Keeping hands straight or crossed
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa
Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked
this question:
Dear
As-salamalaiykum
I would like to know keeping hands straight is correct or cross is also allowed
during prayers.
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
Keeping hands straight or crossed
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask
for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever
He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that
there is no one (no idol, no person,
no grave, no prophet, no
imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah
Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the
seal of His Messengers.
The act of offering prayers is something the Messenger of
Allah (saws) did in public for tens of thousands of times in front of tens of
thousands of his companions. There
are at least twenty authentic narrations from various witnesses who witnessed
that the Messenger of Allah (saws) would cross his right hand over his left
while standing in his prayers.
Fiqh-us-Sunnah Fiqh 1.131
Said Sahl ibn Sa'd, "The people were
ordered to place their right hand on their left forearm during prayers." (Related by Bukhari and Muslim)
Al-Hafez related that the Prophet (saws) said,
"All prophets have been ordered to hasten the breaking of the fast and to
delay the (pre-fast dawn) meal, and to place our right hands on our left during
prayer."
Jabir narrated that "The Prophet (saws) passed by a man
praying with his left hand over his right, and (the Prophet (saws)) pulled them
away and put his right over his left." (Related by
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to
Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me
alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and
He is the Only Source of Strength.
Your brother and well wisher in
Islam,
Burhan
Wister