On the issue of raising one’s hands in prayer (and, in fact, the shape of prayer in general), the Qur’an is silent. But Bayhaqi lists dozens of versions of almost a dozen different Hadiths, narrated from the Prophet by Companions like Ibn Umar, the Prophet’s servant Anas bin Malik as well as others via the caliphs Abu Bakr and Ali. He follows these with the rulings of Companions and Successors such as Hasan Basri. Ibn Umar’s narration of a Hadith from the Prophet was deemed decisive by a number of leading ulama, such as Malik, Awza‘i and the Meccan Sufyan bin ‘Uyayna.
