The Ruling on Wiping the Face After Supplication

Question

What is the ruling on wiping the face with the hands upon concluding a supplication, and is there an authentic ḥadīth reported concerning this practice?

Shaykh ʿAbd ar-Razzāq al-ʿAfīfī (d. 1415 AH/1994 CE) ؒ

Wiping the face after supplicating is not from the Sunnah. Rather, it is an innovation (bidʿah), because wiping the face with the hands at the conclusion of every duʿāʾ is regarded as a ritualised act and a form of worship. It has not been established that the Prophet Muḥammad practised this. Accordingly, it constitutes an innovation in the religion. As for the ḥadīth reported concerning this matter, it is weak and inauthentic.

References

ʿAbd ar-Razzāq al-ʿAfīfī, Fatāwā wa Rasāʾil Samāḥat ash-Shaykh ʿAbd ar-Razzāq al-ʿAfīfī, p. 631.

Writer / translator

Ṣalaḥ al-Irānī

is in need of his Lords mercy.

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