal, Biography of Bishr ibn Harab] Ibn 'Umar, in another place, said that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "Raf' ay-yadayn is only done in seven places: once to start salat and six times during hajj" [Kanz al-'ammal, vol. 7, p35] The teacher of Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim, Imam Humaydi, writes: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to only practise raf' al-yadayn at the start of the prayer" {Musnad Humaydi, vol. 1, p277] Imam an-Nasa'i writes: "Malik ibn Huwayris reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to perform raf' al-yadayn before and after the ruku', and also between the two sajdas" [an-Nasa'I, Bab Raf' al-Yadayn] From the above narrations it can be seen that Ibn 'Umar's narration of raf' al-yadayn goes against his own narrations based on a direct commandment from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). It also goes against the narrations of Imam Humaydi, Imam an-Nasa'i andMalik ibn Huwayris. Examination of Above Narrations (1) Imam al-Bukhari's above narration is against Imam Nasa'i's narration. (2) Imam Abu Dawud said this narration is not directly from the action of the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace), but is in fact the action of 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him).[Sunan of Abu Dawud, chapter on 'Salat'] (3) Ibn 'Umar's above narrations prove that the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) did raf' al-yadayn nine or ten times during salat [Bukhari, chapter on 'Salat'] (4) Imam Malik writes, regarding the above narrations by Ibn 'Umar: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) use to do raf' al-yadayn five times in salat." He also said: "This is the action of Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and not the action of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) [imam Malik, al-Muwatta', chapter on 'Salat'] We can see that when this narration was narrated in Madina it was narrated to be five raf' al-yadayn in salat. When it reached Bukhara it changed from five to nine or ten raf' al-yadayn in salat. Let us first examine the narrators of Ibn 'Umar's hadith - 'Abd al-Malik ibn Jurayj and Imam Zuhri: 'Abd al-Malik ibn Jurayj Imam adh-Dhahabi and Imam al-'Asqalani write: "Ibn Jurayj did not take narrations directly from people but he would attribute the narrations to them in such a way as to convince people that he actually heard the narrations from those people directly. The scholars of Hadith have called this process tadlis. Imam Ahmad said that Ibn Jurayj has narrated some ahadith which were fabricated. Also Ibn Jurayj is said to have performed mut'a [a marriage contract for a limited period] with 90 women in Makka al-Mukarrama [this was after it was made haram for Muslims]. Khurasani said that his narrations were weak. Also he never heard a narration from Imam Zuhri but only asked his permission if he could use his name in narrations" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal and Tadhkirat al-Huffaz; al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of 'Abd al-Malik ibn Jurayj] Imam Zuhri The main narrator of the above narration is Imam Zuhri. Indeed the narration is almost completely based on his narration. Before Imam Zuhri, the chain of narration of this Hadith was Umar ibn 'Abd al- Aziz, then Salim, then Imam Zuhri. After Imam Zuhri, his students made it more famous. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "Imam Zuhri's full name was Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn 'Abdullah ibn Shihab az-Zuhri. However, he is famous as Ibn Shihab az-Zuhri. He was born in the 50th year AH in Madina. He saw only a few Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). He was such a great scholar that many scholars of his time used to praise him, including even 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). [adh-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz and Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Imam Zuhri] It is a fact that Imam Zuhri has narrated hadith (which have been collected by Muslim and Bukhari) which show that the family of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and the Companions did not get on well with each other [Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bukhari, Bab al-Fay]. The truth is that the Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) family and the Companions did get on well with each other. Hafiz al-'Asqalani wrote: "It was a habit of Imam Zuhri to perform tadlis and attribute the narrations to people like 'Abd ar-Rahman ibn Azhar, Ibn Ka'b, Abban, Ibn Uthman, Ibn Hakim, Ibn as-Salimi, 'Abdullah ibn Ja'far, 'Ubadah ibn as-Samit, Rafi', Umm 'Abdullah, Abu Hurayra, and 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar. Concerning 'Abdullah ibn Umar, the scholars of Hadith are split as to whether Imam Zuhri actually saw him or not. In the same way, there is no proof that Imam Zuhri did take narrations from 'Urwa ibn Zubayr. Nethertheless, the scholars of Hadith accept these narrations which Imam Zuhri allegedly took from 'Urwa. For us, this is evidence and we should therefore believe that Imam Zuhri heard something from 'Urwa. Imam Zuhri was from a group of scholars of Hadith who used to 'grab' hadith when they heard them [Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Imam Zuhri] Tadlis - What is it? Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "The literal meaning of the arabic word 'tadlis' is 'hiding'. Technically, it means to hide a hadith narrator. If a muhaddith did tadlis, he would use a narrator's name but it would be a name by which he was not commonly known. Thus, the identity of the weak narrator was hidden. The stronger narrators in the chain would be emphasized so that the attention of the hearer of the hadith would be diverted [al-'Asqalani, Sharh an-Nukhba, chapter on 'Tadlis'] Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Imam Zuhri narrated 2, 200 ahadith, of which about a half have a chain leading to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). He used to perform tadlis, albeit of a minor manner. Imam Zuhri's murasil ahadith [where a Tabi'i quoted a hadith directly from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) without mentioning the Companion from whom he received it] used to be weaker than other peoples' [adh-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz; al-'Asqalani,Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Imam Zuhri] Imam adh-Dhahabi narrated that Imam Shubah Wasiti writes: "I would rather fall from the skies and be broken to pieces, than to perform tadlis" [Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, Biography of Imam Shubah Wasiti] Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Yazid ibn Zuray was asked, 'What is the legal ruling regarding tadlis?' To this, he replied 'It is an absolute lie' [Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Yazid ibn Zuray] Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "Sulayman ibn Harb said that Imam Jarir 'Azdi was asked about tadlis. The Imam said, 'I reject it. A mudallis [one who performs tadlis] shows that which he has not heard' " [Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, Biography of Imam Jarir ibn Hazin 'Azdi] Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes: "Imam ash-Shafi'i rejects all the narrations of any muhaddith who did tadlis, but other scholars say that if a mudallis identified who he took narrations from and if that was a reliable source, that particular narration would be accepted" [ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar 'Ulum al-Hadith, chapter on 'Tadlis'] Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "If a mudallis uses the words 'Qala' [so and so said], or 'An, [from so-and-so]in a narration, the hadith will be rejected. However, if the mudallis uses a word implying that he directly heard the narration i.e. 'sami'tu' [i heard] then he would be lying. The rule concerning such people is that even if the mudallis was truthful, the hadith would not be accepted" [al-'Asqalani, Sharh an-Nukhbah, chapter on 'Hadith Mu'dal'] Idraj and Imam Zuhri Imam Zuhri used to do idraj, so it was difficult for people to understand his narrated ahadith. Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Idraj literally means 'inserting something.' Its technical meaning is to insert one's own words into the text of a narration. Sometimes the text could be added at the start, or at the end. To find the actual hadith text from a mudrij [person who performs idraj] is very difficult. Either the hadith was analyzed be someone who had very deep knowledge, or the mudrij showed which words he inserted into the hadith text" [al-'Asqalani, Sharh an-Nukhbah, chapter on 'Hadith Mudrij'] Imam al-Bukhari writes: "It was reported by Imam Malik that the famous scholar of Hadith, Rabi'a Turayy, used to advise Imam Zuhri to show clearly in his narrations which were his own words and which were those of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)" [al-Bukhari, Ta'rikh al-Kabir, Biography of Rabi'a Turayy] Muslim and Bukhari contain ahadith in which Imam Zuhri has inserted his own words. Scholars of Hadith have refuted these words. An example is given below: Imam Muslim and Imam al-Bukhari write: When Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) became the khalifa, Hazrat 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) did not give bay'a (pledge of allegiance) to him nor did the tribe of Banu Hashim. However, six months later, after Hazrat Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her) passed away they all [including 'Ali] gave bay'a to him" [Bukhari, chapter on 'Khaybar'; Muslim, Bab al-Fayy] Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Imam Ibn Hibban, Imam al-Bayhaqi, and other scholars of Hadith say that this narration contains some of Imam Zuhri's own words. Somebody told Imam Zuhri that when Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) became the khalifa, Hazrat 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) did not give bay'a for six months. Imam Zuhri did not contain himself with only 'Ali, but asserted that the whole tribe of Banu Hashim did not give bay'a to Abu Bakr until Hazrat Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her) passed away. The fact is that Imam Zuhri's words are wrong, and also that Hazrat 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) gave bay'a to Hazrat Abu Bakr on the first day he was appointed khalifa [Fath al-Bari, end of Chapter of Khaybar] Hafiz Qastalani also writes the same as above. Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes that the narrations which say that 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) gave bay'a to Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) on the first day he was appointed khalifa are more authentic than those which do not support this. The reason for this is that 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) used to pray behind Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and stayed with him all the time [Ta'rikh Ibn Kathir,. Yawm as-Saqifa] The references prove that Imam Zuhri used to perform tadlis and idraj. The scholars have pointed out that some of his narrations are not reliable. Ijaza and Imam Zuhri Ijaza literally means 'giving permission.' Its technical meaning is for a muhaddith to give permission to his students to narrate his ahadith, or any book of Hadith which he has knowledge of [al-'Asqalani, Sharh al-Nukhbah, chapter on Ijaza]. This is the correct way to give ijaza, but Imam Zuhri's way to give ijaza was very strange. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes that Ubaydullah reported: "I saw that the students of Imam Zuhri used to bring books to the Imam and ask him for permission to narrate from it using the Imam's name. The Imam used to allow them without knowing what was in those books. This was because neither the Imam used to read the ahadith, nor did the students read the ahadith to him" [adh-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, Biography of Imam Zuhri] Shaykh Salih Subhi writes: "Imam Ibn Hazm said that if a scholar of Hadith gives permission to his students to narrate a book of Hadith using his name, and the scholar has not read the narrations, nor has anyone read them to him, then this is a bid'a and not permissible. Other scholars of Hadith have been more strict in this respect and have said that the scholars of Hadith who used to do this, in effect, gave permission to their students to attribute lies to them" ['Ulum al-Hadith, chapter on Ijaza] From the above, it is evident that the authenticity of Imam Zuhri's narrations are in question. It could be the case that one of the students of the Imam used to narrate non-authentic ahadith and use the Imam's name, as he had given him permission to do so without checking the hadith. Our Shaykh Shah Abul Husayn Zayd Faruqi writes: "Hafiz Ibn al-Qayyim writes in his book I'lam al Muwaqqi'in(vol. 3 p 85), that Imam Malik wrote a letter to his colleague Imam Layth ibn Sa'd, whose knowledge was greater than his own. When ImamLayth replied to the letter, he mentioned a few things about Imam Zuhri. He wrote: 'There is no doubt that our teacher, Imam Zuhri, was a great scholar but we have to accept that some of Imam Zuhri's verbal and written statements used to contradict one another. When we used to ask him something, sometimes the written answer would be different from the answer he used to give us verbally. Even some of his written statements used to contradict one another. The Imam did not realize what he had said before and what he was writing at the time. These are the reasons why I have left him' " [Faruqi, A, Z., Sawani Hayat Imam Abu Hanifa, Biography of Imam Layth] This statement highlights the fact that Imam Zuhri's narrations are not necessarily authentic. For this reason, we cannot use a single narration from Imam Zuhri as being more authentic than the practice of the Companions, Tabi'un, Tabi'u't-Tabi'in or a great group of scholars. Apology We regret highlighting weaknesses in Imam Zuhri but we have above, only just quoted what other scholars of Hadith have said about him. We also respect Imam Zuhri greatly as a muhaddith, but he was a man like us and had weaknesses. Returning to the point of our discussion - the raf' al-yadayn narration is only taken from Imam Zuhri. His students made the narration famous after this. How the Narration Became Famous Imam Ibn 'Abdi'l-Barr writes: "Ibn Umar's narration became famous from Imam Zuhri's students. Eleven students took this narration from Imam Zuhri; they were: Imam Malik, az-Zubaydi, Ma'mar, Awza'i, Muhammad ibn Ishaq, Sufyan ibn Husayn, Aqil ibn Khalid, Abu Hamza, Ibn Uyayna Yunus and Yahya. 