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Wearing the beard and raising the hands in prayer

Question

May Allaah bless you all, Ameen. My question is, how many Hadeeth are there regarding beard, I mean how many Sahaabah, may Allaah be pleased with them, reported about it? And how many Sahaabah about the Rafagh' al-yadayn in the Salat? Please answer me along with the evidence, I mean exact Hadeeth numbers. Hope you answer my question as soon as possible.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

If the questioner means the Hadeeths about the beard, meaning the Hadeeths ordering to wear a beard, then there are several in the books of Sunnah narrated by many companions  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  them.

1) 'Abdullaah Ibn 'Amr  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him: the Hadeeth narrated by him is reported by Al-Bukhari, Muslim, and many others may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them. He narrated that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "Be different from the polytheists. Trim the moustache and grow your beards." This is Al-Bukhari's wording.

2) Abu Hurayrah  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him narrated that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "Trim your moustache and let your beards grow. Be different from the Magi." [Muslim, Ahmad]

3) 'Aa'ishah  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  her narrated that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "There are ten acts of human natural instinct:"… Trimming the moustache and growing the beard." [At-Tirmithi, Ibn Maajah, Ahmad and others] This is At-Tirmithi's wording.

4) Jaabir Ibn 'Abdullaah  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him: The Hadeeth he narrated is reported by Ibn Abu Shayba may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him with the following wording: "We used to be ordered to grow the beards and to trim the moustache."

5) 'Abdullaah Ibn Utayba  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him narrated that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "In our religion, we have to trim the moustaches and to grow the beard." [Ibn Abu Shayba]

6) Anas Ibn Maalik  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him reported that Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "Trim your moustache and grow your beards and do not imitate the Jews.'' [At-Tahaawi]

It is also possible for a questioner to find other narrations by other companions  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  them all of which are about growing the beard.

As regards the narrations about raising the hands in prayer while saying 'Allaahu Akbar' upon starting the prayer, when bowing down, and when standing up from the position of bowing, there are so many. Ibn Hajar  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him stated: 'Al-Bukhari may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him stated in his book in the chapter of 'raising the hands' that it was narrated by 17 companions  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  them. Al-Haakim and Abul-Kassim Ibn Mandah  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them mentioned that the narration is reported by the ten companions, who were promised paradise  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  them. Shaykh Abu Al-Fadhl Al-Hafith  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him stated that he traced the narrators and found out that it was narrated by up to fifty companions  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  them. Among these many narrations are the following:

1) Al-Bukhari and Muslim  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them reported that Ibn 'Umar  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him narrated that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) used to raise his hands up to his shoulders when starting the prayer, when saying 'Allaahu Akbar' before bowing down, and when he stood up from bowing down.

2) Imaam Muslim may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him reported that Maalik Ibn Al-Huwayrith  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him used to say 'Allaahu Akbar' when he prays and then raises his hands, and when he bows down he raises his hands too, and when he raises his head from Rukuu' he raises his hands as well. He (the companion) said that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) used to do so.

3) Waa'il Ibn Hujr  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him said: "I prayed with the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) and when he says 'Allaahu Akbar' to start the prayer he used to raise his hands ……and when he wants to bow down, he also raises his hands, and when he wants to stand up from Rukuu', he raises his hands too…...''. [Abu Daawood and others]

Imaam At-Tirmithi  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him said: 'In this chapter of raising the hands, many companions  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  them reported raising hands in these three situations, among whom are:

'Umar, 'Ali, Waa'il Ibn Hujr, Maalik Ibn Al-Huwayrith, Anas, Abu Hurayrah, Abu Hameed, Abu suhayl, Sahl Ibn Saa'd. Muhammad Ibn Maslamah, Abu Qutaadah, Abu Moossaa Al-Ash'aree and Jaabir Ibn 'Umayr Al-Laythi  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  them.'

Allaah knows best.

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