Raising the hands during some of the adhkaar for morning and evening

Q) Some of the morning and evening adhkaar (supplications) are phrased; like: “oh Allah we start our day by You…”, “oh Allah I ask You to keep me healthy..”, “oh Allah I seek refuge with you from helplessness and laziness”. Should we raise our hands while reading these prayers?

A) Praise be to Allaah.

Raising the hands when saying du’aa’ in general is the practice of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and many ahaadeeth were narrated concerning that. Al-Suyooti said in Tadreeb al-Raawi (2/180):

Approximately one hundred ahaadeeth were narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in which he raised his hands when saying du’aa’, and I have compiled them in a book, but they are in different cases, none of which is mentioned in mutawaatir reports. The thing that they all have in common – which is raising the hands when saying du’aa’ – is regarded as mutawaatir when they are all taken into account. End quote.

With regard to whether it is proven to raise the hands therein, du’aa’s may be divided into three types:

1. Du’aa’s in which it is proven in the saheeh Sunnah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) raised his hands, such as istisqa’ (prayer for rain), at the time of an eclipse, when standing in ‘Arafah, and so on. It is mustahabb to raise the hands in these cases, according to scholarly consensus.

2. Du’aa’s in which it is proven that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not raise his hands, such as the du’aa’ of the khateeb on Friday. In this case neither the imam nor the members of the congregation should raise their hands.

3. Du’aas in which there are no reports stating whether the hands should be raised or not. These are subject to further discussion:

- If they are cases in which the actions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) are proven in many ahaadeeth, but there is no mention of raising the hands in any of them, then this indicates that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not raise his hands in these cases, such as du’aa’ during salaah (prayer), whilst prostrating, and after the final tashahhud.

- But in cases where there are not many ahaadeeth which describe the actions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), then we cannot be certain of what the Prophets (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did in those cases, but we say that it is mustahabb to raise the hands in these cases, based on the general meaning of the ahaadeeth which say that it is mustahabb to raise the hands, and by analogy with the hundreds of ahaadeeth which say that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) raised his hands in many cases, such as raising the hands when saying the du’aa’s for morning and evening, and so on.

- If a person has proof that these adhkaar were among the adhkaar of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and he also has proof or thinks it most likely that he did not raise his hands whilst reciting them, and he does not raise his hands, then there is nothing wrong with him not doing so, in sha Allaah, but proving either is somewhat difficult.

To sum up, there is nothing wrong with raising the hands when reciting the du’aa’s of morning and evening. The matter is broad in scope, in sha Allaah.

See also the answer to question no. 11543 and 21341.

And Allaah knows best.


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