English
Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated: I asked Bilal, "How did the Prophet (peace be upon him) respond to them when they greeted him while he was praying?" He said, "He would gesture with his hand." [Narrated by Al-Tirmidhi, and a similar narration by Al-Nasa’i, with Suhaib instead of Bilal]
In "Sharh Al-Munyah": It is disliked for a person in prayer to respond to greetings by gesturing with his hand or head. This hadith should be understood as referring to the time before speech was prohibited, as gesturing is similar in meaning. This is mentioned in "Al-Mirqah." It is explicitly stated in "Al-Munyah" that it is disliked (in the sense of being discouraged), but the Prophet's action was to teach permissibility, so his action cannot be described as disliked, as clarified in "Al-Hilyah" and similarly in "Radd Al-Muhtar."
Possible references (unverified, pending editorial review)
- Candidate: Jami al-Tirmidhi 368 (unverified) 96% confidence
Confidence and text similarity are not editorial verification.
Commentary and footnotes (1)
Note 1
ف: شرح منیہ میں لکھا ہے کہ نمازی کا ہاتھ یا سر کے اشارہ سے سلام کا جواب دینا مکروہ ہے، اس سے معلوم ہوتا ہے کہ اشارہ سے سلام کا جواب دینے کی یہ حدیث اس زمانہ سے متعلق ہے جبکہ نماز میں بات چیت کرنا منسوخ نہیں ہوا تھا اور جب نماز میں بات چیت کرنا منسوخ ہو گیا تو نماز میں اشارہ سے سلام کا جواب دینا بھی منسوخ ہو جائے گا کیونکہ اشارہ بھی کلام کی طرح ہے۔ یہ مرقات میں مذکور ہے۔