The Duration of Time Spent in the Standing Position

After completely standing from rukūʿ, the praying person should then descend into sujūd. The duration of time that a person should spend in the standing position before this descent is clarified in the ḥadīth of al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib (رضي الله عنه). This ḥadīth proves that the duration of this standing should be roughly equal to the amount of time the person spent in rukūʿ, as al-Barāʾ ibn Āzib (رضي الله عنه) said: “I looked closely at the ṣalāh performed with Muḥammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and found the duration of his standing, his rukūʿ, his standing from his rukūʿ, his sujūd, his sitting between the sajdatayn, his [second] sajdah, and his sitting between saying the taslīm and leaving [the place of prayer] all almost equal to one another”.

In consideration of this, the Sunnah narrated from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) in this regard is to lengthen the duration of this pillar of the ṣalāh; that is, the duration one stands after the rukūʿ before descending into sujūd. This is contrary to those who stand very briefly, to the extent that they do not give themselves the opportunity to settle in the standing position or find stability therein—which we have observed from some of the people who will begin descending to the sujūd immediately after standing from rukūʿ. The ṣalāh of those who pray in this way is invalid because they have abandoned a pillar from among the pillars of ṣalāh. When the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) saw a man praying without attaining stability in the positions of ṣalāh (who had prayed in this way three times), he (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said to him after each time: “Return and pray [again], for indeed you have not prayed”.¹

The pillars of standing after the rukū and sitting between the sajdatayn have commonly become defective due to the deficiency in the ṣalāh of the Muslim.

Shaykh al-Islām (رحمه الله) said:

This was the habit of some of the rulers of Banī Umayyah who never used to lengthen the duration of these two pillars. The people found themselves adopting the religion of their rulers such that they began adopting the same habit of extreme brevity in these two pillars. To the extent that people began to think that this is the Sunnah, leading to the complete death of the actual Sunnah, with people on the verge of or completely objecting to those who practise it. The situation has worsened such that should a person lengthen the duration of these two pillars when praying, the people around him surmise that he has either forgotten that he is in ṣalāh or that he has only done so mistakenly out of mindlessness.

Considering this, when the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) performed Ṣṣalāt al-Kusūf [The Eclipse Prayer], he used to stand for a longer duration of time upon rising from the rukūʿ.

Invocations Made in the Standing Position

[Q]: What should one say when pausing in this period of standing after the rukūʿ?

[A]: If he has memorised the invocations made by the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) in this position, he should say them. Otherwise, he should repeat the ḥamd [praising Allāh] because the fundamental remembrance attributable to this pillar of standing after the rukūʿ is ḥamd. It would also be sufficient for a person to say:

لربي الحمد²
Lirabbī al-Ḥamd
To my Lord belongs all praise.

Or:

ربي ولك الحمد
Rabbī wa-lak-al-Ḥamd
My Lord! And to You belong all praise.

The Timing of the Takbīr of Descension into Sajdah

As for the takbīr that is made upon one’s descent from the standing position into sajdah, it should be said as a person moves from the standing position into sajdah. This is the case for all the takbīrāt of moving in the ṣalāh, as previously discussed.

Raising the Hands Before Descending to Sajdah

As for raising the hands [again] before descending into the sajdah, it is not from the Sunnāh. [There is the narration of] Ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنه) who was among the most scrupulous, erudite companions in adherence to the Sunnah, extremely attentive to practising it with precision and correctness. It is authentically confirmed in al-Ṣaḥīḥayn that: “the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) used to raise his hands when saying the takbīrat al-iḥrām [the first takbīr of the ṣalāh], and when saying the takbīr to descend into the rukūʿ, and when rising from it. However, he would not raise them for the sajdah”.³ That is, when descending for sajdah or rising from it. This companion recorded this Sunnah with precision, elaborated on it in detail with clarity. This does not represent a mere negation only, rather it may be used as evidence to confirm the abandonment of this particular act. As this companion inspected the ṣalāh of the Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم), recording the manner in which he said the takbīr and raised his hands upon entering the ṣalāh, then upon performing the rukūʿ, then upon rising from it. He confirms the takbīr accompanied by raising of the hands in three places, negating it upon descent into sajdah and upon rising from it. Therefore, it is not from the Sunnah for one to raise his hands when descending into or rising up from the sajdah.

It was also narrated that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) used to raise his hands whenever descending or ascending from one position to another in ṣalāh.⁴ However, Ibn al-Qayyim views this wording of the narration to be mistaken and that its correct form is: “He used to say the takbīr with every ascension or descension”.^{5 6} This mistake is made plainly evident in consideration of the aforementioned ḥadīth of Ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنهما) which explicitly negates raising of the hands when descending into sajdah and when ascending from it. This is not an issue in which the judicial rule of “the one who confirms an action must be given precedence over the one who negates it”, as there is no actual contradiction between that which has been confirmed and negated here. This is because that which has been negated possesses the same strength of argument as that which has been confirmed. To clarify this, the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنهما) consists of the description and elaboration of a particular act. To the extent that he has stated explicitly that it consisted of particular aspects which have been confirmed, and has similarly explicitly stated that it does not consist of others which he has specifically negated. There is a clear difference between a general, implied negation and a negation that has been elaborated upon, whose meaning has been fully expounded and clarified. This latter, elaborate type of negation proves that the narrator has paid due care and attention to the minute intricacies of the act he narrates such that he has arrived at a state in which he is able to confirm raising the hands in certain instances and not raising them in others. Taking this into account, we may conclude: The ḥadīth of Ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنهما)—which has been authentically confirmed in al-Bukhārī and Muslim—should be given precedence over this other weak ḥadīth whose wording is quite likely incorrect anyways.

[Q]: What is the difference between descending into rukūʿ and descending into sajdah [such that you raise your hands in the former rather than the latter]? Would both not be considered a general descension from a higher position to a lower one?

[A]: Of course, but all acts of worship are considered tawqīfī (not subject to personal opinion, reasoning or logic; performed exactly as described in the Sunnah). As such, acts of worship should not be analogised with one another. For if analogization applied to acts of worship, people would completely abandon the order, methodology and discipline with which these acts should be performed, every person analogising the manner in which they worship in accordance with their own desires, or in accordance with an analogy they believe to be sound. This will also lead to disunity among the Muslims with regards to the way they perform acts of worship, by which they seek closeness to Allāh—the Exalted in Might.

Endnotes:
[1] Authentic: narrated by Muslim: 397.
[2] Authentic: narrated by Abū Dāwūd: 874 and graded authentic by Shaykh al-Albānī in Ṣaḥīḥ Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 817.
[3] Authentic: narrated by al-Bukhārī: 735.
[4] Weak: narrated by al-Ṭaḥāwī in al-Mushkil: 5831 and graded weak by Ibn al-Qayyim in Zād al-Maʿād 1:252 and al-Ṭaḥāwī in al-Mushkil.
[5] Authentic: narrated by al-Tirmidhī: 253 and graded authentic by Shaykh al-Albānī in Ṣaḥīḥ Sunan al-Nasāʿī: 1038.
[6] See Zād al-Maʿād 1:215.

Source: Al-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ 3:104-108
Translated by: Riyāḍ al-Kanadī