Question
In Dua where is the best place to put your hands. Some put hands together, some apart, some with one hand slightly overlapping other, some with hands high, some with hands really stretched out. Are they all correct
Also is it best to put hands chest level , near face or high.
Answer
One should not lift one’s hands at shoulder level. The sunnah method is to raise them up to the chest. Ibn Abbas says: “I saw Rasulullah (sallallahu allayhi wassalam) in the plain of Arafat, supplicating to Allah with his hand up to chest, (he was begging from Allah) like a miskeen begging for food.” (bayhaqi fatul qadeer alal hidaya p.475)
This was the general practise of Rasulullah (sallallahu alihi wa sallam). Only on some serious occasion did he raise his hands above his shoulders, e.g at the time of istisqaa (praying for rain) or the night before the battle of Badr. When he was extremely worried and spent the entire night in salah and then made dua. During the dua he raised his hands until his chaadar Mubarak slipped of his shoulders. Abu Bakr (r.a) held him from behind and consoled him.
A gap of one or two fingers between the two hands is Mustahab (Raddul Muhtar)