Azami 2076

Narrated by Abu Dawud (840), Nasai (1091), Ahmad (8955), Daraqutni, and Bayhaqi (2/99), all of them through various routes from Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad Darawardi, from Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Hasan, from Abu Zinad, from Araj, from Abu Hurairah, who related it. Its isnad is sahih. Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Hasan is the one known as Nafs Zakiyya Hashimi, and he is reliable, having been declared trustworthy by Nasai and others.Some have criticized this hadith on the grounds that Darawardi transmitted it alone from Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Hasan. I say, his being the sole transmitter does not harm the hadith, since he is reliable. Moreover, he was followed, in substance, by Abdullah bin Nafi, from Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Hasan, in a shortened version with the wording, "Does one of you go down in his prayer the way a camel goes down to kneel." This was narrated by Abu Dawud (841), Nasai (1090), and Tirmidhi (269), all through this route. It carries the sense of a rhetorical question of disapproval. Abdullah bin Nafi is Ibn Abu Nafi Saigh, the freedman of Makhzum, and he is reliable, being among the men cited by Muslim.Bukhari criticized this hadith on the grounds of a break in the chain, saying in his biographical entry on Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Hasan in Tarikh al-Kabir (1391), "Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Hasan is not corroborated in this. I do not know whether he heard from Abu Zinad or not."I say, Bukhari said that based on his well known standard, which requires establishing an actual meeting between narrators. But the majority of scholars disagreed with him, being satisfied with the mere possibility of a meeting together with the narrator being free from the practice of tadlis. Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Hasan was not known for tadlis, and he lived a long time as a contemporary of his teacher Abu Zinad, for he died in the year 145 AH, while his teacher died in the year 130 AH, at which point Muhammad's age was fifty three years. With this the hadith is established as sound.Abdul-Haqq graded it sahih in Ahkam. Nawawi said in Majmu (3/421), "Its isnad is jayyid." He said the same in Khulasa (1284), adding, "Abu Dawud did not declare it daif." Hafiz bin Hajar said in Bulugh Maram, "It is stronger than the hadith of Waail bin Hajar," which follows below.However, Hafiz bin Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, criticized it, saying that this hadith contains an error made by one of the narrators, since its beginning contradicts its end. For if a person places his hands down before his knees, he has indeed gone down the way a camel goes down, since a camel places its front legs down first. When the proponents of this position realized this, they said that the camel's knees are in its front legs, not its hind legs, so when it goes down it places its knees down first, and this is what is being prohibited.Ibn Qayyim then said that this claim is unsound for several reasons. First, when a camel goes down, it places its front legs down first, while its hind legs remain standing. Second, their statement that the camel's knees are in its front legs is something unintelligible and unrecognized by the people of language, for the knee properly belongs to the hind legs, and if the joints in the front legs are called knees, this is only a matter of linguistic extension by way of predominance. Third, if the matter were as they claim, the wording would have been, "Let him go down the way a camel goes down," since the first part of a camel to touch the ground is its front legs.Ibn Qayyim then listed the remaining reasons, ten in total, for preferring the hadith of Waail bin Hajar. See Zad Mad (1/227).The hadith of Waail bin Hajar is, "I saw the Prophet ﷺ, when he prostrated, place his knees down before his hands, and when he rose, he raised his hands before his knees." This was narrated by Abu Dawud (838), whose wording is given here, Tirmidhi (268), Nasai (1089), Ibn Majah (882), Ibn Khuzayma (626), Daraqutni (1307), and Darimi (1/303), all of them through various routes from Yazid bin Harun, who said, Sharik narrated to us, from Asim bin Kulayb, from his father, from Waail bin Hajar, relating the same account.Tirmidhi said, "Hasan gharib. We do not know of anyone else who narrated it in this manner from Sharik." He said, "Hammam narrated from this same Asim in mursal form, without mentioning Waail bin Hajar." I say, Sharik is Ibn Abdullah Najafi, described as truthful but prone to frequent error, his memory having weakened since he took up the judgeship in Kufa, as stated in Taqrib. Perhaps this is among the matters in which he erred. This is why Daraqutni said, "Yazid alone transmitted it from Sharik, and no one narrated it from Asim bin Kulayb except Sharik, and Sharik is not strong in what he narrates alone." Bukhari, Ibn Abu Dawud, and Bayhaqi said the same, namely that Sharik alone transmitted it. Bayhaqi said (2/99), "This hadith