175Nasaa'i (1/173) with a saheeh isnaad.
176Bukhaari & Abu Daawood.
177Abu Daawood & Baihaqi with a good sanad.
178Tayaalisi, Ahmad & Ibn Abi Shaibah. About
iq`aa', Abu `Ubaidah and others said, "It is when a man presses his buttocks
against the ground, keeps his shins upright, and leans his hands on the ground,
the way a dog does." This is different to the iq`aa' between sajdahs, which is
approved in the Sunnah, as covered previously.
179Muslim, Abu `Awaanah & others. It is given in
Irwaa' (316).
180Muslim & Abu `Awaanah.
181Abu Daawood & Nasaa'i with a saheeh sanad. It is
as though the meaning is that he would not separate his elbows from his side,
as Ibn al-Qayyim has elucidated in Zaad al-Ma`aad.
182Baihaqi & Haakim , who declared it saheeh and
Dhahabi agreed. It is given, as well as the next one, in Irwaa' (380).
183Ahmad & Abu Daawood with a good isnaad.
184`Abdur Razzaaq; `Abdul Haqq declared it saheeh in his
Ahkaam (no. 1284 - with my checking).
185Muslim, Abu `Awaanah & Ibn Khuzaimah. Humaidi
(13/1) and Abu Ya`laa (275/2) added with a saheeh sanad on the authority of Ibn
`Umar: "and this is the shooting of the devil; no-one will forget when he does
this", and Humaidi raised his finger. Humaidi also said that Muslim bin Abi
Maryam said, "A man related to me that in a church in Syria, he saw images of
Prophets depicted like this", and Humaidi raised his finger. This is an
extremely strange remark, but its sanad up to "the man" is saheeh.
186Muslim & Abu `Awaanah.
187Abu Daawood, Nasaa'i, Ibn al-Jaarood in
al-Muntaqaa (208), Ibn Khuzaimah (1/86/1-2) & Ibn Hibbaan in his
Saheeh (485) with a saheeh sanad. Ibn al-Mulaqqin also declared it saheeh
(28/2), and it has a supporting narration in Ibn `Adi (287/1).
188ibid. About "supplicating with it", Imaam Tahaawi
said, "This is evidence that it was at the end of the prayer." Hence, there is
evidence in this that the Sunnah is to continue pointing and moving the finger
until the tasleem, for the supplication is until then. This is the view of
Maalik and others. Imaam Ahmad was asked, "Should a man point with his finger
during prayer?" He replied, "Yes, vigorously." (Mentioned by Ibn Haani in his
Masaa'il of Imaam Ahmad, 1/80). From this, it is clear that moving
the finger in tashahhud is a proven sunnah of the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi
wa sallam), and it was practised by Ahmad and other imaams of the Sunnah.
Therefore, those who think that it is pointless and irrelevant and has nothing
to do with the Prayer, should fear Allaah, since because of this, they do not
move their fingers although they know it to be an established sunnah; and they
take great pains to interpret it in a way which is inconsistent with the
`Arabic way of expression and contrary to the understanding of the imaams with
regard to it.
The amazing thing is that some of them will defend an imaam on other issues,
even if his opinion conflicts with the Sunnah, with the argument that to point
out the imaam's mistakes inevitably means to taunt and disrespect him. They
then forget this and reject this established sunnah, at the same time mocking
at those who practise it. Whether or not they realise it, their mockery also
includes those imaams whom they often defend wrongly, and who are correct about
the Sunnah this time! In fact, they are deriding the Prophet (sallallaahu
`alaihi wa sallam) himself, for he is the one who brought us this sunnah, and
so jeering at it is equivalent to jeering at him. << But what is the
reward for those among you who behave like this except ... >>
As for putting the finger down after pointing, or limiting the movement to the
affirmation (saying laa ilaaha: 'there is no god ...') and negation
(saying: illallaahu: '... except Allaah'), all of that has no basis in
the Sunnah; in fact, it is contrary to the Sunnah, as this hadeeth proves.
