Should I Avoid Raising My Hands When Praying With Hanafis? [Shafi’i]

Answered by Shaykh Abdurragmaan Khan

Question: Assalam alaykum,

I am extremely grateful for this platform which gives me the option of asking questions regarding fiqh. May Allah reward you for the inconvenience I am causing you by asking several questions.

1. When I pray in my local mosque, who is Hanafi, in order to avoid any dispute, I avoid raising my hands during the prayer despite being Shafi’i. Am I right?

2. If I miss a raka’ah (cycle) with the Imam, do I raise my hands behind the Imam after his first tashahhud?

3. In my makeup prayer of Fajr should I perform the qunut?

Answer: Wa alaykum salam

May Allah reward you. Your question does not inconvenience any of the SeekersGuidance instructors in anyway. Rather, it affords us the opportunity to learn – by consulting the classical texts – and causes many of the other seekers to benefit.

Question 1:

Raf’ al-yadayn or raising one’s hands is a strongly encouraged sunnah according to the Shafi’is, the omittance of which is considered reprehensible (makruh). [Nayl al-Raja]

Living in a Hanafi community should not be the cause that you leave out this important sunnah. We need to appreciate that ALL schools of law are based on the Quran and Sunnah. When the Hanafi school does not make raf’ al-yadayn, we respect there position which is based on the hadith of the great companion AbduLlah ibn Mas’ud; similarly Hanafis should respect the position of the Shafi’is which is based on many authentic Prophetic traditions.

If however, the raising of your hands in prayer, will definitely lead to debate and quarreling, and the members of the masjid will not be tolerant of you raising your hands, then it might be better not to do so. Avoiding fitnah in a community is considered a general welfare (maslahah ammah); while raising your hands in prayer would be considered a personal one. General welfare receives precedence over personal welfare. In this instance however, you should consider speaking to the Imam of the masjid about this intolerance, so that it could be addressed over a period of time.

Question 2:

The four areas where one raises his hands in the Shafi’i school are four. 1. When entering Salah, 2. When bowing, 3. When rising from bowing, and 4. When rising from the first tashahhud. Some Shafi’i scholars included a 5th. They considered it recommended to raise ones hands when rising from a sajdah (into his 2nd or 4th raka’ah), especially when rising from the sitting of rest (jalsah al-istirahah). In his Bushra al-Karim, Sa’id bin Muhammad Ba’Ishn, supported this position as it is established in an authentic hadith and also alluded to by Imam al-Shafi’i. Thus, when you missed a raka’ah, you may raise your hands when rising from the tashahhud of your Imam, not because it’s considered a first tashahhud for you, but because of the discussion above.

Question 3:

Qunut should be made in the fajr prayer, even when made-up later.

Wassalam
[Shaykh] Abdurragmaan Khan

Shaykh Abdurragmaan received ijazah ’ammah from various luminaries, including but not restricted to: Habib Umar ibn Hafiz—a personality who affected him greatly and who has changed his relationship with Allah, Maulana Yusuf Karaan—the former Mufti of Cape Town; Habib ‘Ali al-Mashhur—the current Mufti of Tarim; Habib ‘Umar al-Jaylani—the Shafi‘i Mufti of Makkah; Sayyid Ahmad bin Abi Bakr al-Hibshi; Habib Kadhim as-Saqqaf; Shaykh Mahmud Sa’id Mamduh; Maulana Abdul Hafiz al-Makki; Shaykh Ala ad-Din al-Afghani; Maulana Fazlur Rahman al-Azami and Shaykh Yahya al-Gawthani amongst others.