26 of Imam Malik's students narrated this hadith from him. They were: Yahya ibn Yahya, Ibn Bukayr, Abu Mas'ab, Sa'id, Ibn Wahab, Ibn al-Qasim, Ibn Sa'id, Ibn Abi 'Uways, 'Abd ar-Rahman, Juwayria bint Asma', Ibrahim, Ibn al-Mubarik, Bishr, 'Uthman, 'Abdullah, Khalid, Maki ibn Ibrahim, Ibn Hasan, Ibn Mas'ab, 'Abd al-Malik, Ibn Nafi', Abu Qura, Musa, Matraf, Qutayba, and Imam ash-Shafi'i. After all these people narrated this hadith and told their students this narration, it soon became very famous" [At-Tamhid, chapter on 'Raf' ay-yadayn'] From this, it can be concluded that this narration was not famous at the time of the Sahaba and the Tabi'un. When people try to find evidence to support raf' al-yadayn they say that there are over a hundred ahadith supporting it. In reality, there is only one hadith which has been transmitted by Imam Zuhri, and his students have transmitted it further. So many chains were produced after Imam Zuhri. When Imam Awza'i debated with Imam Abu Hanifa concerning raf' al-yadayn , the only hadith Awza'i could give as evidence for it was the one from Imam Zuhri. This demonstrates that if there were any other hadith to support raf' al-yadayn then Awza'i would certainly have revealed it. Furthermore, Bukhari and Muslim only wrote ahadith with chains leading to Imam Zuhri. If there were any other hadith, then they would have included them. Imam Malik's Opinion on Raf' al-Yadayn Imam Malik had the most knowledge of Imam Zuhri's narrations. Let us see what his opinion about this was. Imam Ibn al-Qasim, who was Imam Malik's student, writes that Imam Malik said: "Apart from the begining of the prayer, I am unaware of performing raf' al-yadayn at any other time. I believe that the practice of raf' al-yadayn during the prayer is weak" [al-Madunah, Bab Raf' al-Yadayn] Imam Malik's saying that he was unaware of performing raf' al-yadayn does not mean that he was unaware of the hadith. This was because he himself heard it along with ten of his colleagues and transmitted it to 26 of his students. The real meaning of his saying is that he was unaware of the practice of it. This was because neither Imam Zuhri, nor any of his students performed raf' al-yadayn . Likewise, the people of Madina did not practise it, nor the people coming for Hajj from all over the world. Another point to raise is that Imam Malik, who is a main narrator of this hadith, did not practice raf' al-yadayn himself. The practice of raf' al-yadayn was very uncommon in Imam Malik's time. How can we use this narration as evidence for raf' al-yadayn when the scholars who narrated it did not act upon it, and when there are doubts concerning the reliability of the two main narrators (Ibn Jurayj and Imam Zuhri)? Second evidence for Raf' al-Yadayn The second evidence of people who peforming raf' al-yadayn is that Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim write: "Abu Qalaba and Nasr ibn Asim, say that they saw Malik ibn Huwayris performing raf' al-yadayn before ruku and after ruku in salat and he reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to do this as well" [Bukari and Muslim, Bab Raf' al-Yadayn] The people who perform raf ay-yadayn give this as their evidence and say that it is a Sunna mu'akkada (emphasised sunna which the Prophet [may Allah bless him and give him peace] performed regularly) and that non performance of it means that the prayer is not accepted properly. We answer this by saying that this narration cannot prove that raf' al-yadayn is Sunna mu'akkada and also you cannot prove from this narration that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to perform raf' al-yadayn all the time. Also, Malik ibn Huwayris's narration goes against his other narration: "Imam Nasa'i writes that Malik ibn Huwayris reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to perform raf' al-yadayn before and after the ruku' and in the middle of the two sajdas" [an-Nasa'i, Bab Raf ay-Yadayn] From Malik ibn Huwayris's second narration there is also proof of performing raf' al-yadayn between the sajdas, but the people who perform raf' al-yadayn only do it before and after the ruku' and not in the middle of the sajdas. Their argument is that this action has been abrogated - this inspite of the fact that Malik ibn Huwayris's narration does not confirm this. Secondly, Malik ibn Huwayris was only in Madina for a few weeks and did not stay with the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) at times, so he did not know the last actions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). This suggests that he did not know whether the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) performed raf' al-yadayn or not. On the other hand, 'Abdullah ibn Ma'sud saw the Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) last actions concerning raf' al-yadayn . He saw the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) perform the prayer without raf' al-yadayn . 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud's narration is more reliable than Malik ibn Huwayris's as Ibn Mas'ud stayed with the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) all the time. Proof that Malik ibn Huwayris Stayed in Madina for Only a Few Weeks Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim write: "Malik ibn Huwayris came to Madina with some other people and stayed in Madina for twenty nights and then they really wanted to go home. So when the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) found this out, he gave them permission to leave for Basra, where Malik was from" [Bukhari, Muslim, Bab al-Adhan] From this narration there is proof that Malik ibn Huwayris was only in Madina for a short time and so he could not have known the last actions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) concerning raf' al-yadayn . Malik ibn Huwayris's narration about raf' al-yadayn does not prove that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) performed raf' al-yadayn all the time; it only proves that Malik ibn Huwayris saw him (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) perform raf' al-yadayn in that period. This also does not prove that it is a Sunna mu'akkada. If someone tries to prove from this narration that it is Sunna mu'akkada to perform raf' al-yadayn then people could also say that it is Sunna mu'akkada to pick a child up during salat! Imam al-Bukhari writes: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) while praying salat picked up his grand-daughter, Amama, and put her down when he went into sujud" [Bukari, Bab as-Salat]. No one can say from this narration that it is a Sunna mu'akkada to pick up a child while praying, so how can some say that because Malik ibn Huwayris saw the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) perfom raf' al-yadayn in salat on a particular occasion it is Sunna mu'akkada. Narrators of the Second Hadith Supporting Raf' al-Yadayn There are four main narrators of the narration supporting raf' al-yadayn . They are, Abu Qalaba, Khalid al-Hazza, Nasr ibn Asim, and Qatada. Of course, we believe that they had full knowledge of Hadith but they were human and had some weaknesses. Abu Qalaba Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Abu Qalaba's full name was 'Abdullah ibn Zayd; he used to live in the city of Basra. He was a great and knowledgeable man. He was against and had no regards towards 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). He used to narrate ahadith from people whom he had never met before, for example: 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas, 'A'isha, and Abu Hurayra. When he related ahadith, it seemed as if he had heard the hadith directly from the Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), but in reality he heard them from other people" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan at-I'tidal and al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Abu Qalaba] Khalid ibn Hazza Hafiz adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Imam Ibn Sa'd Khalid was not an authentic Imam. Abu Khatam said that hadith narrated by Khalid cannot be used as evidence. When Khalid came to Syria he told ahadith to the people but the scholars rejected his narrations. He had also lost his memory. Despite this, Ibn Mu'in and Nasa'i praised him" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan at-I'tidal;al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib and Muqaddama Fath al-Bari, Biography of Abu Qalaba] Abu Qalaba's other student Ayyub also narrated this hadith, but he never mentions raf' al-yadayn . This hadith is also found in Sahih al-Bukhari. The scholars of Hadith agree that Ayyub was more knowledgeable than Khalid. Nasr ibn Asim Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Imam Dawud said that he was from amongst a misled sect, but others said that he repented from his wrong beliefs" [Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Nasr ibn Asim)] Qatada Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Qatada was a great scholar and a mufassir [scholar of Tafsir (Quranic exegesis)]. He was very intelligent, and many scholars praised him. He narrated ahadith of such people whom he had never heard, met, nor seen. He saw only one Companion of the Prophet, Malik ibn 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 Qatada held wrong beliefs, the scholars still took narrations of hadith from him (may Allah forgive him) [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal and Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, Biography of Qatada Basri; al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib] From all the above references, it cannot be proved that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did raf' al-yadayn all the time. Also, Malik ibn Huwayris 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 Hadith. Therefore this hadith does not stand at the same level as 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud's hadith. The Third Evidence Used to Support Raf' al-Yadayn. Qadi Shawkani writes: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), when performing his last salat, performed raf' al-yadayn " [Nayl al-Awtar, chapter on Raf' al-Yadayn] The people who perform raf' al-yadayn say that the above narration proves that raf' al-yadayn 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 al-Bukhari, or Muslim - even Imam al-Bayhaqi did not include it in his book of sunan. All the narrators of this hadith are weak. Examining the Narrators of the Hadith 'Abd ar-Rahman Harwi Imam adh-Dhahabi writes that Harwi used to fabricate hadith and tell them to people [Mizan al-I'tidal, Biography of 'Abd ar-Rahman Harwi] If Harwi used to fabricate his narrations of hadith it follows that his narrations cannot be relied upon. Usamah ibn Muhammad Ansari (the student of Musa ibn 'Uqba) Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "Imam Abu Khatim said that Usamah was not strong in the knowledge of Hadith. Imam Yahya ibn Mu'in said that he fabricated hadith and attributed them to the great scholars of Hadith. He was a liar. Imam Daraqutni 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 ahadith are not safe. He narrates one hadith that says that you should make du'a' to Allah Most High when you see a beautiful face, and He will accept it" [Mizan al-I'tidal, Biography of Usamah ibn Muhammad Ansari] Qadi Shawkani writes that Usamah ibn Muhammad Ansari was a liar and he fabricated hadith [al-Majmu'at al-Ahadith, chapter on Sadaqa, p.67] It is strange that Qadi Shawkani wrote in his book that Usamah ibn Muhammad was a liar, and yet despite this took his narration as evidence in his other book. The other surprising thing is that Qadi Shawkani 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 raf' al-yadayn . They are proud and say that they are following the Sunna of Rasulu'llah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Performing Salat Without Raf' al-Yadayn - Proof from Ahadith Imam Muslim writes: "Once we were performing salat and the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) came to us and asked us: 'Why are you doing raf' al-yadayn as a stubborn horse waving its tail?' He also told us: 'Perform your salat with peace' [Muslim, chapter on Sukun fi as-Salat] The above hadith proves that one must not perform raf' al-yadayn in the middle of one's salat. Imam Muslim writes in another narration, after the above: "Jabir ibn Samrah reported: 'At the end of the salat, we used to wave our hands left and right when saying salam. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) told us not to wave our hands but only to say the salam." The above narrations prove that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) stopped raf' al-yadayn as well as waving the hands during the Prayer. Imam Humaydi, who was the teacher of Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim, writes: " 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar said: 'The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) only performed raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of salat, not before or after doing ruku' ' " [Musnad Humaydi, Vol. 2, p. 277, Maktabah Salafiyya, Madina al-Munawwara] Imam Ibn Abi Shayba and Imam 'Abd ar-Razzaq write: " 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: 'The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) performed raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of salat.' " 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud and Brabin Azib reported: 'We saw the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) only performing raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of the salat.' " Aswad, Imam Shabi, Ibrahim an-Nakha'i, 'Ali and Ibn Mas'ud's student (may Allah be pleased with them) only performed raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of salat" [Musnad Ibn Abi Shayba and Musnad 'Abd ar-Razzaq, Chapter on Raf' al-Yadayn] Imam Ibn al-Qasim writes: "Imam Malik said that Imam Zuhri told him that he heard from Salim, who said that his father ['Abdullah ibn 'Umar] reported, that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) only performed raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of the salat and not in any other part of it." This narration also proves that Imam Zuhri narrated a hadith stating that the practice of raf' al-yadayn was only performed at the beginning of the salat. Imam Malik said that he has no knowledge of doing raf' al-yadayn in any other part of the salat apart from the beginning [al-Mudawwana, chapter on 'Raf' al-Yadayn'] Imam Malik also said: "To do raf' al-yadayn is weak, except at the beginning" [al-Mudawwana, chapter on 'Raf' al-Yadayn'] How could Imam Malik say that he had no knowledge of someone who practices raf' al-yadayn 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' al-yadayn but he never saw anyone in Makka or Madina who practiced it. The reason for this is that the practice of raf' al-yadayn was abrogated. Imam at-Tirmidhi writes: " 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said that he would perform the salat the way that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did. When he performed the salat he only did raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of the salat. "Many Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), their students (Tabi'un), Sufyan, the Scholars of Kufa and many other scholars followed this hadith" [at-Tirmidhi, Bab Raf' al-Yadayn; Ibn Hazm in his Muhalla (chapter of salat) writes that this hadith is authentic; Ahmed Shakir, a famous Najdi scholar, also writes that this hadith is authentic in his Takhrij Ibn Hazm] Even other scholars wrote this hadith in their books, for example: Imam Abu Dawud Ibn Abi Shayba, Imam 'Abd ar-Razzaq, Imam Abu Ya'la and many others. Imam at-Tirmidhi wrote in his narration: "The Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), Tabi'un and scholars of Kufa were performing salat without raf' al-yadayn ." [at-Tirmidhi, Bab Raf' al-Yadayn] Who Were the Scholars of Kufa? Imam Ibn Sa'd, Hafiz Ibn al-Qayyim and Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya write: " 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) gave an order to build the city of Kufa. When the city was built, people from various Islamic areas came to live in the city. Many Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) moved to Kufa and started to live there. Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) sent 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud and Ammar ibn Yasir to teach the people in Kufa. After sixteen or seventeen years, when 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) became the Khalifa, he transferred the capital from Madina to Kufa. A large number of Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) moved to Kufa. They taught people about Islam. Kufa thus became the centre point for Islamic scholars" [Tabaqat Ibn Sa'd; Minhaj as-Sunna Alam al-Muwakki'in, chapter on 'Kufa'] Kufa was the central point of Islamic knowledge, which is why so many scholars of Hadith travelled to it repeatedly to gain knowledge.Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Imam al-Bukhari travelled to various cities to gain knowledge of Hadith. He went to the city of Jazeera twice, Basra four times, and stayed in the Hijaz [Makka and Madina] for six years. Imam al-Bukhari said himself that he could not account for how many times he went to Kufa and Baghdad to learn knowledge of Hadith" [Muqaddima Fath al-Bari, Biography of Imam al-Bukhari] Imam at-Tirmidhi's narrations prove that no one practiced raf' al-yadayn in the city of Kufa which became the centre point of Islamic knowledge and thought. Imam Malik's narration proves that no one was practicing raf' al-yadayn in Makka or Madina, as this practice had been abrogated. The Debate Between Imam Awza'i and Imam Abu Hanifa These two Imams once debated the matter of raf' al-yadayn , and it is described by Sufyan ibn Uyayna: "Once Imam Abu Hanifa and Imam Awza'i met in a market in Makka. Imam Awza'i asked Imam Abu Hanifa why he did not practice raf' al-yadayn during the salat. Abu Hanifa: There is no authentic hadith about practicing raf' al-yadayn . Awza'i:Why isn't there an authentic hadith? Here is one: Imam Zuhri told me, who was told by Salim, who was told by Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) practiced raf' al-yadayn before and after theruku'. Abu Hanifa: Hamad told me, who was told by Ibrahim, who was told by Ikrama, who was told by Aswad who was told by 'Abdullah ibnMas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) only practiced raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of performing his salat and not afterwards. Awza'i:The narration that I have presented to you has a shorter chain and your hadith has a longer chain; for this reason, my hadith is more reliable than yours. Abu Hanifa: It does not matter if the chain of the hadith is long or short. The priority of the hadith depends on the narrators of the hadith and how much knowledge of Hadith they had. The narrators of the hadith which I have presented possess more expertise in the knowledge of Hadith. For example, Hamad is more knowledgeable than Imam Zuhri. Ibrahim is more knowledgeable than Salim; Ikrama is a great scholar and Ibn Mas'ud is unique. Imam Awza'i then became silent" [Musnad Imam Abu Hanifa, chapter on 'Raf' al-Yadayn] This debate shows that Imam Awza'i had no other evidence. If he had then he would have presented it to defend his case in support of raf' al-yadayn . Imam Abu Hanifa replied so beautifully that Imam Awza'i was forced to become silent.

