Ibn Khuzaima’s narration about placing hands on chest in Salah

Normally three Ahadith are quoted as evidence for placing the hands on the chest during salah. Not just that some people seek evidence with these dubious narrations, they also contend that this alone is the right way. Let us see the actual status of these narrations.

We discuss the status of the narration from Sahih Ibn Khuzaima today and shall look into the other two narrations (one from Musnad Ahmad and other from Sunan Abu Dawud) in coming days.

Narration from Sahih Ibn Khuzaima:

Wa’il bin Hajr said: I offered salah with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah send peace and blessings unto him, and he placed his right hand over the left on his chest. (Sahih Ibn Khuzaima, Hadith 479)

Shaykh Albani in his research of Sahih Ibn Khuzaima comments:

“Its chain is Da’if because of Mo’mal and he is Ibn Isma’il with bad memory. But the Hadith is Sahih for there are reports from other routes of the same meaning. And about placing the hand on the chest other Ahadith support it.”

So according to Shaykh Albani the narration is Da’if. As to his argument that it is supported by other narrations we shall see the reality of it in a future post.

Similarly Shaykh Shu’aib Arnaut also commented about this Hadith under a narration of Musnad Ahmad;

“And about the placing the hands on chest during salah there are reports from Wa’il bin Hajr in (works of) Ibn Khuzaima (479) and Baihaqi (2/30) both with Da’if chains.” (Musnad Ahmad, comment to Hadith 21967)

Similarly Shaykh Nimawi’s comment on the narration is;

“In its chain is a problem and the addition ‘on his chest’ is not safely preserved.” (Athar as-Sunan, Hadith 325)

Wallahu ‘Alam!