DUA 19

19. Don’t rub your hands over your face or kiss your fingers or place your thumbs next to your eyes after finishing your dua.
Many Muslims and Muslimas have the habit of rubbing their hands over their face or kissing the tip of their fingers after finishing their dua. This is an innovation, and should not be done since there is not a single hadith or other evidence that the Prophet Muhammad (s) ever did this. Just put the hands down after saying “amin”.
1 – Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said: With regard to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) raising his hands when saying du’aa’, there are many saheeh ahaadeeth concerning this, but as for his wiping his face with his hands, there are only one or two hadeeths concerning that, and they cannot be taken as evidence.Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 22/519
2 – al-‘Izz ibn ‘Abd al-Salaam said: No one wipes his face with his hands after saying du’aa’ except one who is ignorant.Fataawa al-‘Izz ibn ‘Abd al-Salaam, p. 47If it is not permitted to wipe the face after making du’aa’, it is more likely that the person who says du’aa’ should not be allowed to wipe his body either, or to kiss his eyes. Rather the scholars stated that kissing the thumbs and placing them on the eyes is a bid’ah (innovation) that was introduced by some of the Sufi tareeqahs, and there is a hadeeth concerning that which is falsely attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).

Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked about the ruling on wiping the face with the hands after making du’aa’. He replied:Wiping the face with the hands after making du’aa’ is more likely to be not prescribed in Islam, because the ahaadeeth that have been narrated concerning that are da’eef (weak).

Shaykh al-Islam (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: They cannot be used as evidence. If we are not certain or we think it most likely that this is not prescribed, then it is better not to do it, because Islamic rulings cannot be proven on the basis of mere conjecture, unless we believe it to be mostly likely to be the case