Complete Salah (Prayer) based only on Sahih hadith impossible?

“Certainly you have in the Messenger of Allah an excellent exemple for him who hopes in Allah and the latter day and remembers Allah much.” (Qur’an 33:21) 

﷽ 

Malik ibn Al-Huwayrith reported:

We came to the Prophet (saw) while we were young men, and we stayed with him twenty nights. Then the Prophet considered that we were anxious to see our families, so he asked us who we had left behind to take care of them, and we told him. The Prophet was kindhearted and merciful, and he said, “Return to your families, teach them, and enjoin good upon them.” Pray as you have seen me praying. When the time of prayer arrives, then one of you should announce the call to prayer and the eldest of you should lead the prayer.

Source: (https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6008)

One of the most contentious issues among Muslims, more often than not, has to do with the way the Blessed Messenger (saw) did his prayers. This video below is well worth the listen.  It is done by someone who follows the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, the Sunni denomination of Islam.

What he is explaining is that it is impossible to find a ‘Sahih’ hadith for every single act that is done in the prayer.  He then argues that this is why for some Muslims in the Sunni denomination they decide to follow a school of jurisprudence.

The truth of the matter is that the prayer was established by the Blessed Messenger (saw). It is a mass transmitted sunnah.  The hadith are written records for those who need to furnish proofs for things that were found to be objectionable. Things that stood out as different needed to have proof or evidence, more so than something people picked up as mass practice from those who preceded them and from those who preceded them.

The hadith in book form is a documented sunnah. Sometimes the documented sunnah captures the living sunnah and other times it does not. A proof of this is that the schools of jurisprudence believe that certain acts of the Blessed Prophet (saw) were either abrogated or abandoned altogether. 

Kindly see our article here where we expand upon how the sunnah is received. 

Clarity from Obfuscation: Where to place the hands in the prayer?

His observation especially when it concerns the opening of the prayer only strengthens the position of the Ibadi school.

The Ibadis do not raise the hands at all during the prayers.

May Allah Guide the Ummah.

May Allah Forgive the Ummah.