is counted among the unique narrations of Sharik the judge, and Hammam only followed him in this from the mursal angle, as Bukhari and other early scholars of hadith have noted." See also Talkhis (1/254).If Sharik cannot be relied upon when he narrates alone, how much less so when he contradicts others. The students of Asim bin Kulayb narrated from him a description of the manner of the Prophet's prayer, ﷺ some of which has already been mentioned, and none of them mentioned what Sharik mentioned.There is another route for this hadith, and it too is flawed. It was narrated by Abu Dawud (839), and from him by Bayhaqi (2/98), from Abdul-Jabbar bin Waail, from his father, that the Prophet ﷺ, describing the manner of prayer, said, "When he prostrated, his knees touched the ground before his palms touched it." However, Abdul-Jabbar did not hear anything directly from his father, as stated by Ibn Main and Bukhari.Another route was narrated by Shaqiq, who said, Asim bin Kulayb narrated to me, from his father, from the Prophet ﷺ, relating the same account, with an addition, "and when he rose, he rose upon his knees and leaned on his thigh." But Shaqiq is unknown.Likewise, what was narrated by Daraqutni (1308) and Hakim (1/226), who graded it sahih according to the standard of the two sheikhs, through the route of Hafs bin Ghiyath, from Asim Ahwal, from Anas, in a hadith containing the words, "then he went down while saying the takbir, and his knees preceded his hands." Daraqutni said, "Ala bin Ismail alone transmitted it from Hafs with this isnad." Bayhaqi (2/99) said the same. Hafiz bin Hajar said in Talkhis (1/254) that Ala bin Ismail is "unknown."Likewise, what was narrated by Musab bin Saad bin Abu Waqqas, from his father, who said, "We used to place our hands down before our knees, then we were commanded to place our knees down before our hands." This was narrated by Ibn Khuzayma (628), from Ibrahim bin Ismail bin Yahya bin Salama bin Kuhayl, who said, my father narrated to me, from his father, from Salama, from Musab. Ibrahim bin Ismail bin Yahya bin Salama transmitted this alone from his father, and both of them are daif. In Taqrib, Ibrahim bin Ismail is described as "daif," and his father Ismail bin Yahya as "matruk."Hazimi said in his book Itibar (p. 55), "As for the hadith of Saad, there is criticism in its isnad, and had it been sound and preserved, it would indicate abrogation. However, what is preserved from Musab bin Saad, from his father, is the hadith concerning the abrogation of tatbiq." Hafiz bin Qayyim likewise criticized it, saying, "It in fact concerns the matter of tatbiq." Hafiz bin Hajar referred to the narration of Ibn Khuzayma and said, "But it is among the unique narrations of Ibrahim bin Ismail bin Yahya bin Salama bin Kuhayl from his father, and both of them are daif."I say, and it is by means of a hadith as extremely daif as this, indeed fabricated, that Ibn Khuzayma argues that placing the hands down before the knees is abrogated. Had he said the opposite, it would have been more fitting, since placing the hands down before the knees helps the weak and the elderly to go down into prostration, unlike placing the knees down before the hands. It is well known that when the Prophet ﷺ grew old and heavy, he chose the position that assisted him in performing the prayer, and most of his voluntary prayer at home in his later years was performed sitting. So let it be understood that among his last practices was placing the hands down before the knees.This is the summary of what has been said regarding the hadiths of this chapter. Scholars have gone to great lengths studying these hadiths, both those who declared them sahih and those who declared them daif, and I do not see the need to pile up all their arguments. I will content myself with what I have arrived at after studying these hadiths, asking Allah Most High for guidance and correctness.Given the apparent conflict in the evidence regarding the manner of going down into prostration, scholars have differed on this matter, as Ibn Munzir stated. Among those who held that one should place his knees down before his hands are Umar bin Khattab , and this was also the view of Nakhai, Muslim bin Yasar, Thawri, Shafii, Ahmad, Ishaq, Abu Hanifa, his students, and the people of Kufa. Another group held that one should place his hands down before his knees, and this was the view of Malik. Uzai said, "We found people placing their hands down before their knees." Ibn Abu Dawud said that this is the view of the people of hadith.I say, there is also another report from Ahmad stating that one should place the hands down before the knees, based on the hadith of Abu Hurairah, as found in Mughni (1/193). From Malik and Ahmad there is also a report allowing either practice, since preferring one view over the other on the basis of the sunnah is not clearly established, as Nawawi stated.This difference concerns only which practice is preferable, and the prayer is valid in either case by unanimous agreement of the scholars, as Sheikh Islam bin Taymiya, may Allah Most High have mercy on him, stated in Fatawa (22/449).