Is it necessary to hold the hands by one’s sides first and fold them on the navel after that following the takbir of iftitah?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Imam Ghazali states the following about takbir: “When a person wants to start a prayer, he needs to make niyyah (intention) in the heart first. Then, he needs to hold his hands by his sides; after that, he needs to raise his hands so that his hands will be in the same level as his shoulders, his thumbs in the same level as his ear lobes and his fingertips in the same level as his ears and utter takbir. Thus, he combines various narrations of hadiths.”

He says something after this statement and repeats his former statement as follows in order to strengthen the issue: “When the hands stay in the place where they need to be (he means their place in the same level as ears), he starts to utter takbir. When he does this, his niyyah needs to be ready in his heart; then, he will release his hands (the releasing here does not mean to put them by his sides but to lower from the level of ears).”

“Then, he places his hands on a place between his navel and chest, the right hand being over the left hand.”

Then, he points at the three hadith narrations indicating the following three words:

“As a matter of fact, there are narrations stating that takbir is fulfilled ‘by raising the hands’, ‘by holding them in the place where they need to be (he means their place in the same level as ears)’ and ‘by releasing them’.” (see Ihyaul-Ulum, 1/159/1358/1939/Cairo)

- Zaynul-Iraqi, who extracts the hadiths in Ihya, explains those three concepts as follows:   

- “Bukhari and Abu Dawud narrated the hadith stating that ’the Prophet (pbuh) raised his hands while uttering takbir’.”

- “Muslim and Abu Dawud narrated the hadith stating that ’the hands of the Prophet (pbuh) remained where they were, that is, above, when he uttered takbir’.”

- “Abu Dawud narrated the hadith stating that ’the Prophet (pbuh) raised his hands up to the level of his shoulders and uttered takbir’.” (Iraqi, Takhriju Ahadithil-Ihya-with Ihya, ibid)   

-  Then, Ghazali states the following: “If the narration, ‘The Prophet (pbuh) released his hands while uttering takbir and he put his right hand on his left hand when he wanted to read’ is sound, it is better than the issues we mentioned earlier.”(Ihya, ibid) It is understood from this statement of Ghazali that what is meant by “releasing” here – different from the previous ones – is to put one’s hands by one’s sides.   

- Zaynul-Iraqi states that this hadith is weak. (ibid)   

- According to Hanafi, Shafii and Hanbali madhhabs, a person who is performing a prayer folds his hands after takbir by placing the right hand on the left hand, the right hand holding the wrist of the left hand. For, there are sound hadiths regarding the issue. There is no mention of putting one’s hands by one’s sides in any of those hadiths. (see W. Zuhayli, al-Fiqhul-Islam, 1/686)

Questions on Islam