Question
If I may I would like to ask a few brief questions, as I am new to the Shafi mazhaab & finding some confusions. When reciting the qunut in Fajr salaat one local Imam (who is Shafi) says that this is a bidah to turn the palms of the hands during the dua & should not be done. Although in Imam Nawawi’s (RA) Muqadis translated by Sheikh Nuh (QS) it states to do this even in Reliance of the Traveler it also states this. Can you please clarify this for me?
Q2: This same Imam also says that it is a bidah to raise the hands (rafa dayaan) when raising from the tashadud into the 3rd rakaat.
Q3: When we pray behind an Imam (regardless of their mazhab) do we only recite Al-Fatiha in all rakaat’s?
Answer:
Alaykum Salam,
It is established in the hadith of Anas in Sahih Muslim that the Prophet (upon him blessings and peace) turned his palms downwards during his du`a of istisqa‘, and it is also related in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad that whenever the Prophet (upon him blessings and peace) raised his hands in dua and sought refuge from affliction he would turn his palms downwards, as in Ibn Hajar’s Talkhis al-Habir:
احمد من حديث خلاد بن
السائب عن ابيه ان النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم كان إذا سال جعل باطن
كفيه إليه وإذا استعاذ جعل ظاهرهما إليه.
Hence al-Nawawi in al-Majmu` said: “al-Rafi`i said: The ulema of Ahl al-Sunna said that when asking protection from afflictions one should turn the palms downwards, and when asking for blessings, upwards toward heaven.” And in Tuhfat al-Muhtaj: Yusann (it is sunna). As for Q2 it was also stipulated by Imam al-Nawawi that one raises the hands when rising for the 3rd rakaat, but leaving that is not disliked. For Q3 we recite al-Fatiha minimum but we can recite more.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
