Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Raising hands for the qunoot of Witr Prayer

Question: Where can we find this hadeeth:
"The hands should not be raised, but on seven occasions, when reciting the Takbeer-e-Tahreemah, for the Takbeer of Qunoot,Takbeer of Al Eid and 4 places in Hajj"

Is this the proove for raising the hands for Qunoot? What proofs are more for raise hands before Qunoot please mention these..

Answer: This is close to a saying of Ibrahim Al-Nakha^iy, the teacher of Abu Hanifa's teacher, and the inheritor of Ibn Mas^uud's teachings. It is not to be found as a hadith. However, it states "The hands are raised", without the "should not be raised but on."
 
There are other hadiths for raising one's hands in Qunuut. For example, Al-Nasaa'iy narrated that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) used to say the qunuut before rukuu^. Raising the hands for Qunuut in witr has been narrated by Ibn Mas^uud also. Al-Tahaawiy mentions that all those who said that qunuut in Witr is before rukuu^ agreed that one raises the hands for it. He then added that this is a takbiirah that is additional to the prayer, like the takbiirahs of Eid, thus the back of one's hands should point to one's face when lifting the hands.