Raf ul Yad'ain Raf'ay-yadayn simply means to raise the hands during prayer. When people begin their salat, they raise their hands to signify that they have left all things and submitted themselves towards Allah alone. This also signifies the individual's testimony of Allah's Unity. The Hanafis (as members of the Ahl as-Sunna wa'l-Jama'a) believe that this act of raising the hands to the level of the ears should only be undertaken at the start of the prayer and not during it. There are those who hold the opinion that raf' al-yadayn should also be done before and after the ruku'; they hold their position because of the following reasons: 1) The Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) used to do this. 2) This was the practice of the Khulafa' ar-Rashidun and the 'Ashara al-Mubashshara (the ten Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) who were given glad tidings of Janna on this earth during their lives). Altogether, there are proofs from twenty Companions. 3) The narrations of raf' al-yadayn are mutawatir (ahadith which have been narrated by many authentic narrators during the period of the Companions, The Tabi'un, and their students). 4) Raf' ay-yadayn is a pillar of salat and leaving it makes the salat invalid. However, the position of the Hanafi madhab is that towards the end of our beloved Prophet's (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) life the practice of raf' al-yadayn had been abrogated, and that the Messenger of Allah (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) during his last prayers on this earthly life only performed raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of his salat.However, there were still some Sahaba who unknowingly continued the practice of raf' al-yadayn, without realizing that it had indeed been abrogated and obsolete.It was for this reason that at times, those who knew of its abrogation, began to ask those who continued its practice for their reason for doing so. Regarding the claim that twenty Companions, including the 'Ashara al-Mubashshara and the Khulafa ar-Rashidun, performed raf' al-yadayn ,this incidentally proves that the majority of the Companions did not practise raf' al-yadayn . Secondly, if this claim is true then why is this not recorded in Bukhari and Muslim, or in any other famous book of Hadith? If the support for twenty Companions practising raf' al-yadayn is not found in any Hadith book then how can this claim be true? The claim that the hadith regarding raf' al-yadayn is mutawatir is also not true. This is because Imam Muslim and Imam al-Bukhari have only narrated the action of raf' al-yadayn from two Companions: 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and Malik ibn Huwayris. Imam Zuhri narrated the hadith from Salim and Salim in turn narrated from 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar. Abu Qalaba and Nasr narrated from Malik ibn Huwayris, and from them, Khalid and Qatada narrated. In any one of these chains there is only one narrator at a time, whilst in the other there were two at a time. How can this be called mutawatir? The above narrator's position and the narrations which go against the above narrations will be discussed later, insha'llah. Regarding the claim that omitting raf' al-yadayn invalidates salat, nobody from among the Companions or even the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) himself said that omitting raf' al-yadayn invalidates salat. The evidence for raf' al-yadayn being a pillar of salat is not even found in the books which contain collections of fabricated hadith. It is another matter if someone decides to introduce fabricated hadith! Analysis of Those Narrations Which Prove Raf' ay- yadayn Ibn Jurayj narrated from Zuhri who narrated from Salim who narrated from 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I saw the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) offering salat; he raised his hands up to his shoulders at the beginning of salat and also before and after the ruku', but not between the two prostrations" [Bukhari and Muslim , chapter on 'Raf' ay-yadayn'] Those who follow the Hanafi madhab believe that this hadith only proves that the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) performed raf' al-yadayn during his lifetime, but it does not prove that he (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) performed it in his last prayers. Also it does not prove that raf' al-yadayn is an emphasized Sunna. One example is given below: Imams al-Bukhari & Muslim record that when Hazrat 'A'isha (may Allah be pleased with her) was in her menstruation, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to place his head in her lap and recite the Qur'an [Bukhari & Muslim, Bab al-Hayd]. From this hadith we cannot conclude that reciting the Qur'an in the lap of one's menstruating wife is an emphasized Sunna. In the same way, the naration from Ibn 'Umar does not prove that raf' al-yadayn is an emphasized Sunna. Also Ibn 'Umar's narration seems to go against some of his other narrations. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "Ibn'Umar said that he swore by Allah that raf' al-yadayn is bid'a and that he had never seen the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) practicing it (adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal, Biography of Bishr ibn Harab] Ibn 'Umar, in another place, said that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "Raf' ay-yadayn is only done in seven places: once to start salat and six times during hajj" [Kanz al-'ammal, vol. 7, p35] The teacher of Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim, Imam Humaydi, writes: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to only practise raf' al-yadayn at the start of the prayer" {Musnad Humaydi, vol. 1, p277] Imam an-Nasa'i writes: "Malik ibn Huwayris reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to perform raf' al-yadayn before and after the ruku', and also between the two sajdas" [an-Nasa'I, Bab Raf' al-Yadayn] From the above narrations it can be seen that Ibn 'Umar's narration of raf' al-yadayn goes against his own narrations based on a direct commandment from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). It also goes against the narrations of Imam Humaydi, Imam an-Nasa'i andMalik ibn Huwayris. Examination of Above Narrations (1) Imam al-Bukhari's above narration is against Imam Nasa'i's narration. (2) Imam Abu Dawud said this narration is not directly from the action of the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace), but is in fact the action of 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him).[Sunan of Abu Dawud, chapter on 'Salat'] (3) Ibn 'Umar's above narrations prove that the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) did raf' al-yadayn nine or ten times during salat [Bukhari, chapter on 'Salat'] (4) Imam Malik writes, regarding the above narrations by Ibn 'Umar: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) use to do raf' al-yadayn five times in salat." He also said: "This is the action of Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and not the action of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) [imam Malik, al-Muwatta', chapter on 'Salat'] We can see that when this narration was narrated in Madina it was narrated to be five raf' al-yadayn in salat. When it reached Bukhara it changed from five to nine or ten raf' al-yadayn in salat. Let us first examine the narrators of Ibn 'Umar's hadith - 'Abd al-Malik ibn Jurayj and Imam Zuhri: 'Abd al-Malik ibn Jurayj Imam adh-Dhahabi and Imam al-'Asqalani write: "Ibn Jurayj did not take narrations directly from people but he would attribute the narrations to them in such a way as to convince people that he actually heard the narrations from those people directly. The scholars of Hadith have called this process tadlis. Imam Ahmad said that Ibn Jurayj has narrated some ahadith which were fabricated. Also Ibn Jurayj is said to have performed mut'a [a marriage contract for a limited period] with 90 women in Makka al-Mukarrama [this was after it was made haram for Muslims]. Khurasani said that his narrations were weak. Also he never heard a narration from Imam Zuhri but only asked his permission if he could use his name in narrations" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal and Tadhkirat al-Huffaz; al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of 'Abd al-Malik ibn Jurayj] Imam Zuhri The main narrator of the above narration is Imam Zuhri. Indeed the narration is almost completely based on his narration. Before Imam Zuhri, the chain of narration of this Hadith was Umar ibn 'Abd al- Aziz, then Salim, then Imam Zuhri. After Imam Zuhri, his students made it more famous. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "Imam Zuhri's full name was Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn 'Abdullah ibn Shihab az-Zuhri. However, he is famous as Ibn Shihab az-Zuhri. He was born in the 50th year AH in Madina. He saw only a few Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). He was such a great scholar that many scholars of his time used to praise him, including even 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). [adh-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz and Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Imam Zuhri] It is a fact that Imam Zuhri has narrated hadith (which have been collected by Muslim and Bukhari) which show that the family of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and the Companions did not get on well with each other [Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bukhari, Bab al-Fay]. The truth is that the Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) family and the Companions did get on well with each other. Hafiz al-'Asqalani wrote: "It was a habit of Imam Zuhri to perform tadlis and attribute the narrations to people like 'Abd ar-Rahman ibn Azhar, Ibn Ka'b, Abban, Ibn Uthman, Ibn Hakim, Ibn as-Salimi, 'Abdullah ibn Ja'far, 'Ubadah ibn as-Samit, Rafi', Umm 'Abdullah, Abu Hurayra, and 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar. Concerning 'Abdullah ibn Umar, the scholars of Hadith are split as to whether Imam Zuhri actually saw him or not. In the same way, there is no proof that Imam Zuhri did take narrations from 'Urwa ibn Zubayr. Nethertheless, the scholars of Hadith accept these narrations which Imam Zuhri allegedly took from 'Urwa. For us, this is evidence and we should therefore believe that Imam Zuhri heard something from 'Urwa. Imam Zuhri was from a group of scholars of Hadith who used to 'grab' hadith when they heard them [Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Imam Zuhri] Tadlis - What is it? Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "The literal meaning of the arabic word 'tadlis' is 'hiding'. Technically, it means to hide a hadith narrator. If a muhaddith did tadlis, he would use a narrator's name but it would be a name by which he was not commonly known. Thus, the identity of the weak narrator was hidden. The stronger narrators in the chain would be emphasized so that the attention of the hearer of the hadith would be diverted [al-'Asqalani, Sharh an-Nukhba, chapter on 'Tadlis'] Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Imam Zuhri narrated 2, 200 ahadith, of which about a half have a chain leading to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). He used to perform tadlis, albeit of a minor manner. Imam Zuhri's murasil ahadith [where a Tabi'i quoted a hadith directly from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) without mentioning the Companion from whom he received it] used to be weaker than other peoples' [adh-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz; al-'Asqalani,Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Imam Zuhri] Imam adh-Dhahabi narrated that Imam Shubah Wasiti writes: "I would rather fall from the skies and be broken to pieces, than to perform tadlis" [Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, Biography of Imam Shubah Wasiti] Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Yazid ibn Zuray was asked, 'What is the legal ruling regarding tadlis?' To this, he replied 'It is an absolute lie' [Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Yazid ibn Zuray] Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "Sulayman ibn Harb said that Imam Jarir 'Azdi was asked about tadlis. The Imam said, 'I reject it. A mudallis [one who performs tadlis] shows that which he has not heard' " [Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, Biography of Imam Jarir ibn Hazin 'Azdi] Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes: "Imam ash-Shafi'i rejects all the narrations of any muhaddith who did tadlis, but other scholars say that if a mudallis identified who he took narrations from and if that was a reliable source, that particular narration would be accepted" [ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar 'Ulum al-Hadith, chapter on 'Tadlis'] Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "If a mudallis uses the words 'Qala' [so and so said], or 'An, [from so-and-so]in a narration, the hadith will be rejected. However, if the mudallis uses a word implying that he directly heard the narration i.e. 'sami'tu' [i heard] then he would be lying. The rule concerning such people is that even if the mudallis was truthful, the hadith would not be accepted" [al-'Asqalani, Sharh an-Nukhbah, chapter on 'Hadith Mu'dal'] Idraj and Imam Zuhri Imam Zuhri used to do idraj, so it was difficult for people to understand his narrated ahadith. Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Idraj literally means 'inserting something.' Its technical meaning is to insert one's own words into the text of a narration. Sometimes the text could be added at the start, or at the end. To find the actual hadith text from a mudrij [person who performs idraj] is very difficult. Either the hadith was analyzed be someone who had very deep knowledge, or the mudrij showed which words he inserted into the hadith text" [al-'Asqalani, Sharh an-Nukhbah, chapter on 'Hadith Mudrij'] Imam al-Bukhari writes: "It was reported by Imam Malik that the famous scholar of Hadith, Rabi'a Turayy, used to advise Imam Zuhri to show clearly in his narrations which were his own words and which were those of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)" [al-Bukhari, Ta'rikh al-Kabir, Biography of Rabi'a Turayy] Muslim and Bukhari contain ahadith in which Imam Zuhri has inserted his own words. Scholars of Hadith have refuted these words. An example is given below: Imam Muslim and Imam al-Bukhari write: When Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) became the khalifa, Hazrat 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) did not give bay'a (pledge of allegiance) to him nor did the tribe of Banu Hashim. However, six months later, after Hazrat Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her) passed away they all [including 'Ali] gave bay'a to him" [Bukhari, chapter on 'Khaybar'; Muslim, Bab al-Fayy] Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Imam Ibn Hibban, Imam al-Bayhaqi, and other scholars of Hadith say that this narration contains some of Imam Zuhri's own words. Somebody told Imam Zuhri that when Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) became the khalifa, Hazrat 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) did not give bay'a for six months. Imam Zuhri did not contain himself with only 'Ali, but asserted that the whole tribe of Banu Hashim did not give bay'a to Abu Bakr until Hazrat Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her) passed away. The fact is that Imam Zuhri's words are wrong, and also that Hazrat 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) gave bay'a to Hazrat Abu Bakr on the first day he was appointed khalifa [Fath al-Bari, end of Chapter of Khaybar] Hafiz Qastalani also writes the same as above. Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes that the narrations which say that 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) gave bay'a to Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) on the first day he was appointed khalifa are more authentic than those which do not support this. The reason for this is that 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) used to pray behind Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and stayed with him all the time [Ta'rikh Ibn Kathir,. Yawm as-Saqifa] The references prove that Imam Zuhri used to perform tadlis and idraj. The scholars have pointed out that some of his narrations are not reliable. Ijaza and Imam Zuhri Ijaza literally means 'giving permission.' Its technical meaning is for a muhaddith to give permission to his students to narrate his ahadith, or any book of Hadith which he has knowledge of [al-'Asqalani, Sharh al-Nukhbah, chapter on Ijaza]. This is the correct way to give ijaza, but Imam Zuhri's way to give ijaza was very strange. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes that Ubaydullah reported: "I saw that the students of Imam Zuhri used to bring books to the Imam and ask him for permission to narrate from it using the Imam's name. The Imam used to allow them without knowing what was in those books. This was because neither the Imam used to read the ahadith, nor did the students read the ahadith to him" [adh-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, Biography of Imam Zuhri] Shaykh Salih Subhi writes: "Imam Ibn Hazm said that if a scholar of Hadith gives permission to his students to narrate a book of Hadith using his name, and the scholar has not read the narrations, nor has anyone read them to him, then this is a bid'a and not permissible. Other scholars of Hadith have been more strict in this respect and have said that the scholars of Hadith who used to do this, in effect, gave permission to their students to attribute lies to them" ['Ulum al-Hadith, chapter on Ijaza] From the above, it is evident that the authenticity of Imam Zuhri's narrations are in question. It could be the case that one of the students of the Imam used to narrate non-authentic ahadith and use the Imam's name, as he had given him permission to do so without checking the hadith. Our Shaykh Shah Abul Husayn Zayd Faruqi writes: "Hafiz Ibn al-Qayyim writes in his book I'lam al Muwaqqi'in(vol. 3 p 85), that Imam Malik wrote a letter to his colleague Imam Layth ibn Sa'd, whose knowledge was greater than his own. When ImamLayth replied to the letter, he mentioned a few things about Imam Zuhri. He wrote: 'There is no doubt that our teacher, Imam Zuhri, was a great scholar but we have to accept that some of Imam Zuhri's verbal and written statements used to contradict one another. When we used to ask him something, sometimes the written answer would be different from the answer he used to give us verbally. Even some of his written statements used to contradict one another. The Imam did not realize what he had said before and what he was writing at the time. These are the reasons why I have left him' " [Faruqi, A, Z., Sawani Hayat Imam Abu Hanifa, Biography of Imam Layth] This statement highlights the fact that Imam Zuhri's narrations are not necessarily authentic. For this reason, we cannot use a single narration from Imam Zuhri as being more authentic than the practice of the Companions, Tabi'un, Tabi'u't-Tabi'in or a great group of scholars. Apology We regret highlighting weaknesses in Imam Zuhri but we have above, only just quoted what other scholars of Hadith have said about him. We also respect Imam Zuhri greatly as a muhaddith, but he was a man like us and had weaknesses. Returning to the point of our discussion - the raf' al-yadayn narration is only taken from Imam Zuhri. His students made the narration famous after this. How the Narration Became Famous Imam Ibn 'Abdi'l-Barr writes: "Ibn Umar's narration became famous from Imam Zuhri's students. Eleven students took this narration from Imam Zuhri; they were: Imam Malik, az-Zubaydi, Ma'mar, Awza'i, Muhammad ibn Ishaq, Sufyan ibn Husayn, Aqil ibn Khalid, Abu Hamza, Ibn Uyayna Yunus and Yahya. 