Question:

Some of the later Ahnaf have used the following Hadith to validate the placing of the hands beneath the navel in Salah from the Musannaf ibn Abi Shaiba:

Wa'il ibn Hujr said: "I saw al Nabi - sallallahu alaihi wa sallam - place his right hand on his left hand in Salah under the navel."

Is the addition "under the navel" sahih as some have claimed that it is a baseless addition by a scribe(s). Did Imam al-Nimawi in his Athar al-Sunan ma'a Ta'liq al-Hasan accept this narration or not? What is the correct view on the use of this narration as whole?

Answer:

The Ahnaf have not just used the above hadith for their position of placing the hands below the navel in Salah. There are many sound narrations in Musannaf ibn Abi Shaybah and in other books of hadith that prove this. As for the narration of Wail ibn Hujr you mention, although Shaikh Nimawi considered it sound, being so is dubious because many prints of the Musannaf of Ibn Abi Shaybah do not have this addition. As such it should not be used as a proof and the other narrations that are free of any doubts should be relied upon.

Mufti Mohammed Sajjad

Wallahu Aalam bis-sawab

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The answer to this question is the opinion of the scholar and does not reflect the opinion of other scholars of As-Suffa Institute and As-Suffa Institute as an organisation.