Mentioning the issue of lowering oneself to prostration on the hands and rising to the second unit of prayer by supporting oneself on the hands.

The Shaykh : The thought that came to my mind, as I said, is to support a legal ruling. Although most people are ignorant of this legal ruling, we praise Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) for guiding many Muslims, especially the young among them, to learn about this ruling and to act upon it. That is lowering oneself to prostration on the hands, not on the knees. The majority of worshippers, when they prostrate, prostrate on their knees, whereas the Sunnah is to prostrate on the hands, to meet the ground with the hands, not with the knees. This has wisdoms, the clearest of which is that it prevents the shock of the ground from affecting him if he were to prostrate on his knees.
I do not wish to delve into this, but there is a corresponding Sunnah to this; and that is when the worshipper wants to rise from the second prostration to the second unit of prayer, or from the tashahhud to the third unit of prayer; how does he rise? Does he rise by supporting himself on his hands, as we believe is the correct Sunnah, or does he rise by supporting himself on his knees? There is an old disagreement among the jurists regarding this issue, and the correct, explicit, and established Sunnah in "Sahih al-Bukhari" is that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), when he would rise to the second unit of prayer, would not rise except by sitting a light sitting, which is known among the jurists as the sitting of rest, and then he would rise by supporting himself; that is, on his hands.
Up to this point, the issue is detailed and explained in the books of hadith and jurisprudence, but there is a problem for some people, even scholars, regarding the hadith that was among the proofs for lowering oneself on the hands to the ground. That hadith is his saying (peace be upon him): ; that is, the second part of the hadith explains the first part of it. The first part says: , as if someone were to say: How does the camel kneel? And how is the opposition to the camel? The answer is: , so the opposition to the camel in lowering oneself is in this form that was explained in the hadith itself. There are interpretations and differences that are not our concern here.
Now, the hadith did not address the manner of rising; this specific hadith did not address the manner of rising, but I say—and this is the thought, this is the place of research—if there is a general principle that it is not permissible for a Muslim to imitate an animal, just as it is not permissible for him to imitate a disbeliever; this is a rule in Islam. It is not permissible for a Muslim to imitate an animal, just as it is not permissible for him to imitate a disbeliever. There are many hadiths in both matters; in the prohibition of imitating the disbelievers, and in the prohibition of imitating animals; especially in prayer. In prayer, for example, there is the hadith: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited kneeling like the kneeling of a camel, turning like the turning of a fox, and pecking like the pecking of a crow in prayer"; the haste in it.
The point is: He prohibited imitating these animals. So now, if we keep in our minds how the camel kneels, we must consequently keep in mind how the camel rises. There is a disagreement in the first issue, how the camel kneels, a very strange disagreement; because if the camel lived in a world other than our world, we might be excused for not knowing how it kneels, but since it lives in our world, indeed in our lands, it is one of the strangest of wonders that the scholars of the Muslims, let alone others, still differ in their conception of how the camel kneels. The hadith that matches the observation is decisive that the camel kneels on its knees, but its knees are in its front. Here we leave the detailed research to its known place in "Zad al-Ma'ad" and others regarding this disagreement, but I say now: the camel walks on four legs, so if it kneels, it is not correct to say: "It knelt on its hands"; because its hands are placed like its legs always. So what does it kneel on? On its joints which are in its front. What is the name of these two joints? The knees. This is its place in the books of language and it is known.
So, since the camel kneels on its knees, we are prohibited from imitating animals in general, and this hateful animal, which is cited as an example of hatred, in particular; so we do not kneel as the camel kneels; that is, we do not place our knees before our hands. In other words, we do not meet the ground with the knees as the camel does, but we meet the ground with the hands where that camel cannot do so; because the camel walks on four legs.
Now the opposite—and here is the point—confirms this fact for them. When the camel rises, what does it support itself on? Tell us now, when the camel rises, what does it support itself on?

The questioner : Its knees.

The Shaykh : On its knees. Imagine with me a second camel in its front, so it supports itself on these two joints which are the knees. So if the worshipper rises by supporting himself on his knees, he has resembled the camel; therefore the Sunnah came regarding supporting oneself on what when rising? On the hands. So there is no separation for anyone who opposes this correct Sunnah and that one as well, but this one is clearer and the known objection regarding lowering oneself does not apply to it. There is no way for anyone who opposes the Sunnah of supporting oneself on the hands when rising to resemble the camel; because the camel necessarily supports itself on its knees when it rises, not on its hands; because its hands are behind. So you, O Muslim, if you want to embody and verify the command of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): ; do not first kneel with the kneeling of the camel, do not meet the ground with your knees but with your hands, and then do not rise by supporting yourself on your knees but on your hands. The hands are what one supports oneself on, both in lowering and rising. We lower ourselves on the hands, and we support ourselves on the hands when rising.
This point, specifically the second one, is the thought that came to me so that our brothers, the students of knowledge, can grasp this issue from all its aspects with its evidence from the Book and sound logic that corresponds to reality.
This is what I intended to explain, and now bring the questions you have.

The questioner : The hands, if...

The Shaykh : Guide you when rising.

The questioner : Yes, when rising.

The Shaykh : Yes, we have now researched specifically, as we said, only to clarify the difference, what? That the camel rises by supporting itself on the knees, whereas the detail is known that it supports itself on its fists.