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Fatwa CenterPlacing right hand over left hand in prayer not obligatory
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. Please do not cite other fatwas as I do not understand! In Fatwa no. 324355, you say, "Placing the right hand over the left hand in prayer is a Sunnah and is not obligatory." Is that true? Do you have any hadith(s) regarding the matter? Can we pray while our left hand is over the right hand?
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.
What we mentioned in that fatwa is correct without a doubt. None of the early scholars held that placing the right hand over the left hand in the prayer is obligatory.
Al-Qaadhi ʻIyaadh 
wrote, "The reports indicating that the Prophet placed his right hand over the left in the prayer and urged Muslims to do so are authentic, and scholars unanimously agreed that it is not obligatory."
If the praying person did not conform to that and let his arms down his sides or placed his left hand over his right hand, then his prayer is still valid, but he did not follow the Sunnah and missed the reward for that.
From the ahaadeeth about this act of the Sunnah are the following:
- Waa'il ibn Hujr 
reported that he saw the Prophet raise his hands when he started the prayer and that he recited Takbeer, then wrapped his garment around him, and placed his right hand over his left hand... [Muslim no. 674]
- Abu Haazim reported that Sahl ibn Saʻd said, "The people were ordered to place their right hand on their left forearm in the prayer." Abu Haazim added, "I know for sure that Sahl traces that back to the Prophet ." [Ahmad and Al-Bukhari]
- It has been reported that when ʻAbdullaah ibn Masʻood was once praying, he placed his left hand on the right. The Prophet saw him and placed his right hand on his left one. [Abu Daawood, An-Nasaa'i, and Ibn Maajah]
The fact that placing the right hand over the left hand is an act of the Sunnah and not obligatory in the prayer is proven by the hadeeth about the man who did not perform the prayer properly, after which the Prophet kept correcting him, saying, "Go back and pray, for you have not prayed." He did not order him to place his right hand over the left in the prayer while he was teaching him the obligations of the prayer.
Allaah knows best.
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