HADITH OF ALI r.

a ON RAF UL YADAIN
The following is hadeeth is usually quoted as one of the evidences of not doing raf: Aasim Bin Kulaib narrated from his father (Kulaib Jarmi) who said "Ali (radhiyallahu anhu) would raise his hands in the first Takbeer of Salaat. Thereafter he would not raise his hands." My refutation is as follows: This hadeeth with this sanad has been collected and commented by the imams I will mention below. It is not fair to just simply quote a hadeeth and claim it must be authentic. We should always read their comments when available. So this hadeeth has been rejected by the following scholars, imams of hadeeth: Al Bukhari, Al Shafei, Sufyan Al Thawri, Al Baihaqi, Al Daarimi, Ahmad bin Hambal and Ibn Mulaqqan (rahimahumAllah). The details are as follows; From Juz Raf Al Bukhari: QUOTE <<And Abu Bakr Al-Nahshali narrated with the Isnad of, An Aasim bin Kulaib, An Abeeh, that Verily Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) raised his hands in he beginning of the prayer, then He did not do it. Imam ShafiI said: Wa laa Yasbut [sunan al-Baihaqi 81/2]. Imam Bukhari continues And the Hadith of Ubaidullah (of doing rafa yadain) is more Authentic, Moreover, In this Hadith of Kulaib the doing of Rafa Yadain is not mentioned. And the Hadith of Ubaidullah (of doing rafa yadain) is Witness. Hence, if two people narrate from a Muhaddith. If One (of them) says: I say, He has done this, and the other says, I have not seen him doing this. So the one who said, that I have seen him doing it, is the witness, and the one who said that, He has not done this work, He is not the witness because He did not preserve it. And Similarly, when Bilal said: I have seen Nabi (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) performing salah in the Kabah, and Al-Fadal bin Abbas said: He (pbuh) did not pray in the Kabah, so people took the saying of Bilal who was the witness, and leave the saying of the other person, who said: He (pbuh) did not pray in the Kabah, because this person did not preserve it. And Abdurrehman bin Mahdi said: I presented the Hadith of Al-Nahshali from Aasim bin Kulaib, to Sufyaan ath-Thawri, He rejected it. >> END OF QUOTE From Al Kubra Al Baihaqi: QUOTE<< Asim narrates from his father who narrates from Ali (ra) that he used to raise his hands only in the initial takbir and did not (raise) afterwards [Imam Baihaqi in Sunnan al-Kubra, Volume No. 2, Page No. 80, Published by Maktaba Dar al Baaz] Imam Uthman bin Saeed Ad Darimi said This Tareeq is weak from Ali, It is narrated from Abdul Rahman bin Harmaz al-Araj from Obaidullah bin abi Rafi from Ali he said: I saw Prophet peace be upon him raised his hands in rukoo and after that , he did same when he raised his head from rukoo.... Baihaqi continues, he said Zafrani said that Imam Shafiee said This is not proven from Ali and Ibne Masood....Imam Shafee May Allah be pleased with him said the narration of Asim bin Kulaib from his father from Ali. This is narrated from (same) Asim bin Kulaib from his Father from Wail bin Hujr that Prophet peace be upon him raised his hands, same is narrated from Ibne Umar.>> END OF QUOTE Imam Ahmad rejected this narration from Ali in [Masail e Ahmad Vol Page 343], Ibne Malaqqan said weak, it can not be taken as evidence [Al Badar al Maneer 3/499]