26 of Imam Malik's students narrated this hadith from him. They were: Yahya ibn Yahya, Ibn Bukayr, Abu Mas'ab, Sa'id, Ibn Wahab, Ibn al-Qasim, Ibn Sa'id, Ibn Abi 'Uways, 'Abd ar-Rahman, Juwayria bint Asma', Ibrahim, Ibn al-Mubarik, Bishr, 'Uthman, 'Abdullah, Khalid, Maki ibn Ibrahim, Ibn Hasan, Ibn Mas'ab, 'Abd al-Malik, Ibn Nafi', Abu Qura, Musa, Matraf, Qutayba, and Imam ash-Shafi'i. After all these people narrated this hadith and told their students this narration, it soon became very famous" [At-Tamhid, chapter on 'Raf' ay-yadayn'] From this, it can be concluded that this narration was not famous at the time of the Sahaba and the Tabi'un. When people try to find evidence to support raf' al-yadayn they say that there are over a hundred ahadith supporting it. In reality, there is only one hadith which has been transmitted by Imam Zuhri, and his students have transmitted it further. So many chains were produced after Imam Zuhri. When Imam Awza'i debated with Imam Abu Hanifa concerning raf' al-yadayn , the only hadith Awza'i could give as evidence for it was the one from Imam Zuhri. This demonstrates that if there were any other hadith to support raf' al-yadayn then Awza'i would certainly have revealed it. Furthermore, Bukhari and Muslim only wrote ahadith with chains leading to Imam Zuhri. If there were any other hadith, then they would have included them. Imam Malik's Opinion on Raf' al-Yadayn Imam Malik had the most knowledge of Imam Zuhri's narrations. Let us see what his opinion about this was. Imam Ibn al-Qasim, who was Imam Malik's student, writes that Imam Malik said: "Apart from the begining of the prayer, I am unaware of performing raf' al-yadayn at any other time. I believe that the practice of raf' al-yadayn during the prayer is weak" [al-Madunah, Bab Raf' al-Yadayn] Imam Malik's saying that he was unaware of performing raf' al-yadayn does not mean that he was unaware of the hadith. This was because he himself heard it along with ten of his colleagues and transmitted it to 26 of his students. The real meaning of his saying is that he was unaware of the practice of it. This was because neither Imam Zuhri, nor any of his students performed raf' al-yadayn . Likewise, the people of Madina did not practise it, nor the people coming for Hajj from all over the world. Another point to raise is that Imam Malik, who is a main narrator of this hadith, did not practice raf' al-yadayn himself. The practice of raf' al-yadayn was very uncommon in Imam Malik's time. How can we use this narration as evidence for raf' al-yadayn when the scholars who narrated it did not act upon it, and when there are doubts concerning the reliability of the two main narrators (Ibn Jurayj and Imam Zuhri)? Second evidence for Raf' al-Yadayn The second evidence of people who peforming raf' al-yadayn is that Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim write: "Abu Qalaba and Nasr ibn Asim, say that they saw Malik ibn Huwayris performing raf' al-yadayn before ruku and after ruku in salat and he reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to do this as well" [Bukari and Muslim, Bab Raf' al-Yadayn] The people who perform raf ay-yadayn give this as their evidence and say that it is a Sunna mu'akkada (emphasised sunna which the Prophet [may Allah bless him and give him peace] performed regularly) and that non performance of it means that the prayer is not accepted properly. We answer this by saying that this narration cannot prove that raf' al-yadayn is Sunna mu'akkada and also you cannot prove from this narration that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to perform raf' al-yadayn all the time. Also, Malik ibn Huwayris's narration goes against his other narration: "Imam Nasa'i writes that Malik ibn Huwayris reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to perform raf' al-yadayn before and after the ruku' and in the middle of the two sajdas" [an-Nasa'i, Bab Raf ay-Yadayn] From Malik ibn Huwayris's second narration there is also proof of performing raf' al-yadayn between the sajdas, but the people who perform raf' al-yadayn only do it before and after the ruku' and not in the middle of the sajdas. Their argument is that this action has been abrogated - this inspite of the fact that Malik ibn Huwayris's narration does not confirm this. Secondly, Malik ibn Huwayris was only in Madina for a few weeks and did not stay with the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) at times, so he did not know the last actions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). This suggests that he did not know whether the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) performed raf' al-yadayn or not. On the other hand, 'Abdullah ibn Ma'sud saw the Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) last actions concerning raf' al-yadayn . He saw the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) perform the prayer without raf' al-yadayn . 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud's narration is more reliable than Malik ibn Huwayris's as Ibn Mas'ud stayed with the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) all the time. Proof that Malik ibn Huwayris Stayed in Madina for Only a Few Weeks Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim write: "Malik ibn Huwayris came to Madina with some other people and stayed in Madina for twenty nights and then they really wanted to go home. So when the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) found this out, he gave them permission to leave for Basra, where Malik was from" [Bukhari, Muslim, Bab al-Adhan] From this narration there is proof that Malik ibn Huwayris was only in Madina for a short time and so he could not have known the last actions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) concerning raf' al-yadayn . Malik ibn Huwayris's narration about raf' al-yadayn does not prove that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) performed raf' al-yadayn all the time; it only proves that Malik ibn Huwayris saw him (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) perform raf' al-yadayn in that period. This also does not prove that it is a Sunna mu'akkada. If someone tries to prove from this narration that it is Sunna mu'akkada to perform raf' al-yadayn then people could also say that it is Sunna mu'akkada to pick a child up during salat! Imam al-Bukhari writes: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) while praying salat picked up his grand-daughter, Amama, and put her down when he went into sujud" [Bukari, Bab as-Salat]. No one can say from this narration that it is a Sunna mu'akkada to pick up a child while praying, so how can some say that because Malik ibn Huwayris saw the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) perfom raf' al-yadayn in salat on a particular occasion it is Sunna mu'akkada. Narrators of the Second Hadith Supporting Raf' al-Yadayn There are four main narrators of the narration supporting raf' al-yadayn . They are, Abu Qalaba, Khalid al-Hazza, Nasr ibn Asim, and Qatada. Of course, we believe that they had full knowledge of Hadith but they were human and had some weaknesses. Abu Qalaba Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Abu Qalaba's full name was 'Abdullah ibn Zayd; he used to live in the city of Basra. He was a great and knowledgeable man. He was against and had no regards towards 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). He used to narrate ahadith from people whom he had never met before, for example: 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas, 'A'isha, and Abu Hurayra. When he related ahadith, it seemed as if he had heard the hadith directly from the Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), but in reality he heard them from other people" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan at-I'tidal and al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Abu Qalaba] Khalid ibn Hazza Hafiz adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Imam Ibn Sa'd Khalid was not an authentic Imam. Abu Khatam said that hadith narrated by Khalid cannot be used as evidence. When Khalid came to Syria he told ahadith to the people but the scholars rejected his narrations. He had also lost his memory. Despite this, Ibn Mu'in and Nasa'i praised him" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan at-I'tidal;al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib and Muqaddama Fath al-Bari, Biography of Abu Qalaba] Abu Qalaba's other student Ayyub also narrated this hadith, but he never mentions raf' al-yadayn . This hadith is also found in Sahih al-Bukhari. The scholars of Hadith agree that Ayyub was more knowledgeable than Khalid. Nasr ibn Asim Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Imam Dawud said that he was from amongst a misled sect, but others said that he repented from his wrong beliefs" [Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Nasr ibn Asim)] Qatada Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Qatada was a great scholar and a mufassir [scholar of Tafsir (Quranic exegesis)]. He was very intelligent, and many scholars praised him. He narrated ahadith of such people whom he had never heard, met, nor seen. He saw only one Companion of the Prophet, Malik ibn 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 Qatada held wrong beliefs, the scholars still took narrations of hadith from him (may Allah forgive him) [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal and Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, Biography of Qatada Basri; al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib] From all the above references, it cannot be proved that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did raf' al-yadayn all the time. Also, Malik ibn Huwayris 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 Hadith. Therefore this hadith does not stand at the same level as 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud's hadith. The Third Evidence Used to Support Raf' al-Yadayn. Qadi Shawkani writes: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), when performing his last salat, performed raf' al-yadayn " [Nayl al-Awtar, chapter on Raf' al-Yadayn] The people who perform raf' al-yadayn say that the above narration proves that raf' al-yadayn 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 al-Bukhari, or Muslim - even Imam al-Bayhaqi did not include it in his book of sunan. All the narrators of this hadith are weak. Examining the Narrators of the Hadith 'Abd ar-Rahman Harwi Imam adh-Dhahabi writes that Harwi used to fabricate hadith and tell them to people [Mizan al-I'tidal, Biography of 'Abd ar-Rahman Harwi] If Harwi used to fabricate his narrations of hadith it follows that his narrations cannot be relied upon. Usamah ibn Muhammad Ansari (the student of Musa ibn 'Uqba) Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "Imam Abu Khatim said that Usamah was not strong in the knowledge of Hadith. Imam Yahya ibn Mu'in said that he fabricated hadith and attributed them to the great scholars of Hadith. He was a liar. Imam Daraqutni 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 ahadith are not safe. He narrates one hadith that says that you should make du'a' to Allah Most High when you see a beautiful face, and He will accept it" [Mizan al-I'tidal, Biography of Usamah ibn Muhammad Ansari] Qadi Shawkani writes that Usamah ibn Muhammad Ansari was a liar and he fabricated hadith [al-Majmu'at al-Ahadith, chapter on Sadaqa, p.67] It is strange that Qadi Shawkani wrote in his book that Usamah ibn Muhammad was a liar, and yet despite this took his narration as evidence in his other book. The other surprising thing is that Qadi Shawkani 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 raf' al-yadayn . They are proud and say that they are following the Sunna of Rasulu'llah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Performing Salat Without Raf' al-Yadayn - Proof from Ahadith Imam Muslim writes: "Once we were performing salat and the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) came to us and asked us: 'Why are you doing raf' al-yadayn as a stubborn horse waving its tail?' He also told us: 'Perform your salat with peace' [Muslim, chapter on Sukun fi as-Salat] The above hadith proves that one must not perform raf' al-yadayn in the middle of one's salat. Imam Muslim writes in another narration, after the above: "Jabir ibn Samrah reported: 'At the end of the salat, we used to wave our hands left and right when saying salam. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) told us not to wave our hands but only to say the salam." The above narrations prove that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) stopped raf' al-yadayn as well as waving the hands during the Prayer. Imam Humaydi, who was the teacher of Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim, writes: " 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar said: 'The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) only performed raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of salat, not before or after doing ruku' ' " [Musnad Humaydi, Vol. 2, p. 277, Maktabah Salafiyya, Madina al-Munawwara] Imam Ibn Abi Shayba and Imam 'Abd ar-Razzaq write: " 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: 'The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) performed raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of salat.' " 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud and Brabin Azib reported: 'We saw the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) only performing raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of the salat.' " Aswad, Imam Shabi, Ibrahim an-Nakha'i, 'Ali and Ibn Mas'ud's student (may Allah be pleased with them) only performed raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of salat" [Musnad Ibn Abi Shayba and Musnad 'Abd ar-Razzaq, Chapter on Raf' al-Yadayn] Imam Ibn al-Qasim writes: "Imam Malik said that Imam Zuhri told him that he heard from Salim, who said that his father ['Abdullah ibn 'Umar] reported, that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) only performed raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of the salat and not in any other part of it." This narration also proves that Imam Zuhri narrated a hadith stating that the practice of raf' al-yadayn was only performed at the beginning of the salat. Imam Malik said that he has no knowledge of doing raf' al-yadayn in any other part of the salat apart from the beginning [al-Mudawwana, chapter on 'Raf' al-Yadayn'] Imam Malik also said: "To do raf' al-yadayn is weak, except at the beginning" [al-Mudawwana, chapter on 'Raf' al-Yadayn'] How could Imam Malik say that he had no knowledge of someone who practices raf' al-yadayn 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' al-yadayn but he never saw anyone in Makka or Madina who practiced it. The reason for this is that the practice of raf' al-yadayn was abrogated. Imam at-Tirmidhi writes: " 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said that he would perform the salat the way that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did. When he performed the salat he only did raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of the salat. "Many Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), their students (Tabi'un), Sufyan, the Scholars of Kufa and many other scholars followed this hadith" [at-Tirmidhi, Bab Raf' al-Yadayn; Ibn Hazm in his Muhalla (chapter of salat) writes that this hadith is authentic; Ahmed Shakir, a famous Najdi scholar, also writes that this hadith is authentic in his Takhrij Ibn Hazm] Even other scholars wrote this hadith in their books, for example: Imam Abu Dawud Ibn Abi Shayba, Imam 'Abd ar-Razzaq, Imam Abu Ya'la and many others. Imam at-Tirmidhi wrote in his narration: "The Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), Tabi'un and scholars of Kufa were performing salat without raf' al-yadayn ." [at-Tirmidhi, Bab Raf' al-Yadayn] Who Were the Scholars of Kufa? Imam Ibn Sa'd, Hafiz Ibn al-Qayyim and Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya write: " 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) gave an order to build the city of Kufa. When the city was built, people from various Islamic areas came to live in the city. Many Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) moved to Kufa and started to live there. Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) sent 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud and Ammar ibn Yasir to teach the people in Kufa. After sixteen or seventeen years, when 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) became the Khalifa, he transferred the capital from Madina to Kufa. A large number of Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) moved to Kufa. They taught people about Islam. Kufa thus became the centre point for Islamic scholars" [Tabaqat Ibn Sa'd; Minhaj as-Sunna Alam al-Muwakki'in, chapter on 'Kufa'] Kufa was the central point of Islamic knowledge, which is why so many scholars of Hadith travelled to it repeatedly to gain knowledge.Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Imam al-Bukhari travelled to various cities to gain knowledge of Hadith. He went to the city of Jazeera twice, Basra four times, and stayed in the Hijaz [Makka and Madina] for six years. Imam al-Bukhari said himself that he could not account for how many times he went to Kufa and Baghdad to learn knowledge of Hadith" [Muqaddima Fath al-Bari, Biography of Imam al-Bukhari] Imam at-Tirmidhi's narrations prove that no one practiced raf' al-yadayn in the city of Kufa which became the centre point of Islamic knowledge and thought. Imam Malik's narration proves that no one was practicing raf' al-yadayn in Makka or Madina, as this practice had been abrogated. The Debate Between Imam Awza'i and Imam Abu Hanifa These two Imams once debated the matter of raf' al-yadayn , and it is described by Sufyan ibn Uyayna: "Once Imam Abu Hanifa and Imam Awza'i met in a market in Makka. Imam Awza'i asked Imam Abu Hanifa why he did not practice raf' al-yadayn during the salat. Abu Hanifa: There is no authentic hadith about practicing raf' al-yadayn . Awza'i:Why isn't there an authentic hadith? Here is one: Imam Zuhri told me, who was told by Salim, who was told by Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) practiced raf' al-yadayn before and after theruku'. Abu Hanifa: Hamad told me, who was told by Ibrahim, who was told by Ikrama, who was told by Aswad who was told by 'Abdullah ibnMas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) only practiced raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of performing his salat and not afterwards. Awza'i:The narration that I have presented to you has a shorter chain and your hadith has a longer chain; for this reason, my hadith is more reliable than yours. Abu Hanifa: It does not matter if the chain of the hadith is long or short. The priority of the hadith depends on the narrators of the hadith and how much knowledge of Hadith they had. The narrators of the hadith which I have presented possess more expertise in the knowledge of Hadith. For example, Hamad is more knowledgeable than Imam Zuhri. Ibrahim is more knowledgeable than Salim; Ikrama is a great scholar and Ibn Mas'ud is unique. Imam Awza'i then became silent" [Musnad Imam Abu Hanifa, chapter on 'Raf' al-Yadayn] This debate shows that Imam Awza'i had no other evidence. If he had then he would have presented it to defend his case in support of raf' al-yadayn . Imam Abu Hanifa replied so beautifully that Imam Awza'i was forced to become silent.