Further, the hadeeth that he would not move his finger does not have an
authentic isnaad, as I have explained in Da`eef Abi Daawood (175).
Even if it were authentic, it is negatory, while the hadeeth above is
affirmatory: the affirmatory takes precedence over the negatory, as is
well-known among the scholars.
189Ahmad, Bazzaar, Abu Ja`far al-Bukhteeri in
al-Amaali (60/1), `Abdul Ghani al-Maqdisi in his Sunan (12/2) with a
hasan sanad, Rooyaani in his Musnad (249/2) & Baihaqi .
190Ibn Abi Shaibah (2/123/2) with a hasan sanad.
191Ibn Abi Shaibah (12/40/1, 2/123/2) & Nasaa'i .
Haakim declared it saheeh and Dhahabi agreed, and there is a supporting
narration for it in Ibn Abi Shaibah.
192Nasaa'i & Baihaqi with a saheeh sanad.
193Muslim & Abu `Awaanah.
194Baihaqi transmitted it as a narration from `Aa'ishah
with a good isnaad, as verified by Ibn al-Mulaqqin (28/2).
195Bukhaari & Muslim. It is given in Irwaa'
al-Ghaleel (338).
196Nasaa'i, Ahmad & Tabaraani in Mu`jam
al-Kabeer (3/25/1) with a saheeh sanad. The literal meaning of the
hadeeth is evidence for the validity of supplication in every tashahhud, even
the one not adjacent to the tasleem, and this is the view of Ibn Hazm
(rahimahullaah).
197Nasaa'i with a saheeh sanad.
198Bukhaari & Muslim.
199Abu Daawood & Haakim , who declared it saheeh and
Dhahabi agreed.
200Ar. tahiyyaat, i.e. "all words which imply
peace, sovereignty and eternity, are due to Allaah." (Nihaayah)
201Ar. salawaat, i.e. "all supplications which
are used to glorigy the majesty of Allaah, for He is fully entitled to them,
and none but Him is worthy of them." (Nihaayah)
202Ar. tayyibaat, i.e. "all good and pure words
suitable for praising Allaah, not those ones incompatible with his attributes
with which kings were greeted." (Fath al-Baari)
203meaning seeking of refuge with Allaah and being
strengthened by him, since as-Salaam (Peace) is actually a name of
Allaah. Hence, the greeting effectively means: Allaah be a watcher and
safeguard over you. Similarly, it is said, "Allaah be with you", i.e. in His
safeguarding, help and favour.
204A term for all the good continuously emanating from
Allaah.
205Bukhaari, Muslim, Ibn Abi Shaibah (1/90/2), Siraaj
& Abu Ya`laa in his Musnad (258/2). It is given in Irwaa'
(321).
Ibn Mas`ood's statement, "We said: Peace be on the Prophet" clarifies that the
Companions (radi Allaahu `anhum) used to say, "Peace be on you, O Prophet" in
tashahhud while the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) was alive, but when
he died, they ceased to do that, instead saying, "Peace be on the Prophet".
Undoubtedly, this was with the endorsement of the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi
wa sallam); this is supported by the fact that `Aa'ishah (radi Allaahu `anhaa)
would similarly teach the tashahhud in prayer with "Peace be on the Prophet",
as transmitted by Siraaj in his Musnad (9/1/2) & Mukhlis in
al-Fawaa'id (11/54/1) with two saheeh isnaads from her.
