Hadith of Ibn Mas’ud (ra) on not raising the hands in Salah
Question: The Salafi writer known as Shaykh Abdur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri attempted to weaken the following narration in his commentary on Jami al-Tirmidhi known as Tuhfatul Ahwazi:
Hannâd narrated to us; Wakî‘ narrated to us; from Sufyân; from ‘Asim bin Kulayb; from ‘Abur-Rahmân ibn al-Aswad; from ‘Alqama who said, ‘ibn Mas‘ûd said, “Shall I not pray with you the prayer of the Messenger of Allâh (SAW)” so he prayed and he did not raise his hands except the first time.’
At-Tirmidhî said: and the hadîth pertaining to this are related from al-Barâ’a bin ‘Azib.
Abû ‘Isâ [at-Tirmidhî] said: the hadîth of ibn Mas‘ûd is a hasan hadîth.
My question is – Do other Salafi scholars agree with him in declaring this narration to be weak or not?
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Answer:
Wa alaikum salam
Al-Mubarakpuri was anti-Hanafi, a Ghayr Muqallid from India. Often he took liberties to refute the Ahnaf in his Tuhfatul Ahwazi. You can find many counter arguments to him by name directly and indirectly from the Hanafi scholars of his time and after him, like: Shaykh Khalil Ahmad al-Sahranpuri in his 20 volume Badhlul majhud fi Hall Sunan Abi Dawud, in Shaykh Anwar Shah’s Nayl al-Farqadayn, in Awjaz al-Masalik by Shaykh Zakariyya al-Kandhalawi, in I’la al-Sunan of Shaykh Zafar Ahmad and in Ma’arif al-Sunan of Shaykh Yusuf al-Binuri — All of these Shaykhs accepted or authenticated the Ibn Mas’ud (ra) narration to be Sahih, as did Imam al-Tirmidhi in his Jami by declaring it Hasan, followed by Ibn Hazm in al-Muhalla declaring it Sahih.
Note also that Imam al-Nasa’i in his Sunan (2/195) has a chapter heading called:
باب الرخصة في ترك ذلك
Which means: “Chapter in the dispensation in abandoning that (meaning Raf’ul yadayn). Then he mentioned the following narration to support his chapter heading:
[ 1058 ] أخبرنا محمود بن غيلان المروزي قال حدثنا وكيع قال حدثنا سفيان عن عاصم بن
كليب عن عبد الرحمن بن الأسود عن علقمة عن عبد الله أنه قال ألا أصلي بكم صلاة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فصلى فلم يرفع يديه إلا مرة واحدة
This is a clear proof that Imam al-Nasa’i accepted the authenticity of the Ibn Mas’ud narration.
There are many later scholars who declared it Sahih – but they are generally Ahnaf. So, I will not mention them. Let me just mention that those who weakened it – their view is itself weak. Alhamdulillah, this is not the view of some of the Hanafiyya – but it is affirmed by even the Ghayr Muqallid “Salafi” Ulama of the last 50 years! Let me mention these “Salafi” Ulama:
1) Ahmed Muhammad Shakir – who affirmed Raf’ul yadayn, also declared the Hadith of ibn Mas’ud in his editing of Jami al-Tirmidhi – to be Sahih – and he also clarified that there is no hidden defect (Illa) in that narration as some of the Hadith scholars claimed in early times. He also affirmed it to be Sahih in line with ibn Hazm – while editing his Muhalla (4/88, Masa’il no. 442)
2) Nasir al-Albani (d. 1999) – an advocate of Raf’ul yadayn – also declared the Hadith of ibn Mas’ud to be Sahih in at least 2 places: in his Tahqiq to Mishkat al-Masabih (1/254, no. 809, fn. 3) and in his “Sahih” Sunan Abu Dawud (1/143, no. 683).
3) Abdal Qadir al-Arna’ut (d. 2004) in his tahqiq to Imam ibn al-Athir’s Jami al-Usul fi Ahadith al-Rasul authenticated it
4) Hussain Salim Asad in his tahqiq to Musnad Abu Ya’la (3/220) said it is Sahih, and also mentioned Ibn Hazm declaring it Sahih. Asad also said there is no Illa in the hadith of ibn Mas’ud (3/221)
5) Adil ibn Yusuf al-Azazi and Ahmad ibn Farid declared it Sahih in their editing of the Musnad of ibn Abi Shayba (1/219, no. 323) – and they also mentioned Ahmad Shakir’s view as I mentioned above.
Of the most prominent Hanafi Ulama alive in Amman currently is Shaykh Shu’ayb al-Arna’ut – he also affirmed the authenticity of the Ibn Mas’ud narration in his Tahqiq to the Musnad of Ibn Hanbal.
As for the views of Imam Abu Hanifa and his students on leaving Raf’ul yadayn after the initial Takbir – then this is very well known about them, rather this is the view of the vast majority of the earlier Kufan Ulama from the Salaf. In the Musannaf of ibn Abi Shayba there are a number of narrations from these Kufan Fuqaha and Muhaddithin negating Raf’ul yadayn – in line with the likes of the great Tabi’in – Alqama, Aswad, Ibrahim al-Nakha’i, Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman and others. It is also the strongest position in the Maliki School not to make Raf’ul yadayn in line with the jumhur Kufan Ulama.
Wassalam