Raf ul Yad'ain Raf'ay-yadayn simply means to raise the hands during prayer. When people begin their salat, they raise their hands to signify that they have left all things and submitted themselves towards Allah alone. This also signifies the individual's testimony of Allah's Unity. The Hanafis (as members of the Ahl as-Sunna wa'l-Jama'a) believe that this act of raising the hands to the level of the ears should only be undertaken at the start of the prayer and not during it. There are those who hold the opinion that raf' al-yadayn should also be done before and after the ruku'; they hold their position because of the following reasons: 1) The Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) used to do this. 2) This was the practice of the Khulafa' ar-Rashidun and the 'Ashara al-Mubashshara (the ten Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) who were given glad tidings of Janna on this earth during their lives). Altogether, there are proofs from twenty Companions. 3) The narrations of raf' al-yadayn are mutawatir (ahadith which have been narrated by many authentic narrators during the period of the Companions, The Tabi'un, and their students). 4) Raf' ay-yadayn is a pillar of salat and leaving it makes the salat invalid. However, the position of the Hanafi madhab is that towards the end of our beloved Prophet's (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) life the practice of raf' al-yadayn had been abrogated, and that the Messenger of Allah (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) during his last prayers on this earthly life only performed raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of his salat.However, there were still some Sahaba who unknowingly continued the practice of raf' al-yadayn, without realizing that it had indeed been abrogated and obsolete.It was for this reason that at times, those who knew of its abrogation, began to ask those who continued its practice for their reason for doing so. Regarding the claim that twenty Companions, including the 'Ashara al-Mubashshara and the Khulafa ar-Rashidun, performed raf' al-yadayn ,this incidentally proves that the majority of the Companions did not practise raf' al-yadayn . Secondly, if this claim is true then why is this not recorded in Bukhari and Muslim, or in any other famous book of Hadith? If the support for twenty Companions practising raf' al-yadayn is not found in any Hadith book then how can this claim be true? The claim that the hadith regarding raf' al-yadayn is mutawatir is also not true. This is because Imam Muslim and Imam al-Bukhari have only narrated the action of raf' al-yadayn from two Companions: 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and Malik ibn Huwayris. Imam Zuhri narrated the hadith from Salim and Salim in turn narrated from 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar. Abu Qalaba and Nasr narrated from Malik ibn Huwayris, and from them, Khalid and Qatada narrated. In any one of these chains there is only one narrator at a time, whilst in the other there were two at a time. How can this be called mutawatir? The above narrator's position and the narrations which go against the above narrations will be discussed later, insha'llah. Regarding the claim that omitting raf' al-yadayn invalidates salat, nobody from among the Companions or even the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) himself said that omitting raf' al-yadayn invalidates salat. The evidence for raf' al-yadayn being a pillar of salat is not even found in the books which contain collections of fabricated hadith. It is another matter if someone decides to introduce fabricated hadith! Analysis of Those Narrations Which Prove Raf' ay- yadayn Ibn Jurayj narrated from Zuhri who narrated from Salim who narrated from 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I saw the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) offering salat; he raised his hands up to his shoulders at the beginning of salat and also before and after the ruku', but not between the two prostrations" [Bukhari and Muslim , chapter on 'Raf' ay-yadayn'] Those who follow the Hanafi madhab believe that this hadith only proves that the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) performed raf' al-yadayn during his lifetime, but it does not prove that he (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) performed it in his last prayers. Also it does not prove that raf' al-yadayn is an emphasized Sunna. One example is given below: Imams al-Bukhari & Muslim record that when Hazrat 'A'isha (may Allah be pleased with her) was in her menstruation, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to place his head in her lap and recite the Qur'an [Bukhari & Muslim, Bab al-Hayd]. From this hadith we cannot conclude that reciting the Qur'an in the lap of one's menstruating wife is an emphasized Sunna. In the same way, the naration from Ibn 'Umar does not prove that raf' al-yadayn is an emphasized Sunna. Also Ibn 'Umar's narration seems to go against some of his other narrations. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "Ibn'Umar said that he swore by Allah that raf' al-yadayn is bid'a and that he had never seen the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) practicing it (adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal, Biography of Bishr ibn Harab] Ibn 'Umar, in another place, said that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "Raf' ay-yadayn is only done in seven places: once to start salat and six times during hajj" [Kanz al-'ammal, vol. 7, p35] The teacher of Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim, Imam Humaydi, writes: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to only practise raf' al-yadayn at the start of the prayer" {Musnad Humaydi, vol. 1, p277] Imam an-Nasa'i writes: "Malik ibn Huwayris reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to perform raf' al-yadayn before and after the ruku', and also between the two sajdas" [an-Nasa'I, Bab Raf' al-Yadayn] From the above narrations it can be seen that Ibn 'Umar's narration of raf' al-yadayn goes against his own narrations based on a direct commandment from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). It also goes against the narrations of Imam Humaydi, Imam an-Nasa'i andMalik ibn Huwayris. Examination of Above Narrations (1) Imam al-Bukhari's above narration is against Imam Nasa'i's narration. (2) Imam Abu Dawud said this narration is not directly from the action of the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace), but is in fact the action of 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him).[Sunan of Abu Dawud, chapter on 'Salat'] (3) Ibn 'Umar's above narrations prove that the Prophet (may Allahbless him and grant him peace) did raf' al-yadayn nine or ten times during salat [Bukhari, chapter on 'Salat'] (4) Imam Malik writes, regarding the above narrations by Ibn 'Umar: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) use to do raf' al-yadayn five times in salat." He also said: "This is the action of Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and not the action of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) [imam Malik, al-Muwatta', chapter on 'Salat'] We can see that when this narration was narrated in Madina it was narrated to be five raf' al-yadayn in salat. When it reached Bukhara it changed from five to nine or ten raf' al-yadayn in salat. Let us first examine the narrators of Ibn 'Umar's hadith - 'Abd al-Malik ibn Jurayj and Imam Zuhri: 'Abd al-Malik ibn Jurayj Imam adh-Dhahabi and Imam al-'Asqalani write: "Ibn Jurayj did not take narrations directly from people but he would attribute the narrations to them in such a way as to convince people that he actually heard the narrations from those people directly. The scholars of Hadith have called this process tadlis. Imam Ahmad said that Ibn Jurayj has narrated some ahadith which were fabricated. Also Ibn Jurayj is said to have performed mut'a [a marriage contract for a limited period] with 90 women in Makka al-Mukarrama [this was after it was made haram for Muslims]. Khurasani said that his narrations were weak. Also he never heard a narration from Imam Zuhri but only asked his permission if he could use his name in narrations" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal and Tadhkirat al-Huffaz; al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of 'Abd al-Malik ibn Jurayj] Imam Zuhri The main narrator of the above narration is Imam Zuhri. Indeed the narration is almost completely based on his narration. Before Imam Zuhri, the chain of narration of this Hadith was Umar ibn 'Abd al- Aziz, then Salim, then Imam Zuhri. After Imam Zuhri, his students made it more famous. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "Imam Zuhri's full name was Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn 'Abdullah ibn Shihab az-Zuhri. However, he is famous as Ibn Shihab az-Zuhri. He was born in the 50th year AH in Madina. He saw only a few Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). He was such a great scholar that many scholars of his time used to praise him, including even 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). [adh-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz and Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Imam Zuhri] It is a fact that Imam Zuhri has narrated hadith (which have been collected by Muslim and Bukhari) which show that the family of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and the Companions did not get on well with each other [Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bukhari, Bab al-Fay]. The truth is that the Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) family and the Companions did get on well with each other. Hafiz al-'Asqalani wrote: "It was a habit of Imam Zuhri to perform tadlis and attribute the narrations to people like 'Abd ar-Rahman ibn Azhar, Ibn Ka'b, Abban, Ibn Uthman, Ibn Hakim, Ibn as-Salimi, 'Abdullah ibn Ja'far, 'Ubadah ibn as-Samit, Rafi', Umm 'Abdullah, Abu Hurayra, and 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar. Concerning 'Abdullah ibn Umar, the scholars of Hadith are split as to whether Imam Zuhri actually saw him or not. In the same way, there is no proof that Imam Zuhri did take narrations from 'Urwa ibn Zubayr. Nethertheless, the scholars of Hadith accept these narrations which Imam Zuhri allegedly took from 'Urwa. For us, this is evidence and we should therefore believe that Imam Zuhri heard something from 'Urwa. Imam Zuhri was from a group of scholars of Hadith who used to 'grab' hadith when they heard them [Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Imam Zuhri] Tadlis - What is it? Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "The literal meaning of the arabic word 'tadlis' is 'hiding'. Technically, it means to hide a hadith narrator. If a muhaddith did tadlis, he would use a narrator's name but it would be a name by which he was not commonly known. Thus, the identity of the weak narrator was hidden. The stronger narrators in the chain would be emphasized so that the attention of the hearer of the hadith would be diverted [al-'Asqalani, Sharh an-Nukhba, chapter on 'Tadlis'] Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Imam Zuhri narrated 2, 200 ahadith, of which about a half have a chain leading to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). He used to perform tadlis, albeit of a minor manner. Imam Zuhri's murasil ahadith [where a Tabi'i quoted a hadith directly from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) without mentioning the Companion from whom he received it] used to be weaker than other peoples' [adh-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz; al-'Asqalani,Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Imam Zuhri] Imam adh-Dhahabi narrated that Imam Shubah Wasiti writes: "I would rather fall from the skies and be broken to pieces, than to perform tadlis" [Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, Biography of Imam Shubah Wasiti] Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Yazid ibn Zuray was asked, 'What is the legal ruling regarding tadlis?' To this, he replied 'It is an absolute lie' [Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Yazid ibn Zuray] Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "Sulayman ibn Harb said that Imam Jarir 'Azdi was asked about tadlis. The Imam said, 'I reject it. A mudallis [one who performs tadlis] shows that which he has not heard' " [Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, Biography of Imam Jarir ibn Hazin 'Azdi] Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes: "Imam ash-Shafi'i rejects all the narrations of any muhaddith who did tadlis, but other scholars say that if a mudallis identified who he took narrations from and if that was a reliable source, that particular narration would be accepted" [ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar 'Ulum al-Hadith, chapter on 'Tadlis'] Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "If a mudallis uses the words 'Qala' [so and so said], or 'An, [from so-and-so]in a narration, the hadith will be rejected. However, if the mudallis uses a word implying that he directly heard the narration i.e. 'sami'tu' [i heard] then he would be lying. The rule concerning such people is that even if the mudallis was truthful, the hadith would not be accepted" [al-'Asqalani, Sharh an-Nukhbah, chapter on 'Hadith Mu'dal'] Idraj and Imam Zuhri Imam Zuhri used to do idraj, so it was difficult for people to understand his narrated ahadith. Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Idraj literally means 'inserting something.' Its technical meaning is to insert one's own words into the text of a narration. Sometimes the text could be added at the start, or at the end. To find the actual hadith text from a mudrij [person who performs idraj] is very difficult. Either the hadith was analyzed be someone who had very deep knowledge, or the mudrij showed which words he inserted into the hadith text" [al-'Asqalani, Sharh an-Nukhbah, chapter on 'Hadith Mudrij'] Imam al-Bukhari writes: "It was reported by Imam Malik that the famous scholar of Hadith, Rabi'a Turayy, used to advise Imam Zuhri to show clearly in his narrations which were his own words and which were those of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)" [al-Bukhari, Ta'rikh al-Kabir, Biography of Rabi'a Turayy] Muslim and Bukhari contain ahadith in which Imam Zuhri has inserted his own words. Scholars of Hadith have refuted these words. An example is given below: Imam Muslim and Imam al-Bukhari write: When Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) became the khalifa, Hazrat 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) did not give bay'a (pledge of allegiance) to him nor did the tribe of Banu Hashim. However, six months later, after Hazrat Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her) passed away they all [including 'Ali] gave bay'a to him" [Bukhari, chapter on 'Khaybar'; Muslim, Bab al-Fayy] Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Imam Ibn Hibban, Imam al-Bayhaqi, and other scholars of Hadith say that this narration contains some of Imam Zuhri's own words. Somebody told Imam Zuhri that when Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) became the khalifa, Hazrat 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) did not give bay'a for six months. Imam Zuhri did not contain himself with only 'Ali, but asserted that the whole tribe of Banu Hashim did not give bay'a to Abu Bakr until Hazrat Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her) passed away. The fact is that Imam Zuhri's words are wrong, and also that Hazrat 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) gave bay'a to Hazrat Abu Bakr on the first day he was appointed khalifa [Fath al-Bari, end of Chapter of Khaybar] Hafiz Qastalani also writes the same as above. Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes that the narrations which say that 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) gave bay'a to Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) on the first day he was appointed khalifa are more authentic than those which do not support this. The reason for this is that 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) used to pray behind Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and stayed with him all the time [Ta'rikh Ibn Kathir,. Yawm as-Saqifa] The references prove that Imam Zuhri used to perform tadlis and idraj. The scholars have pointed out that some of his narrations are not reliable. Ijaza and Imam Zuhri Ijaza literally means 'giving permission.' Its technical meaning is for a muhaddith to give permission to his students to narrate his ahadith, or any book of Hadith which he has knowledge of [al-'Asqalani, Sharh al-Nukhbah, chapter on Ijaza]. This is the correct way to give ijaza, but Imam Zuhri's way to give ijaza was very strange. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes that Ubaydullah reported: "I saw that the students of Imam Zuhri used to bring books to the Imam and ask him for permission to narrate from it using the Imam's name. The Imam used to allow them without knowing what was in those books. This was because neither the Imam used to read the ahadith, nor did the students read the ahadith to him" [adh-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, Biography of Imam Zuhri] Shaykh Salih Subhi writes: "Imam Ibn Hazm said that if a scholar of Hadith gives permission to his students to narrate a book of Hadith using his name, and the scholar has not read the narrations, nor has anyone read them to him, then this is a bid'a and not permissible. Other scholars of Hadith have been more strict in this respect and have said that the scholars of Hadith who used to do this, in effect, gave permission to their students to attribute lies to them" ['Ulum al-Hadith, chapter on Ijaza] From the above, it is evident that the authenticity of Imam Zuhri's narrations are in question. It could be the case that one of the students of the Imam used to narrate non-authentic ahadith and use the Imam's name, as he had given him permission to do so without checking the hadith. Our Shaykh Shah Abul Husayn Zayd Faruqi writes: "Hafiz Ibn al-Qayyim writes in his book I'lam al Muwaqqi'in(vol. 3 p 85), that Imam Malik wrote a letter to his colleague Imam Layth ibn Sa'd, whose knowledge was greater than his own. When ImamLayth replied to the letter, he mentioned a few things about Imam Zuhri. He wrote: 'There is no doubt that our teacher, Imam Zuhri, was a great scholar but we have to accept that some of Imam Zuhri's verbal and written statements used to contradict one another. When we used to ask him something, sometimes the written answer would be different from the answer he used to give us verbally. Even some of his written statements used to contradict one another. The Imam did not realize what he had said before and what he was writing at the time. These are the reasons why I have left him' " [Faruqi, A, Z., Sawani Hayat Imam Abu Hanifa, Biography of Imam Layth] This statement highlights the fact that Imam Zuhri's narrations are not necessarily authentic. For this reason, we cannot use a single narration from Imam Zuhri as being more authentic than the practice of the Companions, Tabi'un, Tabi'u't-Tabi'in or a great group of scholars. Apology We regret highlighting weaknesses in Imam Zuhri but we have above, only just quoted what other scholars of Hadith have said about him. We also respect Imam Zuhri greatly as a muhaddith, but he was a man like us and had weaknesses. Returning to the point of our discussion - the raf' al-yadayn narration is only taken from Imam Zuhri. His students made the narration famous after this. How the Narration Became Famous Imam Ibn 'Abdi'l-Barr writes: "Ibn Umar's narration became famous from Imam Zuhri's students. Eleven students took this narration from Imam Zuhri; they were: Imam Malik, az-Zubaydi, Ma'mar, Awza'i, Muhammad ibn Ishaq, Sufyan ibn Husayn, Aqil ibn Khalid, Abu Hamza, Ibn Uyayna Yunus and Yahya. 