Ibn Hajar says, "This addition shows clearly that they used to say 'Peace be on
you, O Prophet', addressing him directly during his life, but when the Prophet
(sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) died, they stopped addressing him and mentioned
him in the third person instead, saying 'Peace be on the Prophet'." He also
says in a different place, "Subki said in Sharh al-Minhaaj, after
mentioning this narration from Abu `Awaanah only, 'If this is
authentically-reported from the Companions, it proves that after his time, it
is not compulsory to address the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam)
directly in the greeting of peace, so one says: Peace be on the Prophet.' (Ibn
Hajar continues:) This is authentic without doubt (i.e. because it is
established in Sahih al-Bukhaari ), and I have also found strong support for
it:- `Abdur Razzaaq said: Ibn Juraij informed me: `Ataa' informed me that the
Companions used to say 'Peace be on you, O Prophet' while the Prophet
(sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) was alive, but after he died, they would say
'Peace be on the Prophet', and this is a saheeh isnaad. As for Sa`eed bin
Mansoor's narration from Abu `Ubaidah bin `Abdullaah bin Mas`ood, who reported
from his father that the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) taught them
the tashahhud, and then he (`Abdullaah bin Mas`ood) said it (the tashahhud);
Ibn `Abbaas said: We used to say 'Peace be on you, O Prophet' only while he was
alive, to which Ibn Mas`ood replied, 'This is how we were taught, and this is
how we teach it', it would appear that Ibn `Abbaas said this as a matter of
discussion but Ibn Mas`ood did not accept. However, the narration of Abu
Ma`mar (i.e. the narration of Bukhaari ) is more authentic, since Abu `Ubaidah
did not hear (ahaadeeth) from his father, and furthermore, the isnaad up to Abu
`Ubaidah is weak." (End of quote from Ibn Hajar)
These words of Ibn Hajar have been quoted by several scholars in their
analysis, e.g. Qastalaani, Zarqaani, Lucknowi, etc. They all chose to give his
words without commenting further. This discussion is treated more fully in
al-Asl.
206Muslim, Abu `Awaanah, Shaafi`i & Nasaa'i .
207see next note.
208These two additions have been proved to be part of the
tashahhud from the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam). Ibn `Umar did not
add them of his own accord (far is he above such a thing! ); in fact, he
learnt them from other Companions who reported them from the Prophet
(sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam), and he then added them to the tashahhud which
he heard from the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) directly.
209Abu Daawood & Daaraqutni, who declared it
saheeh.
210Muslim, Abu `Awaanah, Abu Daawood & Ibn Maajah.
211Maalik & Baihaqi with saheeh isnaads. Although
this hadeeth is mawqoof, it is effectively marfoo`, for it is
known that this sort of thing is not said from personal opinion, since it were
so, it would be no better than any other sayings of dhikr, as Ibn
`Abdul Barr has said.
*NB: In none of the types of tashahhud is there the addition: wa
maghfiratuhu (... "and His forgiveness"), so one should not be accustomed
to it. Hence some of the Salaf rebuked it, as the following narrations show:
Tabaraani (3/56/1) reported with a saheeh isnaad from Talhah bin Musarrif, who
said: Rabee` bin Khaitham added during tashahhud, "... and His blessings,
and His forgiveness"! So `Alqamah said, "We stop where we were
taught: Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and also the mercy of Allaah and His
blessings"; `Alqamah was actually following the example of his teacher
`Abdullaah bin Mas`ood (radi Allaahu `anhu), from whom it is
authentically-reported that he was teaching a man the tashahhud: when he got
to "I bear witness that there is no (true) god except Allaah ...", the man
said: "alone, He has no partner", to which `Abdullaah said, "He is so, but we
stop at where we were taught." (Transmitted by Tabaraani in Mu`jam
al-Awsat, no. 2848, with a saheeh isnaad.)
212Abu `Awaanah in his Saheeh (2/324) & Nasaa'i .
213They had said, "O Messenger of Allaah, we have been
taught how to send peace on you (i.e. in tashahhud), but how do we send prayers
on you? He said, "Say: O Allaah! send prayers on Muhammad ..." etc. Thus he
did not specify one tashahhud to the exclusion of another, so there is evidence
here to establish sending prayers on him in the first tashahhud also. This is
the way of Imaam Shaafi`i, as in the text of his book al-Umm, and it
is held to be correct by his companions, as Nawawi has explained in
al-Majmoo` (3/460) and supported in Rawdah Taalibeen (1/263).
