Ibn ‘Umar said that God’s Messenger used to raise his hands opposite his shoulders when he began prayer and when he said the takbir before bowing; and when he raised his head after bowing he raised them in the same way and said, “God listens to him who praises Him. To Thee, our Lord, be the praise!” But he did not do that when he prostrated himself.
Abu Humaid as-Sa'idi said among a company of the companions of God’s Messenger, “I am the one among you who is best versed in the way God’s Messenger prayed. I saw that when he uttered the takbir he placed his hands opposite his shoulders; when he bowed he rested his hands on his knees, then bent his back; when he raised his head he stood erect with his spine straight; when he prostrated himself he placed his arms so that they were not spread out, and the fingers were not drawn in, and the points of his toes were facing the qibla; when he sat up at the end of two rak'as he sat on his left foot and raised the right; and when he sat up after the last rak'a he put forward the left foot, raised the other, and sat on his hips.”
Nafi‘ said that when Ibn ‘Umar began prayer he said the takbir and raised his hands; when he bowed he raised his hands; when he said, “God listens to him who praises Him” he raised his hands; and when he got up at the end of two rak'as he raised his hands. Ibn ‘Umar traced that back to the Prophet.
‘A’isha said that God’s Messenger used to begin prayer with the takbir1 and the recitation of “Praise be to God, the Lord of the universe.”2 When he bowed he neither kept his head up nor bent it down, but kept it between these extremes; when he raised his head after bowing he did not prostrate himself till he had stood erect; when he raised head after a prostration he did not prostrate himself again till he had sat up. At the end of every two rak'as he said the tahiya;3 and he used to bend his left foot and raise up the right; he prohibited the devil’s way of sitting on the heels, and he forbade people to spread out their arms like a wild beast. And he used to finish the prayer with the taslim4.
Muslim transmitted it.
1. i.e. saying Allahu Akbar (God is most great).
2. Al-Qur’an; 1.
3. This is a part of the prayers which comes at the end of every two rak'as, beginning with at-tahiyat lillah and ending with the testimony that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. Tahiyat is the plural of tahiya and the phrase quoted above is variously explained as meaning that endless existence, or dominion, or kingship, or freedom from all evils, or freedom from all causes of cessation of existence belong to God. Alternatively it is taken in its usual meaning of salutations.
4. Saying, “The peace and mercy of God be upon you,” first with the head turned to the right and then with the head turned to the left. This is said at the end of the prayers.
