Regarding prostration in prayer, does a man lower himself with his hands or with his knees?

Question:
Regarding prostration in prayer, does a person lower himself with his hands or his knees? We read in the book *The Description of the Prophet’s Prayer (peace and blessings be upon him), from the takbir to the taslim, as if you were seeing it*, authored by Muhammad Nasr al-Din al-Albani, that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) placed his hands on the ground before his knees, and that he commanded this, saying: “When one of you prostrates, let him not be like the camel, which places its hands before its knees.” Please clarify this for us. May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
Yes, the hadiths describing the lowering into prostration indicate that the stronger and correct position is that he places his knees before his hands. He places his knees, then his hands, then his forehead and nose. In lowering into prostration, the first part of a person to touch the ground is his lower part, and then his upper part descends gradually, unlike the camel. When a camel lowers itself to the ground, its upper part is the first to touch the ground. A person is commanded to differ from the camel, because a person is prohibited from imitating beasts in prayer. This includes imitating the camel in that the first thing to touch the ground is its hands. The first thing to touch the ground from a camel is its hands. A person is prohibited from this, and commanded that the first thing to touch the ground be his knees, then his hands, then his forehead and nose. This is the correct position, and it is what the evidence indicates.
As for what is reported in some narrations, “let him place his hands before his knees,” this, as the scholar Ibn al-Qayyim said, involves a reversal in the hadith; it is reversed upon the narrator. The correct version is “let him place his knees before his hands,” as indicated by the hadiths, and because this is the manner that differs from the lowering of the camel, which we are prohibited from imitating. And Allah knows best. May Allah reward you with good, and may Allah reward you.