Nafi’ told how Ibn ‘Umar used to say, “He who puts his forehead on the ground should put the palms of his hands on the place where he put his forehead, then when he raises himself he should raise them, for the hands perform prostration just as the face does.”
Talq b. ‘Ali al-Hanafi reported God’s Messenger as saying, “God does not regard the prayer of a servant who does not straighten his spine between his bowing and his prostration.”
Ibn ‘Umar said that when God’s Messenger sat at the tashahhud1 he placed his left hand on his left knee and his right hand on his right knee, counted fifty-three on his knuckles,2 and pointed with the forefinger. A version says that when he sat during the prayer he placed his hands on his knees and raised his right finger which is next to the thumb making supplication in this way, while keeping his left hand spread out on his left knee.
1. Tashahhud means to say the words in the prayers beginning with at-tahiyat lillah. Cf. Chapter 9a
2. This refers to a method of counting on the fingers. In the position indicated the forefinger is full out and the thumb and other fingers are clenched.
‘Ali reported God’s Messenger as saying, “I like for you, ‘Ali what I like for myself, and I dislike for you what I dislike for myself; do not sit on your heels between the two sajdas.”
