Questioner:
What is the ruling on wiping the face with the hands when ending a supplication, and is there a ḥadīth reported regarding it?
Shaykh ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-ʿAfīfī:
Wiping the face after supplicating is not from the sunnah, rather it is from innovation because wiping the face with the hands at the end of every duʿāʾ is considered a ritual and an act of worship; and it has not been established that the Prophet ﷺ did it. Therefore, it is an innovation in the religion and the ḥadīth that has been reported concerning it is weak and inauthentic.