Therefore, we have narrations from Ali radiAllhuanhu that prove RAF and are not rejected by the scholars. From Juz Raf Al Bukhari: Ismaeel bin Abi Awais narrated to us, Ibn Abi Zanad narrated to us, from Moosa bin Uqbah, from Abdullah bin al-Fadal, from Abdurrehman bin Hurmuz al-Araj, from Ubaidullah bin Abi Raafi, from Ali bin Abi Taalib (May Allah be pleased with him), Verily whenever Rasulullah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) used to stand up for a Fard (obligatory) prayer, He used to say Takbeer, and used to raise his hands up to his shoulders, and when he would about to go to ruku, hed do the same, and when hed rise up from ruku (Hed do the same), and when he would be sitting in his prayer he wont do rafa yadain, and when he used to stand up after two Sujud (Two Units), he would do rafa yadain and say Takbeer. And also: it was narrated from Ali ibn Abi Taalib (may Allaah be pleased with him) that when the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) stood up to offer an obligatory prayer, he would say takbeer and raise his hands up to his shoulders, and he would do that when he had finished his recitation and wanted to bow, and he would do it when he rose from bowing, but he did not raise his hands at any point during his prayer when he was sitting, but when he stood up after Sajdatain (two prostrations/two Rakah) he would raise his hands likewise and say takbeer.[Ibne Majah hadeeth no: 864 chapter raising hands in rukoo and after rukoo] and this is the chain: . This hadeeth is Authenticated by Ibne Khuzaimah in his saheeh no: 584, Muhaqqiq of Ibne Khuzaimah Shaykh Mustafa Azami said chain is hasan, Tirmidhee said this hadeeth is hasan saheeh... Abu Ismaeel Tirmidhee: he said I heard from Suleman bin Dawood alHashmi mentioned this hadeeth and said this hadeeth is like the hadeeth of Zuhri from salim from his father (famous hadeeth of Ibne umar doing rafa yadain) Abdul Rahman Mubarakpuri said: meaning this hadeeth is in authentic ahadeeth chain of narrators are strongest.(see Tohfatul Hawdhi Sharah Tirmidhee hadeeth no:3423), Muhaqqiq of Ibne Majah shaykh Zubair Ali zai said chain is hasan and authenticated by Tirmidhee,Ahmad, Ibne Khuzaimah and Ibne Hibban see Ibne Majah hadeeth no: 864 chapter raising hands in rukoo and after rukoo (end), Shaykh Al Albani said Hasan, Shaykh Shoaib Aranoot said in Taleeq Musnad Ahmad Vol 2 Page 123 Hadeeth no: 717 Chain is Hasan Then he quoted Khallal mentioned in Ilal From Ismaeel bin Ishaq Thaqfi that Imam Ahmad was asked about this hadeeth he said Authentic see Nasb al Raya 1/412,Shaykh Ahmad Shakir said Chain is Sahih see Musnad Ahmad Vol 1 Page 479 hadith 717 Furthermore, although the past scholars have rejected the ahadeeth with the chain Asim to Ali, they have accepted other ahadeeth from Asim bin Kulaib proving raf. Ishaaq bin Ibraheem al-Hanzali narrated to us, Muhammad bin Fudail narrated to us, from Aasim bin Kulaib, from Muharib bin Dithaar, He said: I saw Ibn Umar raising his hands before ruku, I asked him about it, He said: Whenever Rasulullah (sallallahu alaihi

wasallam) used to stand up after two rakahs, He would say takbeer, and raise his hands. and Muslim bin Ibraheem narrated to us, Shubah narrated to us, Aasim bin Kulaib narrated to us, from His Father (Kulaib), from Wail bin Hujr al-Hadrami (May Allah be pleased with him): He prayed with the Prophet (peace be upon him). Thus, when He said Takbeer, he raised his hands, and when He intended to bow, He raised his hands. Juz Raf Al Bukhari and authenticated by Imam Ibne Khuzaimah in his Saheeh hadeeth no: 697 and 698 These are the ahadeeth I found with isnaad related to Asim Bin Kulaib and Ali (ra) only and the position of the ulamaa of the past are clear, as shown. The exceptions to the above are as follows: the narration of Ali (RA) i.e Asim bin Kulayb; from his father that Ali used to raise his hands at the first takbir of prayer and then he did not raise them again. is commented by Az-Zaylai who said, it is a sahih narration And I was told of the following comment on the sanad of this Hadith: Badraddin Ayni said: "The isnaad of the Hadith of Aasim Bin Kulaib is saheeh in terms of the conditions of Imaam Muslim." And Imaam Tahaawi said : "that it is not conceivable that Hadhrat Ali (radhiyallahu anhu) would have deliberately abandoned Rafa' Yadain if it was the permanent practice of Rasulullah (Sall Allahu alaihi wa Aalihi wa Sallim). Hence, it is evident that according to Hadhrat Ali (radhiyallahu anhu), the practice of Rafa' Yadain was abrogated." In reply to this, besides the comments from the muhadditheen that this hadeeth is rejected, we also have Al Haafidh Abu al Ala Muhammad al Mubaarakpuri who said: [If we were to accept that this narration is authentic, then it does not constitute evidence to support abrogation [of raising hands at ruku] as at-Tahawi and others think. The author of atTaliq al-Mumjad (i.e. al-Luknawi) from the Hanafi scholars said, at-Tahawi mentioned after this narration from Ali: Ali did not see the Prophet (SAW) raise his hands and then leave acting on it except that its abrogation was established with him. This claim is problematic, for it is possible that the leaving of Ali, and likewise ibn Masud and other Companions, if it is established from them, is because they did not see this action to be a stressed Sunnah, necessitating acting by it. Indeed it is not safe to abrogate an established command of the Prophet (SAW) purely based on good opinion of a Companion when the possibility of reconciling the action of the Messenger (SAW) with the action of the Companion exists. As translated by Abu Rumaysah] And Allah knows best. Compiled by xtaziy Abu Khalid Muhammad