own, and unfortunately, I was not given the name of the author nor can I recall the identify of the
sender, other than his Efnet IRC nick name, Sahnoon. Thedale el was written by one of thefuqara\u2019 in
one of his teaching circles who had compiled the information in order to aid the insight of the people
who were interested in the issue. This article was edited with the understanding that all of the various
positions of ourmujtahid een that have been supported and passed through the generations are valid,
and eachmujtahid is bound by theirijtihad unless they are presented with proof that they consider
stronger than what they based their originalijtihad on, both the absolute and the limited among them.
Our duty, as simple Muslims, is to take one of them as ourtariqa to the Kitab wa Sunnah, to hear and
obey. Imam Sufyan al-Thawri, the famous \u2018Iraqimujtahid said: \u201cIf you see a man doing something over
which there is a debate among the scholars, and which you yourself believe to be forbidden, you
should not forbid him from doing it.\u201d Adhering to this advice would greatly benefit thisummah, draw
us away from the petty bickering that some of us do and get us back to the real issue at hand, the near
complete domination of the Muslims at the hands of thekufar.

That being the case, it is not the intention of myself to in any way degrade or attempt to weaken the positions of our other Imams, but rather, it is merely my intention to show positively thatsadl is the dominant, majority position of the Malikimadhhab; a point which is shown by what can be considered \u201cstrong\u201d language as you will shortly see in the text.

The text I received was of an extremely low level of English, so I have taken careful liberties at
upgrading the language in order that it may be read more smoothly and have in no way intentionally
interpolated into the text. The notes that I have added were done for three reasons:

Firstly, being that much of the weight of evidence lies on the people who have transmitted it, I thought
it necessary to, whenever possible, give a brief biographical note in order that people may come to
know, even if superficially, who these people actually are, for as Imam Zuhri stated, \u201cThis knowledge is

and placed him above theSunnah of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu \u2018alayhi wa salam.
And lastly, to avoid any interpolation.
I do not claim to be a scholar, nor a student of knowledge, and hence I ask the reader not to judge the

There will come a time shortly when people will beat the flanks of their camels searching from
East to West
in pursuit of knowledge. And they will find no one more knowledgeable than the\u2018alim of
Madina.

Imam al-Tirmidhi, al-Qadi \u2018Iyad, Imam adh-Dhahabi and many others relation from Sufyan ibn \u2018Uyana (in one transmission), \u2018Abd al-Razzaq, Ibn Mahdi, Dhu\u2019aya ibn Imama, Ibn al-Madani, Muhammad Idris ash-Shafi\u2019i and many others, that \u201cWe used to consider it to mean Imam Malik.\u201d Imam as-Suyuti list it as one of thehujiyyat of the messengership of the Prophet sallallahu \u2018alayhi wa salam.

There are many short texts in the \u2018Arabic language that are circulated throughout North Africa that deal with this issue. If it were possible, I would rather rely on those text, but unfortunately, the vast majority of the text of themadhhahib have yet to be translated, instead, most people preferring to translate works of contemporary \u201cscholars\u201d who are in all respects inferior to our great Imams of the

The first appendix is an excerpt from an answer I received back in late 1998 from Hajj Gibril Haddad. The second appendix is my attempt to explain what was too exhaustive to be placed in the footnotes. I felt that since most people in the West are

ignorant of the science offiqh, there were certain allusions to Maliki principles of jurisprudence that
many people may not be aware of, or are contrary to what they have been taught, and hence, in order
to somewhat enlighten the readers, I have attempted to explain them as briefly and best as I can,
being that they are the principles of this proof to aid its proper understanding. As I said, I\u2019m not an

20 Muharram 1422
14 April 2001
Hampton,Virginia
TheMasjid & Islamic Center of Hampton Roads

being an Aristolean philosopher and Maliki scholar, although he was also aqadi, physician and a master of many
other sciences. In the arena offiqh, he is considered to have reached the level oftarjih, which is the ability to
compare the variousijtihad in order to distinguish thesahih, preferred and agreed upon (mashhur) from the weaker
opinions, the third level ofij tihad, a level which very few scholars have actually reached. The book quoted,Bidayat

The reason behind their differing is that there are someahadith narrating the way the Prophet prayed which did not
mention him placing his right hand over his left, and on the other hand, it was reported that the people were ordered to
do that.

Muhammad ibn \u2018Amir ibn \u2018Atta stated: \u201cI heard Abu Humaid al-Sa\u2019idi talking amongst ten of theSahabah of the
Messenger of Allah. Abu Qattada who was among them spoke up and said, \u201cI am the most knowledgeable of you
about the prayer of the Messenger of Allah.\u201d They replied, \u201cHow can that be when you were not following him for a
longer period, nor were you a companion of his before us?\u201d To this Abu Qattada replied, \u201cYes.\u201d \u201cWell then prove it,\u201d
the others challenged. He (Abu Qattada) said, \u201cWhen the Messenger of Allah stood for prayer, he raised his arms until
they were level with his ears, said thetakbeer and didn\u2019t being reciting until all of his limbs had rested in their natural
position. After finishing his recital, he raised his hands until they were level with his ears, said thetakbeer and from
there, performed theruku\u2019. He placed his palms on his knees and posed his back straight, neither raising his head nor
lowering it . . .

This version of thehadith is narrated by Imam Ahmad in hisMusnad, al-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud in theirSunan, while Imam al-
Bukhari narrates a shorter version of it in hisSahih. When Abu Humaid finished his description of the prayer, they all stated,
\u201cYou are truthful, this is the way he used to pray.\u201d

The statement of Abu Qattada that, \u201c[A]nd didn\u2019t being reciting until all of his limbs had rested in their natural position\u201d is proof that the Prophet did not always place his right hand over his left, for this is not the natural position at which the limbs rest, rather, this is what is known assadl. If the Prophet placed his right hand over his left in the prayer all the time, then (at least) one of the

Furtherstill, and most importantly perhaps, amongst thoseSahabah was Sahl ibn Sa\u2019d, the narrator of thehadith: \u201cThe people were ordered (literally \u201cused to be ordered\u201d) that a man place his right hand over his left arm in the prayer,\u201d as stated by Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bari (2:334).2

\u201cscholars\u201d attempt to have us believe, as with all instances ofikhtila f amongst ourfuqaha\u2019. The most commonly
citedhadith is the one found in theMuwat ta\u2019 which states: \u201cYahya related to me from Malik from Abu Hazim ibn
Dinar that Sahl ibn Sad said, "People used to be ordered to place their right hands on their left forearms in the
prayer." Abu Hazim added, "I know for sure that Sahl traces that back to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant
him peace." We haveahadith such as these, while on the other hand, much of theahadith that give a general
description of the Prophet\u2019s prayer do not mention the right hand being placed over the left.

considered to have reached the level of mujtahid fi-madhhab, a limitedmujtahid, and is hence one of the pillars of the Malikitariqa. He was originally aDhahiri, a student of Ibn Hazm, but later abaonded his teacher and switched the thefiqh of Imam Malik, which was dominant in his region. His book,a l -Tam h e e d is a commentary on the

thefuqaha\u2019 of theTabi\u2019e en, one of the greatest amongst them. Only a person with delusion and ignorance of our tradition would consider the notion that Mujahid radiallahu anhu would blatantly disregard the Sahabah\u2019s sunnah and act contrary to them. Hence, the reason the author states that his hatred ofqabd is \u201cproof that he did not witness theSahabah doing it.\u201d