Folding or Dropping the Hands after the Takbeer Tahreema

Q: Salaaah-247: After raising the hands to the ears when saying the Takbeer Tahreema, should they then be dropped to the side and then folded or folded immediately?

Answer: After calling out the Takbeer Tahreema, the hands must be folded immediately. Dropping them to the side before folding them is unsubstantiated. The same applies to folding the hands after the Takbeer that precedes the Du'aa Qunoot of the Witr salaah as well as the third Takbeer of the first Rakaah of the Eid salaah.

The difference of opinion exists in the question of whether the hands are to be folded or left by the side when reciting the Thanaa and the Qiraa'ah. While Imaam Abu Haneefah RAH. and Imaam Abu Yusuf RAH. state that the hands should be folded (because it is a Sunnah of Qiyaam), Imaam Muhammad RAH. says that it need not be folded when reciting the Thanaa because folding them is an etiquette of Qiraa'ah only.

Nurul Idhaa (Pg.76) states: "When a man intends starting salaah, he should remove his hands from his sleeves, raise them to the ears and then call out the Takbeer Tahreema without unduly prolonging it. Then, without any delay, he should place the right hand over the left hand beneath the navel and recite the Thanaa." See also Maraaqil Falaah (pg. 62) and Jowharatun Nayyirah (Vol.1 Pg.50). And Allaah knows best what is most correct.

Fatawa Rahimiyyah vol.2