from Anas, who said: "The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would not raise his hands in any of his supplications, except during the prayer for rain, and he would raise them until the whiteness of his armpits could be seen." And in another hadith from Anas: "So the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) raised them, and the people raised their hands." (14).

326 - Issue: He said: (And he shall supplicate, and they shall supplicate, and they shall multiply the seeking of forgiveness [istighfar] in their supplications.)

The sum of this is that when the Imam ascends the pulpit, he sits down; and if he wishes, he does not sit, because sitting has not been transmitted, and there is no adhan here for him to sit during its time. Then he delivers a single sermon, which he commences with the takbir. This was the view of 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi. Malik and al-Shafi'i said: "He delivers two sermons, like the two sermons of the two 'Ids; due to the statement of Ibn 'Abbas: 'The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) acted as he did in the 'Id' (1). And because it resembles them in the takbir and in the form of the prayer, it should resemble them in the two sermons." Our evidence is the statement of Ibn 'Abbas: "He did not preach like this sermon of yours (2), but he did not cease in supplication, beseeching, and takbir." This indicates that he did not separate between them with silence or sitting. Also, because everyone who transmitted the sermon did not report two sermons, and because the intended purpose is only to supplicate to Allah the Almighty to grant them rain, and there is no significance to it being two sermons in that regard. The correct [understanding] from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas is that he said: "He prayed two rak'ahs, as he used to pray in the 'Id." And if the report were as they mentioned, it would be interpreted as applying to the prayer, by evidence of the beginning of the hadith.