Sayyiduna Bara’ (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: He saw the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) raising his hands at the beginning of the prayer; the Prophet (peace be upon him) raised both his hands up to his ears, and after that did not raise his hands until he completed the prayer.

The same narration is also reported with another chain from Sayyiduna Bara’ bin ‘Azib (may Allah be pleased with him).

Sayyiduna Bara’ (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: He saw the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when he stood for prayer, he raised his hands while saying the takbir. This narration is also transmitted with another chain, and this is correct. The narrator named Yazid was prompted in his old age to narrate these words: "Then the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do so again." So he accepted this prompting, and the words of this narration became confused for him.

Sayyiduna Bara’ bin Azib (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I saw the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he stood up to pray, he raised both his hands up to his ears while saying the takbir. After that, he did not raise his hands again (in the prayer). The narrator, Ali bin Asim, states: When I came to Kufa, I was informed that a narrator named Yazid was alive. I went to him and he narrated this hadith to me. He said: Abdur Rahman bin Abi Laila narrated this statement of Sayyiduna Bara’, who said:“I saw the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he stood up for prayer, he raised both his hands up to his ears while saying the takbir.”I said to him: Ibn Abi Laila narrated this to me and also included these words:“The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not raise his hands again after that.”So he replied:“I do not remember these words.”I repeated my statement to him, and he said the same:“I do not remember.”

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I have performed prayers behind the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), behind Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), and behind Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him); these personalities used to raise their hands only at the beginning of the prayer with the first takbeer. The narrator named Ishaq has stated: We will adopt this narration regarding the method of performing prayer. The narration of this hadith is unique to the narrator Muhammad bin Jabir, and he is weak. Muhammad bin Jabir has narrated it from the narrator Hammad, from Ibrahim Nakha'i, whereas narrators other than Hammad have narrated it from Ibrahim Nakha'i as a mursal narration, as the action of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) himself. They have not narrated it as a marfu' hadith, which would be attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and this is the correct narration.

Sayyiduna Wa’il bin Hujr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I came to the service of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in order to see for myself how he performed prayer. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) faced the Qiblah, then while saying the takbir, he raised both hands up to his ears. Then, when he went into ruku‘, he again performed raf‘ al-yadayn until he raised them to the same place. Then, when he raised his head from ruku‘, he raised both hands to the same height. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went into sujud, he placed both hands opposite the same part of his head.

The same narration is also reported from Wa'il bin Hujr (may Allah be pleased with him) with another chain of transmission; however, there is no mention of prostration in it.

The same narration is transmitted with another chain of narration from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both, reports: The Noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, at the beginning of the prayer would raise both hands up to the shoulders, and when he would go into bowing (ruku‘), and when he would raise his head from bowing, he would perform the raising of the hands in the same manner.