26 of Imam Malik's students narrated this hadith from him. They were: Yahya ibn Yahya, Ibn Bukayr, Abu Mas'ab, Sa'id, Ibn Wahab, Ibn al-Qasim, Ibn Sa'id, Ibn Abi 'Uways, 'Abd ar-Rahman, Juwayria bint Asma', Ibrahim, Ibn al-Mubarik, Bishr, 'Uthman, 'Abdullah, Khalid, Maki ibn Ibrahim, Ibn Hasan, Ibn Mas'ab, 'Abd al-Malik, Ibn Nafi', Abu Qura, Musa, Matraf, Qutayba, and Imam ash-Shafi'i. After all these people narrated this hadith and told their students this narration, it soon became very famous" [At-Tamhid, chapter on 'Raf' ay-yadayn'] From this, it can be concluded that this narration was not famous at the time of the Sahaba and the Tabi'un. When people try to find evidence to support raf' al-yadayn they say that there are over a hundred ahadith supporting it. In reality, there is only one hadith which has been transmitted by Imam Zuhri, and his students have transmitted it further. So many chains were produced after Imam Zuhri. When Imam Awza'i debated with Imam Abu Hanifa concerning raf' al-yadayn , the only hadith Awza'i could give as evidence for it was the one from Imam Zuhri. This demonstrates that if there were any other hadith to support raf' al-yadayn then Awza'i would certainly have revealed it. Furthermore, Bukhari and Muslim only wrote ahadith with chains leading to Imam Zuhri. If there were any other hadith, then they would have included them. Imam Malik's Opinion on Raf' al-Yadayn Imam Malik had the most knowledge of Imam Zuhri's narrations. Let us see what his opinion about this was. Imam Ibn al-Qasim, who was Imam Malik's student, writes that Imam Malik said: "Apart from the begining of the prayer, I am unaware of performing raf' al-yadayn at any other time. I believe that the practice of raf' al-yadayn during the prayer is weak" [al-Madunah, Bab Raf' al-Yadayn] Imam Malik's saying that he was unaware of performing raf' al-yadayn does not mean that he was unaware of the hadith. This was because he himself heard it along with ten of his colleagues and transmitted it to 26 of his students. The real meaning of his saying is that he was unaware of the practice of it. This was because neither Imam Zuhri, nor any of his students performed raf' al-yadayn . Likewise, the people of Madina did not practise it, nor the people coming for Hajj from all over the world. Another point to raise is that Imam Malik, who is a main narrator of this hadith, did not practice raf' al-yadayn himself. The practice of raf' al-yadayn was very uncommon in Imam Malik's time. How can we use this narration as evidence for raf' al-yadayn when the scholars who narrated it did not act upon it, and when there are doubts concerning the reliability of the two main narrators (Ibn Jurayj and Imam Zuhri)? Second evidence for Raf' al-Yadayn The second evidence of people who peforming raf' al-yadayn is that Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim write: "Abu Qalaba and Nasr ibn Asim, say that they saw Malik ibn Huwayris performing raf' al-yadayn before ruku and after ruku in salat and he reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to do this as well" [Bukari and Muslim, Bab Raf' al-Yadayn] The people who perform raf ay-yadayn give this as their evidence and say that it is a Sunna mu'akkada (emphasised sunna which the Prophet [may Allah bless him and give him peace] performed regularly) and that non performance of it means that the prayer is not accepted properly. We answer this by saying that this narration cannot prove that raf' al-yadayn is Sunna mu'akkada and also you cannot prove from this narration that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to perform raf' al-yadayn all the time. Also, Malik ibn Huwayris's narration goes against his other narration: "Imam Nasa'i writes that Malik ibn Huwayris reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to perform raf' al-yadayn before and after the ruku' and in the middle of the two sajdas" [an-Nasa'i, Bab Raf ay-Yadayn] From Malik ibn Huwayris's second narration there is also proof of performing raf' al-yadayn between the sajdas, but the people who perform raf' al-yadayn only do it before and after the ruku' and not in the middle of the sajdas. Their argument is that this action has been abrogated - this inspite of the fact that Malik ibn Huwayris's narration does not confirm this. Secondly, Malik ibn Huwayris was only in Madina for a few weeks and did not stay with the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) at times, so he did not know the last actions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). This suggests that he did not know whether the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) performed raf' al-yadayn or not. On the other hand, 'Abdullah ibn Ma'sud saw the Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) last actions concerning raf' al-yadayn . He saw the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) perform the prayer without raf' al-yadayn . 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud's narration is more reliable than Malik ibn Huwayris's as Ibn Mas'ud stayed with the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) all the time. Proof that Malik ibn Huwayris Stayed in Madina for Only a Few Weeks Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim write: "Malik ibn Huwayris came to Madina with some other people and stayed in Madina for twenty nights and then they really wanted to go home. So when the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) found this out, he gave them permission to leave for Basra, where Malik was from" [Bukhari, Muslim, Bab al-Adhan] From this narration there is proof that Malik ibn Huwayris was only in Madina for a short time and so he could not have known the last actions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) concerning raf' al-yadayn . Malik ibn Huwayris's narration about raf' al-yadayn does not prove that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) performed raf' al-yadayn all the time; it only proves that Malik ibn Huwayris saw him (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) perform raf' al-yadayn in that period. This also does not prove that it is a Sunna mu'akkada. If someone tries to prove from this narration that it is Sunna mu'akkada to perform raf' al-yadayn then people could also say that it is Sunna mu'akkada to pick a child up during salat! Imam al-Bukhari writes: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) while praying salat picked up his grand-daughter, Amama, and put her down when he went into sujud" [Bukari, Bab as-Salat]. No one can say from this narration that it is a Sunna mu'akkada to pick up a child while praying, so how can some say that because Malik ibn Huwayris saw the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) perfom raf' al-yadayn in salat on a particular occasion it is Sunna mu'akkada. Narrators of the Second Hadith Supporting Raf' al-Yadayn There are four main narrators of the narration supporting raf' al-yadayn . They are, Abu Qalaba, Khalid al-Hazza, Nasr ibn Asim, and Qatada. Of course, we believe that they had full knowledge of Hadith but they were human and had some weaknesses. Abu Qalaba Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Abu Qalaba's full name was 'Abdullah ibn Zayd; he used to live in the city of Basra. He was a great and knowledgeable man. He was against and had no regards towards 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). He used to narrate ahadith from people whom he had never met before, for example: 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas, 'A'isha, and Abu Hurayra. When he related ahadith, it seemed as if he had heard the hadith directly from the Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), but in reality he heard them from other people" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan at-I'tidal and al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Abu Qalaba] Khalid ibn Hazza Hafiz adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Imam Ibn Sa'd Khalid was not an authentic Imam. Abu Khatam said that hadith narrated by Khalid cannot be used as evidence. When Khalid came to Syria he told ahadith to the people but the scholars rejected his narrations. He had also lost his memory. Despite this, Ibn Mu'in and Nasa'i praised him" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan at-I'tidal;al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib and Muqaddama Fath al-Bari, Biography of Abu Qalaba] Abu Qalaba's other student Ayyub also narrated this hadith, but he never mentions raf' al-yadayn . This hadith is also found in Sahih al-Bukhari. The scholars of Hadith agree that Ayyub was more knowledgeable than Khalid. Nasr ibn Asim Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Imam Dawud said that he was from amongst a misled sect, but others said that he repented from his wrong beliefs" [Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Nasr ibn Asim)] Qatada Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Qatada was a great scholar and a mufassir [scholar of Tafsir (Quranic exegesis)]. He was very intelligent, and many scholars praised him. He narrated ahadith of such people whom he had never heard, met, nor seen. He saw only one Companion of the Prophet, Malik ibn 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 Qatada held wrong beliefs, the scholars still took narrations of hadith from him (may Allah forgive him) [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal and Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, Biography of Qatada Basri; al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib] From all the above references, it cannot be proved that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did raf' al-yadayn all the time. Also, Malik ibn Huwayris 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 Hadith. Therefore this hadith does not stand at the same level as 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud's hadith. The Third Evidence Used to Support Raf' al-Yadayn. Qadi Shawkani writes: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), when performing his last salat, performed raf' al-yadayn " [Nayl al-Awtar, chapter on Raf' al-Yadayn] The people who perform raf' al-yadayn say that the above narration proves that raf' al-yadayn 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 al-Bukhari, or Muslim - even Imam al-Bayhaqi did not include it in his book of sunan. All the narrators of this hadith are weak. Examining the Narrators of the Hadith 'Abd ar-Rahman Harwi Imam adh-Dhahabi writes that Harwi used to fabricate hadith and tell them to people [Mizan al-I'tidal, Biography of 'Abd ar-Rahman Harwi] If Harwi used to fabricate his narrations of hadith it follows that his narrations cannot be relied upon. Usamah ibn Muhammad Ansari (the student of Musa ibn 'Uqba) Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "Imam Abu Khatim said that Usamah was not strong in the knowledge of Hadith. Imam Yahya ibn Mu'in said that he fabricated hadith and attributed them to the great scholars of Hadith. He was a liar. Imam Daraqutni 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 ahadith are not safe. He narrates one hadith that says that you should make du'a' to Allah Most High when you see a beautiful face, and He will accept it" [Mizan al-I'tidal, Biography of Usamah ibn Muhammad Ansari] Qadi Shawkani writes that Usamah ibn Muhammad Ansari was a liar and he fabricated hadith [al-Majmu'at al-Ahadith, chapter on Sadaqa, p.67] It is strange that Qadi Shawkani wrote in his book that Usamah ibn Muhammad was a liar, and yet despite this took his narration as evidence in his other book. The other surprising thing is that Qadi Shawkani 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 raf' al-yadayn . They are proud and say that they are following the Sunna of Rasulu'llah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Performing Salat Without Raf' al-Yadayn - Proof from Ahadith Imam Muslim writes: "Once we were performing salat and the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) came to us and asked us: 'Why are you doing raf' al-yadayn as a stubborn horse waving its tail?' He also told us: 'Perform your salat with peace' [Muslim, chapter on Sukun fi as-Salat] The above hadith proves that one must not perform raf' al-yadayn in the middle of one's salat. Imam Muslim writes in another narration, after the above: "Jabir ibn Samrah reported: 'At the end of the salat, we used to wave our hands left and right when saying salam. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) told us not to wave our hands but only to say the salam." The above narrations prove that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) stopped raf' al-yadayn as well as waving the hands during the Prayer. Imam Humaydi, who was the teacher of Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim, writes: " 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar said: 'The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) only performed raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of salat, not before or after doing ruku' ' " [Musnad Humaydi, Vol. 2, p. 277, Maktabah Salafiyya, Madina al-Munawwara] Imam Ibn Abi Shayba and Imam 'Abd ar-Razzaq write: " 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: 'The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) performed raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of salat.' " 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud and Brabin Azib reported: 'We saw the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) only performing raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of the salat.' " Aswad, Imam Shabi, Ibrahim an-Nakha'i, 'Ali and Ibn Mas'ud's student (may Allah be pleased with them) only performed raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of salat" [Musnad Ibn Abi Shayba and Musnad 'Abd ar-Razzaq, Chapter on Raf' al-Yadayn] Imam Ibn al-Qasim writes: "Imam Malik said that Imam Zuhri told him that he heard from Salim, who said that his father ['Abdullah ibn 'Umar] reported, that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) only performed raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of the salat and not in any other part of it." This narration also proves that Imam Zuhri narrated a hadith stating that the practice of raf' al-yadayn was only performed at the beginning of the salat. Imam Malik said that he has no knowledge of doing raf' al-yadayn in any other part of the salat apart from the beginning [al-Mudawwana, chapter on 'Raf' al-Yadayn'] Imam Malik also said: "To do raf' al-yadayn is weak, except at the beginning" [al-Mudawwana, chapter on 'Raf' al-Yadayn'] How could Imam Malik say that he had no knowledge of someone who practices raf' al-yadayn 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' al-yadayn but he never saw anyone in Makka or Madina who practiced it. The reason for this is that the practice of raf' al-yadayn was abrogated. Imam at-Tirmidhi writes: " 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said that he would perform the salat the way that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did. When he performed the salat he only did raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of the salat. "Many Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), their students (Tabi'un), Sufyan, the Scholars of Kufa and many other scholars followed this hadith" [at-Tirmidhi, Bab Raf' al-Yadayn; Ibn Hazm in his Muhalla (chapter of salat) writes that this hadith is authentic; Ahmed Shakir, a famous Najdi scholar, also writes that this hadith is authentic in his Takhrij Ibn Hazm] Even other scholars wrote this hadith in their books, for example: Imam Abu Dawud Ibn Abi Shayba, Imam 'Abd ar-Razzaq, Imam Abu Ya'la and many others. Imam at-Tirmidhi wrote in his narration: "The Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), Tabi'un and scholars of Kufa were performing salat without raf' al-yadayn ." [at-Tirmidhi, Bab Raf' al-Yadayn] Who Were the Scholars of Kufa? Imam Ibn Sa'd, Hafiz Ibn al-Qayyim and Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya write: " 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) gave an order to build the city of Kufa. When the city was built, people from various Islamic areas came to live in the city. Many Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) moved to Kufa and started to live there. Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) sent 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud and Ammar ibn Yasir to teach the people in Kufa. After sixteen or seventeen years, when 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) became the Khalifa, he transferred the capital from Madina to Kufa. A large number of Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) moved to Kufa. They taught people about Islam. Kufa thus became the centre point for Islamic scholars" [Tabaqat Ibn Sa'd; Minhaj as-Sunna Alam al-Muwakki'in, chapter on 'Kufa'] Kufa was the central point of Islamic knowledge, which is why so many scholars of Hadith travelled to it repeatedly to gain knowledge.Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Imam al-Bukhari travelled to various cities to gain knowledge of Hadith. He went to the city of Jazeera twice, Basra four times, and stayed in the Hijaz [Makka and Madina] for six years. Imam al-Bukhari said himself that he could not account for how many times he went to Kufa and Baghdad to learn knowledge of Hadith" [Muqaddima Fath al-Bari, Biography of Imam al-Bukhari] Imam at-Tirmidhi's narrations prove that no one practiced raf' al-yadayn in the city of Kufa which became the centre point of Islamic knowledge and thought. Imam Malik's narration proves that no one was practicing raf' al-yadayn in Makka or Madina, as this practice had been abrogated. The Debate Between Imam Awza'i and Imam Abu Hanifa These two Imams once debated the matter of raf' al-yadayn , and it is described by Sufyan ibn Uyayna: "Once Imam Abu Hanifa and Imam Awza'i met in a market in Makka. Imam Awza'i asked Imam Abu Hanifa why he did not practice raf' al-yadayn during the salat. Abu Hanifa: There is no authentic hadith about practicing raf' al-yadayn . Awza'i:Why isn't there an authentic hadith? Here is one: Imam Zuhri told me, who was told by Salim, who was told by Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) practiced raf' al-yadayn before and after theruku'. Abu Hanifa: Hamad told me, who was told by Ibrahim, who was told by Ikrama, who was told by Aswad who was told by 'Abdullah ibnMas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) only practiced raf' al-yadayn at the beginning of performing his salat and not afterwards. Awza'i:The narration that I have presented to you has a shorter chain and your hadith has a longer chain; for this reason, my hadith is more reliable than yours. Abu Hanifa: It does not matter if the chain of the hadith is long or short. The priority of the hadith depends on the narrators of the hadith and how much knowledge of Hadith they had. The narrators of the hadith which I have presented possess more expertise in the knowledge of Hadith. For example, Hamad is more knowledgeable than Imam Zuhri. Ibrahim is more knowledgeable than Salim; Ikrama is a great scholar and Ibn Mas'ud is unique. Imam Awza'i then became silent" [Musnad Imam Abu Hanifa, chapter on 'Raf' al-Yadayn] This debate shows that Imam Awza'i had no other evidence. If he had then he would have presented it to defend his case in support of raf' al-yadayn . Imam Abu Hanifa replied so beautifully that Imam Awza'i was forced to become silent.