It is also the view of Wazeer bin Hubairah al-Hanbali in al-Ifsaah, as Ibn
Rajab ha quoted and strongly supported in Dhail Tabaqaat (1/280).
Many ahaadeeth exist about sending prayers on him (sallallaahu `alaihi wa
sallam) in tashahhud; in none of them is there any such specification
mentioned. In fact, these ahaadeeth are general, hence including every
tashahhud, and I have given them in al-Asl as ta`leeq, but not in the main
text, for they do not satisfy our conditions for authenticity. However, they
do support each other in meaning, and those who reject and oppose this have no
authentic evidence to use as proof, as I have detailed in al-Asl.
Similarly, to say that adding anything to "O Allaah! send prayers on Muhammad"
is makrooh has no basis in the Sunnah, nor is there any convincing proof for
it. In fact, we see that whoever says this does not implement the previous
instruction of the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam), "Say: O Allaah!
send prayers on Muhammad, and on the family of Muhammad ..." ; there is more
to this discussion in al-Asl.
214One of the earliest views about the meaning of
"sending prayers on the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam)" is that of Abu
al-`Aaliyah (with reference to Surah al-Ahzaab, 33:56), "Allaah's sending
prayers on his Prophet means His exalting him and raising his rank; the
angels' and others' sending prayers means their seeking this from Allaah, and
here it is meant asking the prayers to be increased, not asking for the
original prayer in itself." Ibn Hajar quoted this in Fath al-Baari,
and went on to refute the widespread notion that the Lord's prayer on someone
is His Mercy; Ibn al-Qayyim also clarified this in Jalaa' al-Afhaam,
leaving little scope for further comment.
215from barakah: growth, increase. Hence this
supplication secures for Muhammad the good which Allaah granted to the family
of Ibraaheem, continual, established good, as well as its multiplying and
increase.
216Ahmad & Tahaawi with a saheeh sanad.
217see next note.
218These two additions are conclusively found in
Bukhaari, Tahaawi, Baihaqi, Ahmad & Nasaa'i . They also exist via
different routes of narration in other types of this supplication (see nos.
3,7), and so do not be confused by Ibn al-Qayyim's view in Jalaa'
al-Afhaam (p. 198), following in the footsteps of his great teacher Ibn
Taymiyyah in al-Fataawaa (1/16), "There is no authentic hadeeth with
the phrases 'Ibraaheem' and 'the family of Ibraaheem' together"; here, we have
shown you such authentic ahaadeeth. Ibn al-Qayyim's error is further
established by the fact that he himself declared no. 7 saheeh, which contains
what he denied above!
219Bukhaari, Muslim, Humaidi (138/1) & Ibn Mandah
(68/2), who said, "There is consensus on this hadeeth being authentic."
220Ahmad, Nasaa'i & Abu Ya`laa in his Musnad (44/2)
with a saheeh sanad.
221Muslim, Abu `Awaanah, Ibn Abi Shaibah (2/132/1) &
Abu Daawood; Haakim declared it saheeh.
222Bukhaari, Nasaa'i, Tahaawi, Ahmad & Ismaa`eel
al-Qaadi in Fadl as-Salaah `alaa Nabi sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam
(p. 28 1st ed., p. 62 2nd ed. with my checking).
223Bukhaari, Muslim & Nasaa'i.
224Nasaa'i, Tahaawi, Abu Sa`eed bin al-`Arabi in
al-Mu`jam (79/2) with a saheeh sanad. Ibn al-Qayyim gave its source
as Muhammad bin Ishaaq as-Siraaj in Jalaa' al-Afhaam (pp. 14-15) and
then declared it saheeh. This wording includes both 'Ibraaheem' and 'the
family of Ibraaheem', something overlooked by both Ibn al-Qayyim & his
teacher Ibn Taymiyyah, as explained above.