Agar copy paste say hee jawab dena hai to , sarey jawab mawjood hain! Sirf Urdu mein tarjuma karney ki zarurat hai. Agar scan chahiye to urdu kitabon ke scan bhee pesh kiye ja saktey hain! Isako mulahiza farmaein Recitation of Amin loudly behind Imam of Salaah When we perform our salat behind the Imam and he recites"Waladdallin" loudly, we say, "Amin" quietly.This is because "Amin" is a du'a' and it should always be read quietly.Some people say that during the performance of salat behind the Imam, you should say "Amin" loudly with rhythm. We argue that there is no such hadith which mentions that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) ordered this action or even encouraged anyone to do this. The people who follow this action put forward one hadith which says that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, "Amin" loudly in the salat. We claim that it is true that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said "Amin" loudly a few times. However, the Prophet used to sometimes carry out actions only to educate people. For example, in Zuhr salat part of the Qur'an was recited loudly. Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim write: "When the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was performing his Zuhr and 'Asr prayers, he recited part of the Qur'an loudly, which we could hear" [Bukhari and Muslim, chapter on 'Qira'at, Zuhr and 'Asr'] After reading this hadith no one in the whole Umma says that the Imam should recite any part of the Qur'an loudly in the Zuhr and 'Asr salat. This is because everyone knows that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) only did this to educate the people. In the same way, the hadith that mentions that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said "Amin" loudly does not mean that it is Sunna to say, "Amin" loudly. There is also proof from the Qur'an and Sunna that Amin should be said quietly behind the Imam. Proof From the Qur'an That Amin is a Du'a' Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes: "When someone finishes reciting Surat al-Fatiha, it is preferable to say "Amin". Amin means, 'Oh Allah, accept our du'a'!' "There is proof from the Qur'an that Amin is a du'a'. For example, Allah Most High says in the Qur'an that Prophet Musa (peace be upon him) prayed to Allah by saying: 'Oh Allah, destroy the wealth of Pharaoh!' [sura Yunus, verse 87] "The Prophet Musa's brother, Harun (peace be upon him) was standing beside him and said, "Amin." Allah accepted their du'a' by saying: 'I accept both of your du'a's' [sura Yunus, verse 89] "The Prophet Musa (peace be upon him) supplicated to Allah whereas Harun only said "Amin." And yet Allah attributed the du'a' to both of them.This proves that Amin is a du'a'" [Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Sura Fatiha] Qadi Shawkani and Imam al-Qurtubi also wrote, in the interpretation of Sura al-Fatihah, that Amin is a du'a' [Tafsir Qurtubi and Fath al-Qadir, Surah Fatiha] Now that it has been proved that Amin is a dua, we should supplicate quietly to Allah. Proof from the Qur'an and Sunna show that du'a' should be recited quietly. Proof From The Qur'an That Du'a Should be Recited Quietly Allah Most High says in the Qur'an: "Invoke your Lord with humility and in secret. He likes not the aggressors" [sura al-A'raf, verse 55] It is proved from the above verse that all should supplicate to Allah with humility and secrecy. Allah says in the Qur'an: "And remembering your Lord by your tongue and within yourself, humbly and with fear, without loudness in words" [sura al-A'raf, verse 205] Qadi Shawkani writes: "In the above verse, the word 'Remember' means du'a' and du'a' should be said secretly" [Fath al-Qadir, Sura al-A'raf, verse 205] Allah Most High says in the Qur'an: "This is a mention of mercy of your Lord to his slave Zakariyya. When he called out to his Lord - a call in secret" [sura Maryam, verse 2-3] Proof From Hadith That Du'a' Should be Recited Quietly Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal writes: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said that Allah Most High is pleased with those who remember him secretly" [Musnad Ahmad, Narration of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, vol. 1, p.172] Thus it is proven from the Qur'an and Sunna that du'a' should be supplicated to Allah quietly and since "Amin" is also a du'a' it should also be said quietly. That is the reason why all du'a's are read silently. For example, thana, takbir, ta'awwudh, tasbih, tashahhud, salutation and the final sitting's du'a' are all read silently, so Amin should also be included in the above. The reason why the Imam says the takbir loudly is only to inform his followers that he is moving from one position to another. Proof From Hadith to Say Amin Quietly Imam Muslim and Imam Bukhari write: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said that when the Imam says 'Waladdallin' then you must say 'Amin' because the angels also say 'Amin' and whosoever's 'Amin' is similar to that of an angel, their past sins will be forgiven" [Bukhari and Muslim, chapter on 'Ta'min'] There are two ways in which "Amin" can be similar to the angels' "Amin": 1) To say "Amin" loudly with the Imam 2) To say "Amin" silently because the angels say "Amin" with the Imam and also silently. If someone proclaims "Amin" loudly it would not be similar to the angels' as no one hears the angels. Imam Muslim writes: "Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said that when the Imam says 'Sami'allahu liman Hamida' you should say, 'Rabbana lak al-Hamd.' Whoever's tahmid [saying of praise]becomes similar to the angels', his past sins will be forgiven" [Muslim, Bab Ta'min] The Hadiths of "Amin" and Tahmid are Written Under The Same Chapter Both of these ahadith mention that whosoever's "Amin" or Tahmid coincides with that of the angels' their past sins will be forgiven. It is clear now that "Amin" should be said as "Rabbana lak al-hamd" i.e. silently and individually, without rhythm. Imam Nasa'i writes: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said that when the Imam says 'Waladdallin", you should say 'Amin' This is because the angels and the Imam also say 'Amin.' Whosoever's 'Amin' coincides with that of the angels', his past sins will be forgiven" [Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, Darimi, chapter on 'Tahmid'; Musnad Ahmad, Narrations of Abu Hurayra] This hadith proves that "Amin" should be said as the Imam says his "Amin". No one hears the Imam's "Amin", so no one should hear the follower's "Amin".The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) has also ordered us to follow the Imam, so we should say "Amin" quietly. One Doubt Some people claim that the Imam should say "Amin" loudly. Imam Daraqutni writes: "Wyle said that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) led the salat and read 'Amin' loudly" [at-Tirmidhi and Daraqutni, chapter on 'Ta'meen'] This hadith provides evidence that "Amin" should be said loudly. There is also another hadith which Imam Daraqutni wrote: "It is reported by Abu Hurayra that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) led the salat and said 'Amin' loudly" [Daraqutni, Ta'meen] There is also a third hadith which is reported by Umm Hasin: "She relates that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) read the salat and said 'Amin' loudly" [Zali, Ta'min] All the above narrations appear to prove that the Imam should say "Amin" loudly and the followers should also say "Amin" loudly. We clear this doubt by saying: Al-Bukhari or Muslim did not write the above narrations. All these narrations prove that the Imam says "Amin" loudly sometimes. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said "Amin" loudly sometimes. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said "Amin" loudly so that his followers would know that after "Waladdallin", "Amin" should be said. These narrations cannot be used as evidence because they are not authentic. Examining the Narrators The first narrator was called Muhammad ibn Kathir. Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Imam Ahmad said that Muhammad ibn Kathir is weak. Imam an-Nasa'i said that he is not reliable in the science of Hadith. 'Abdullah ibn Ahmad said that he narrates false narrations of hadith, which is why the scholars of Hadith reject his narrations and say that Muhammad ibn Kathir is weak. Imam al-Bukhari, Imam Abu Dawud, Imam Salih, and Hafiz Jazrah say that he made many mistakes in his narrations, all his narrations are weak and that his narrations are difficult to understand. Imam Ibn Adhi mentions his unknown narrations in his book Kamil. Imam Ibn Habban said Muhammad ibn Kathir is authentic but made many mistakes. Imam Laith and Ibn Mu'in praised him" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal; al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Muhammad ibn Kathir] The other narrator of these narrations is Muhammad ibn Khalid. Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Muhammad is a truthful man but is unknown. Imam Ibn Abi Khatim said that I asked my father about Muhammad but he replied that he was unaware of his existence" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal;, Biography of Muhammad ibn Khalid] Another narrator of these narrations is called 'Abd al-Jabbar ibn Wyle. Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "Imam Bukhari, Imam at-Tirmidhi and Imam ibn Habban said that Ibn Wyle had never heard any hadith from his father. The other scholars of Hadith say that he was born after his father's death which explains why it was not possible for hom to have heard any hadith from his father. Imam Ibn Sa'd said that Ibn Wyle has only narrated a few hadith" [Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of 'Abd al-Jabbar ibn Wyle] 'Abd al-Jabbar's narrations cannot be used as evidence because he said that he narrated directly from his father whereas his father had died before his birth. Ishaq ibn Ibrahim az-Zubedi was another narrator of these narrations. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "Imam Dawud and Imam an-Nasa'i said that he had no knowledge of Hadith and he was not authentic. Imam Ati said that he was a liar" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal;, Biography of Ishaq ibn Ibrahim az-Zubedi] Another narrator of these narrations is called 'Abdullah ibn Salim. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "He was a Nasibi [from a misled sect]. 'Abdullah ibn Salim contempted Hazrat 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and he used to say that Hazrat 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) helped those people who killed Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and Hazrat 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him)" [Mizan al-I'tidal;, Biography of 'Abdullah ibn Salim] Another narrator of these narrations is Isma'il ibn Muslim Makki. Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Imam Ahmad, Imam Abu Zur'a, Imam an-Nasa'i, Imam 'Ali, and Imam al-Bukhari say that he is weak and that he narrates unknown ahadith. This is why the scholars of Hadith began to avoid his narrations. Imam ibn Mu'in said that he combined the text from one hadith into another" [adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal; al-'Asqalani, Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Isma'il ibn Muslim Makki] How can the above narrations be used as evidence when the narrators of these ahadith have been highly criticized by the scholars of Hadith. The ahadith that have been narrated by these narrators cannot be authentic; they can only prove that "Amin" is to be said loudly by the Imam and not that the followers say "Amin" loudly together with the Imam. If this was the case, the Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) should have said, 'When the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said "Amin" loudly, we also said "Amin" loudly.' But they only reported that the Prophet said "Amin" loudly. It is established that the Imam says "Amin" loudly sometimes. The way of the Companions was to follow this and to listen to the "Amin" quietly - not to read "Amin" loudly themselves. Secondly, there are other ahadith that mention that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to say "Amin" silently: Imam Ibn Abi Shayba writes: "Wyle reported that he performed salat behind the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and he said, 'Amin' silently" [Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba, Chapter on 'Ta'min'] Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal writes: "Wyle reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) led the salat and said, 'Amin' silently" [Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Narrations of Wyle ibn Hajjar] Both of the above narrations prove that when the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) led the salat he said Amin silently. Imam Abu Dawud writes: "When the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) led the salat, after saying, 'Waladdallin', he became silent" [Abu Dawud, al-Qira'at] The above narration proves that when the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) became silent, it was to say "Amin" silently. If the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was to say "Amin" loudly then there was no point in him remaining silent after saying "Waladdallin." Examination of the Evidence in support of saying "Amin" Loudly Behind the Imam 1) Imam al-Bukhari writes: "Ata ibn Rubah said that "Amin" is a du'a'. 'Abdullah and the people who were behind him said "Amin" loudly and this sound echoed throughout the masjid" [Bukhari, Chapter on 'Ta'min'] Those who believe "Amin" should be recited loudly use this hadith to prove their assertion as the sound echoes throughout the masjid. We argue that although this narration is written in Bukhari, he did not write the chain of this narration. Imam al-Bukhari was born at the very end of the second century AH and 'Abdullah ibn Zubayr died in the 73rd year AH. This means that Imam al-Bukhari was born 125 years after the death of 'Abdullah ibn Zubayr. How then could Bukhari know that the masjid echoed with the sound of "Amin", at the time of 'Abdullah ibn Zubayr? Ta'liq (To Suspend) When a scholar of Hadith writes a hadith without mentioning the chain between himself and the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), or he mentions a little part of the chain, the hadith such as this is called hadith mu'allaq (suspended hadith). This is because this type of hadith is chain-less. The scholars of Hadith call it a suspended hadith. Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes: "When a scholar of Hadith writes a chainless hadith directly from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) or from a Companion, or a student of a Companion, this type of narration is not accepted because he never met the Companion of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) or the Companion's student. It is not known whether the narrators, whom he does not mention, are authentic or weak. The majority of scholars of Hadith agree that if a scholar who writes a chainless hadith claims that the narrators are authentic, his claim will not be accepted until he mentions their names. Both Muslim and Bukhari contain some chainless hadith which cannot be accepted" [al-'Asqalani, Sharh an-Nukhbah and Muqaddama Fath al-Bari, Chapter on Hadith Mu'allaq] According to the majority of scholars, chainless narrations are not acceptable. Ibn Zubayr's above narration is a chainless narration and so it cannot be accepted as evidence. Secondly, it is not clear from Ibn Zubayr's narration if the followers said "Amin" after "Waladdallin" or during the du'a' in the Fajr salat. It is also not clear as to whether the followers in the salat said "Amin" in all their salat or just once. Thirdly, the hadith does not show the Prophet ordering the Companions to say "Amin". The above mentioned hadith cannot be used to prove that "Amin" should be said behind the Imam. 2) Imam Ibn Majah writes: "Bishar ibn Rafir said that Abu Hurayra's cousin Abu 'Abdullah told me that he heard Abu Hurayra saying, 'The people have stopped saying "Amin" although the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to say "Amin" after "Waladdallin." The people in the first row offering salat could hear him. The sound echoed throughout the masjid' " [Ibn Majah, Chapter on 'Ta'min'] Examination of the Narrators The first narrator of this narration is Abu 'Abdullah. Imam adh-Dhahabi writes: "He is Abu Hurayra's cousin, but is unknown. Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim did not take this narration from him" [Mizan al-I'tidal, Biography of Abu 'Abdullah] The second narrator is Bishr ibn Rafir. Imam adh-Dhahabi and Hafiz al-'Asqalani write: "Imam al-Bukhari said that no one could verify his narration. Imam Ahmad said that his narrations are weak and he has no knowledge of Hadith. Imam Yahya ibn Mu'in said that his narrations are unknown. Imam an-Nasa'i said that he is not strong in the knowledge of Hadith. Imam Ibn Habban said that he narrates false ahadith. Imam Abu Khatim and Imam at-Tirmidhi say that he is weak and that he narrates unknown hadiths. This is the reason why his narrated ahadith are weak. Imam Ibn 'Abdi'l-Barr said that all the scholars of Hadith agree that all his narrations should be thrown away. The scholars of Hadith did not accept his narrations. Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim did not take any narrations from him. There were only two or three people who praised him" [Mizan al-I'tidal & Tahzib at-Tahzib, Biography of Bishr ibn Rafir al-Harsi] The above statements show that the narrators of these narrations have been highly criticized by the scholars of Hadith. The Text of the Hadith Abu Hurayra was a famous Companion of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and he died in 59 AH. He complained that the people had stopped saying "Amin". In his time, a large number of the Companions were alive thus if it was a Sunna to say "Amin" loudly behind the Imam, then the Companions would have done so and Abu Hurayra need not have complained. Abu Hurayra saw this in the time of the Khulafa' ar-Rashidun but did not mention that they, or their followers, used to say "Amin" loudly - it has been proven that the Khulafa' ar-Rashidun and their followers did not practice this. Abu Hurayra continued to say that when the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to say "Amin" the people in the first row heard it and the sound echoed throughout the masjid. This statement proves that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to say "Amin" sometimes to teach the people, but the people behind him did not say "Amin" loudly. The statement, "The sound echoed throughout the masjid" requires attention because the sound can only echo if the place is made of cement and also has a dome. The roof of the masjid at the time of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was made from palm tree branches and no cement was used. This means that it is not possible for the sound to have echoed throughout the masjid. The interesting thing is that Imam Dawud also wrote this narration in his chapter on Ta'min, but did not mention the above words (i.e. "The sound echoed throughout the masjid"). The above narration is not authentic and the text does not prove that "Amin" should be said loudly behind the Imam. This is because in the whole narration there is no proof that the Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to say "Amin" loudly behind the Imam.

كما في صحيح البخاري (954) عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ رضي الله عنه: أَنَّ عُمَرَ بْنَ الْخَطَّابِ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ كَانَ إِذَا قَحَطُوا اسْتَسْقَى بِالْعَبَّاسِ بْنِ عَبْدِ الْمُطَّلِبِ فَقَالَ: اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا كُنَّا نَتَوَسَّلُ إِلَيْكَ بِنَبِيِّنَا فَتَسْقِينَا وَإِنَّا نَتَوَسَّلُ إِلَيْكَ بِعَمِّ نَبِيِّنَا فَاسْقِنَا قَالَ فَيُسْقَوْنَ Imam Bukhari ( Rh) , Aans bin Malik se rawayat kartey hain ki jab sookha pada tab umar ibn ak khattab ( Rd) , Al abbaas ibn al mutallib (rd) ke paas jatey aur dua ki darkhast kartey. Wah kahtey" Ya Allah, hum log aap sey Rasul Allah ke wastey dua mangtey aur aap hamey barish detay AB HUM AAPSEY RASUL ALLAH KE CHAHCHA ke WASTEY DUA mangtey hain, hum ko barish dijiye. IN alfaaz per gaur kijiye" RASUL ALLAH KE CHAHCA KE WASTEY" yahan per bhee wasila Rasul Allah ka hee hai , isee wajah sey rishta bayan kiya ja raha hai. Is puray waqey ko Imam Suyuti ( rh) ne tafseel say bayan kiya hai. Mulahiza farmaiye: " 17 hijri mein Umar (rd) ne masjid e nabvee ko badhaya. Us saal hijaz mein sookha pada tha. Umar Rd ne barish ke liye dua al abbas (rd) ke wastey se mangee. Ibn sad (rh) , sahabi rasul , Niyar al aslami (rd) say rawayat kartey hain ki jab umar (rd) barish ke liye dua karney ke liye bahar tashrred lay tab unhoney rasul Allah ka Jhubba ( khirqa/ burda) pehna hua tha. Ibn Awn rawayat kartey hain ki umar (rd) ne al abbas (rd) ka haath liya aur usay utha kar kaha " YA Allah , hum aapsey DUA mangtey hai AAPKEY RASUL KE CHACHA ke zariye ki hamarey yahan se sookhey ko hata dein aur barish dein' ( Tarikh al Khulafa, Imam suyuti , p 140 , Beirut , 1992, Ahmad Fares ed) Gaur karney wali baat: 1) Umar rd Rasul Allah ka Khirqa ( jhubba ) pehan kar dua mangtey. Sahih Bukhari ki hadees hai , jab sahaba buri nazar ya bukhar mein mubtela hotey tab was rasul Allah ke baal mubarak ko pani mein dubo ker , us paani ko peetay aur shifa patey ( Sahih Bukhari Kitabul Libaas). Aur yahan , is hadith mein Umar rd Rasul Allah ke jhubbey ko pehna kar wasila zahir kartey. 2. Umar rd ke alfaaz "HUM AAPSEY DUA MANGTEY HAIN AAPKEY RASUL KE CHACHA KE ZARIYE" is baat kee khulee daleel hai ki wasila Rasul Allah hee ka tha , isliye rishta zaahir kiya gaya. 3.Uper jo hadith bayan ki gayee hai, us hadith kee ek dusaree riywat bhee hai , jisako Imam Ibn Hajar (rh) ne Fathaul Bari ( Sharah Bukhari)mein bayan kiya hai . Wah is tarah hai: Al -Abbas kahtey hain " Ya Allah, beshak musbatein nazil hotee hai hamarey gunahon ki wajah sey aur utha lee jatee hain , hamarey istaghfar ( tawba) ke wajah sey. Yeh log meray paas dua ki darkhast le kar aaye hain KYUNKEE MERI QURBAT TERAY RASUL SE HAI aue hamarey haath dua ke liye uthey hai,, hmaraey gunahon ko mat dekh, aur hamarey liye Baarish farma dey aur APANEY RASUL KE CHACHA KI IZZAT rakh ley..... ( Ibn Hajar, Fath al bari ,vol 2 , page 497, Al zubayribn bakkar ki rawayat , an Ansab ke hawale say) Yahan bhee wajeh ho gaya wasila Rasul Allah hee ka tha , isliye rishta bayan kiya gaya. Baki hadith aur hawaley se post lamba ho jayega. Thoda waqt lijiye aur ADAM ALAYHIS SALAM ne jo Rasul Allah ke naam mubarak se tawassul kiya ,, us per gaur kijiye. Us waqt Rasul Allah ki paidaish bhee nahee huee thee aur Adam alahis salam ne rasul Allah ke naam ke wasiley se Allah se dua mangee. Waqt miley to tafsir ibn kathir bhee dekh lijiye ga, sura Nisa , ayat 64.

ek sath itaney sarey mauzu per baat hogee to koee hal nahee nikalega. Isliye socha Tawassul per baat karna behtar rahega. Phir Insha Allah, baki mauzu per ek ek kar ke ayegein. Adam alayhis salam ka huzoor pak ke naam se shafa'at ki dua maangna قد أخرج الحافظ أبو الحسن بن بشران قال : حدثنا أو جعفر محمد ابن عمرو، حدثنا أحمد بن سحاق بن صالح، ثنا محمد بن صالح، ثنا محمد ابن سنان العوقي، ثنا إبراهيم بن طهمان، عن بديل بن ميسرة، عن عبد الله بن شقيق، عن ميسرة قال: قلت: يا رسول الله، متى كنت نبياً ؟ قال: (( لما خلق الله الأرض واستوى إلى السماء فسواهن سبع سماوات ، وخلق العرش،كتب على ساق العرش: محمد رسول الله خاتم الأنبياء، وخلق الله الجنة التي أسكنها آدم وحواء، فكتب اسمي على الأبواب، والأوراق والقباب، والخيام،وآدم بين الروح والجسد،فلما أحياه الله تعالى: نظر إلى العرش فرأى اسمي فأخبره الله أنه سيد ولدك، فلما غرهما الشيطان ، تابا واستشفعا باسمي إليه ) . وأخرجه ابن الجوزي في الوفا بفضائل المصطفى من طريق ابن بشران Tarjuma Ibn Bushran rawayat kartey hain, shaykh Abu jafar muhammad ibn Amr , rawayat kartey hain Ahmed ibn ishaq ibn salih , rawayay kartey hain mohammed ibn sinan al awqi . rewyat kartey hain ibrahim ibn tahman sey jo rawayat kartey hain budayl ibn maysara sey jo rawayat kartey hain Abdullah ibn shaqiqi sey jo rawyar karetey hain Maysara al fajr ( Rd) ..inhoney Rasul Allah ( sal alllahu alay hi wa sallam) sey poocha " Ya Rasul Allah , aap kab nabee they? Unhoney farmaya " Jab Allah ney zameen paida ki aur usakey baad aasaman aur usako ssat aasmanon mein tabdeel kiya ( 2: 29) aur phir Kursee aur Kursee ke paaon per likha " Mohammed Allah ke rasul hain aur khatamul Anbiya( Muhammadun rasulullahi khatamun al anbiya) . Usakey baad Jannat ki khilqat huee jismein Adam aur Hawwa rahaney lagey.Aur Allah ney mera naam darwazon, patton , gumbad per us waqt likh diya jab adam ruh aur badan ke beech mein they. Jab Allah ney Adam mein jaan dali , us waqt Adam ney Kursee per mera naam likha hua paya , tab Allah ney unko batlaya ki ' wah ( mohammed , sal allahu alaihi wa sallam) tumharee aaney wali tamam naslon ke peshawa hain. Jab shaitan ne in dono ko ( adam aur hawwa) ko bahkaya tab in honay Allah se mafee mangee aur mera naam lekar shafaat ki dua maangee. Hawala 1.Al wafa bi ahwal al mustafa , musannif , Imam ibn al jawzi al Hanbali (Rh) 2. Subul al Hadi wal Rashad , musannif , Imam Mohammed ibn Yusuf al salihi ( 942 AH) inhonay is isnad ko JAYYAD LA BASA bihi kaha hai. ( vol. 1/p. 86, Darul Kutub Ilmiyya edn, Beirut) Ab koee wahabi batlay kya karein? Agar koee hadees ko daif kahta hai to apanee daleel le kar aaye.

Deobandiyon ke sabsey badey shaykh , Ismaeel Dehalvee ki kitab taqwiyatul Iman mein khoob dil khol kar tahreef ho rahee hai! Yeh Gustakhe Rasul khud apaney akabir ke kitabon mein raddo badal kar rahey hain. Ek nazara mulahiza farmaiye!. Taqwiyatul Iman , OLD EDITION Yeh ko kufriya ibarat thee" main bhee mar kar ek din mitti mein milaney wala hoon" Usako badal kar NEW EDITION mein "yani ek na ek din main bhee fawt ho kar aagosh lahad mein ja soonga" Umar bhar shawq sey khatey rahey kala kawwa hmaney murga jo khaya to bura maan gay