225 Abu Daawood & Ahmad with a saheeh isnaad.
226 a famous grammarian and scholar of the `Arabic
language of the second century AH.
227which is preserved in the Zaahiriyyah Library in
Damascus.
228 Nasaa'i, Ahmad & Tabaraani with various isnaads
from Ibn Mas`ood - the details are given in as-Saheehah (878) - and
there is a supporting hadeeth of Ibn az-Zubair in Majma` az-Zawaa'id
(2/142).
229Bukhaari & Muslim.
230Abu Ya`laa in his Musnad (284/2) with a good isnaad.
It is given in Silsilah al-Ahaadeeth as-Saheehah (604).
231Bukhaari & Abu Daawood.
232ibid.
233Abu `Awaanah & Nasaa'i with a saheeh sanad.
234literally, "as one who kneads dough."
235Harbi in Ghareeb al-Hadeeth; its meaning is
found in Bukhaari and Abu Daawood. As for the hadeeth, he forbade that a man
should support himself with his hand when getting up during prayer", it is
munkar and not authentic, as I have explained in Silsilah
al-Ahaadeeth ad-Da`eefah (967).
236Qunoot: carries several meanings, e.g.
humility, devotion. What is meant here is the special supplication while
standing during prayer.
237Bukhaari & Ahmad.
238ibid.
239Ahmad & Tabaraani with a saheeh sanad. To raise
the hands in qunoot is the madhhab of Ahmad and also Ishaaq bin Raahawaih, cf.
Marwazi's Masaa'il (p. 23). As for wiping the face with the hands, it
is not reported in this position, and is thus an innovation; as for outside of
prayer, it is not authentically-reported: all that has been transmitted in this
regard is either weak or very weak, as I have shown in Da`eef Abi
Daawood (262) & Silsilah al-Ahaadeeth as-Saheehah (597).
This is why `Izz bin `Abd as-Salaam said in one of his fatwas, "Only an
ignorant person does it." See Appendix 8.
240Abu Daawood & Siraaj ; Haakim declared it saheeh, and
Dhahabi & others agreed.
241Abu Daawood, Siraaj & Daaraqutni with two hasan
sanads.
242Ibn Khuzaimah in his Saheeh (1/78/2) & Khateeb in
Kitaab al-Qunoot with a saheeh sanad.
243Bukhaari & Ahmad; the addition is in Muslim.
244Nasaa'i, Ahmad, Siraaj (109/1) & Abu Ya`laa in
his Musnad with a good sanad.
245Ibn Nasr & Daaraqutni with a saheeh sanad.
246We have said, "... sometimes" because the Companions
who narrated the Witr prayer did not mention the qunoot in it, whereas had the
Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) done so always, they would have all
mentioned it. However, Ubayy ibn Ka`b alone narrated the qunoot in Witr, so
this shows that he used to do it sometimes. Hence, this is evidence that
qunoot in Witr is not obligatory (waajib), and this is the opinion of the
majority of scholars. For this reason, the researching Hanafi scholar, Ibn
al-Humaam, recognised in Fath al-Qadeer (1/306,359,360) that the view
of it being obligatory is feeble and not substantiated by evidence. This shows
his fairness and lack of party-spirit, for this view which he has supported is
contrary to his madhhab !
247Ibn Abi Shaibah (12/41/1), Abu Daawood, Nasaa'i in
Sunan al-Kubraa (218/1-2), Ahmad, Tabaraani, Baihaqi & Ibn
`Asaakir (4/244/2) narrated this, along with the supplication after it, with a
saheeh sanad. Ibn Mandah narrated the supplication only in
Tawheed (70/2) with a different, hasan sanad. Its takhreej is
also given in Irwaa' (426).