What is the ruling on moving the index finger between the two prostrations?

The Shaykh : All praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own selves and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomsoever He misguides, none can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. As for what follows, a discussion took place in the mosque regarding what I saw some of them doing, moving their index finger between the two prostrations. When I asked them about their evidence for this, some answered that there is a hadith of Ibn 'Umar stating that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to point with his index finger when he sat in prayer. I told him, yes, this exists. His argument is that the sitting here is general, covering all sitting, whether it is the sitting for the tashahhud or the sitting for supplication between the two prostrations. I answered him that the hadith of Ibn 'Umar came in two narrations: one is general and the other is restricted. It is correct to say that it is explanatory. If you are convinced by this, otherwise, refer to Sahih Muslim, and here it is now in Sahih Muslim, which you see before me. Now we will conduct a practical lesson containing some beneficial fiqh, if Allah wills, so that students of knowledge become accustomed to the method of application and reconciling texts, and so that they do not bring forth a worship that was not transmitted from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or from any of the righteous Salaf, based on an understanding of a text in its generality or comprehensiveness. I have mentioned in previous sessions that any general text or any comprehensive text for which the practice of the righteous Salaf did not follow that generality or that part of the comprehensive text, it is not permissible to act upon it by citing that text which was not acted upon. I gave an example of this, saying, "He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: " And I gave an example: if a group entered the mosque for the Sunnah prayer before the obligatory one and they dispersed, each praying alone, as we see today, and this is from the practical Sunnah transmitted from generation to generation, then a caller would call out, "O people, the hand of Allah is with the congregation. Do not disperse in your prayer. Gather in your prayer, and He will bless you in it." And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said such and such, and among what he said is the hadith mentioned earlier: "Pray in congregation." So, did they hit the Sunnah or did they contradict it? I have clarified that this is contrary to the Sunnah, even though the generality of this hadith includes this detail. However, since the practice of the righteous Salaf did not follow this specific congregation, it is not permissible to act upon it, even if the generality of the text includes it. This is a very important rule that many scholars and people of virtue do not pay attention to, let alone those below them in knowledge and virtue, such as the students of knowledge now. We have an example similar to this, which is a new example here in Sahih Muslim, in the margin, in the chapter on the Sunnah of sitting in prayer and how to place the hands on the thighs. On this occasion, I mention, and remembrance benefits the believers, these chapters that you sometimes find in old copies of Sahih Muslim in the margin, and in some new editions you find these chapters in the body of Sahih Muslim. This is an error resulting from an error, which is that these chapters are not the work of Imam Muslim, but rather the work of Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him). Therefore, if they are placed in the margin, that is the truth, and if they are placed in the body of Sahih Muslim, that is the error, because if we place them in the body of Sahih Muslim, we mislead the readers into thinking that these chapters are the work of the compiler Muslim, and that is not the case. Muslim has in his book known as Sahih only the books: the Book of Faith, the Book of Prayer, the Book of Purity, and so on. As for the details that most authors in the Sunan or the Sunan followed, Imam Muslim did not follow them. I hope... after this note or this warning, we say that Muslim narrated in his Sahih with his authentic chain, through the route of Uthman ibn Hakim, who said: "Amir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr narrated to me from his father, who said: " The point is that some people in this era use this hadith as evidence that pointing with the finger is also done in general sitting and between the two prostrations. Why? Because Ibn al-Zubayr said, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to sit in prayer," and he generalized the prayer. Then Imam Muslim repeats this hadith through the route of Ibn 'Ujlan from Amir ibn Abdullah. There, I hope you pay attention, because a reminder of another issue in the chain will come. In the first chain, he presents his chain to Uthman ibn Hakim, and this is from Amir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr from his father, to the end. In the second chain, he presents another chain through the route of Ibn 'Ujlan from Amir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr. So two people met in narrating from Amir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr: the first is Uthman ibn Hakim, and the second is Ibn 'Ujlan, who is Muhammad ibn 'Ujlan. He said, "From Amir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr from his father, who said: " Here, like the first narration, except that the wording differed and the meaning was the same. In the first narration, he sat, and in the other narration, he sat. In the first narration, which is through the route of Uthman ibn Hakim, he said with the wording "sat." As for through the route of Ibn 'Ujlan, it is with the wording "used to sit." So, if he generalizes in both narrations that the pointing was in sitting in prayer, let us follow what Imam Muslim did after the hadith of Ibn Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr through the route of Uthman ibn Hakim and Ibn 'Ujlan from Amir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr. He presented from the route of Nafi' from Ibn 'Umar that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to sit in prayer. Here too, he mentioned sitting and generalized it to the end. Then he presented from the route of Nafi' as well, but the narrator here differs from the narrator in the first route. The first route is from 'Ubaydullah ibn 'Umar from Nafi', and the other route is from Ayub from Nafi' from Ibn 'Umar that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to sit in the tashahhud. Pay attention now, here came an addition in the tashahhud, and with the wording "sat" as mentioned in some of the previous narrations. But in the previous narrations, the sitting was generalized as the sitting was generalized, and the meaning is one, as is clear. But here he said: to the end of what was mentioned.
The Shaykh then cited another chain from al-Muwatta from Ibn 'Umar, narrated by 'Ali ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Ma'awi, who said: "Ibn 'Umar saw me playing with pebbles during the prayer. When he finished, he admonished me and said, 'Do as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do.' I asked, 'How did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) do it?' and so on. This is how this other narration from Ibn 'Umar came; it stated this sitting or this sitting down in general terms, whereas the previous narration explicitly stated that this movement was in the sitting, but specifically in the tashahhud. If we now set aside Sahih Muslim and recall these narrations in our minds, we will find what we mentioned: that one of these narrations qualified the pointing with the finger in the sitting in the tashahhud. This qualification also appeared in other hadiths, not from the narration of Ibn al-Zubayr and not from the narration of Ibn 'Umar, such as the famous narration of Wa'il ibn Hujr, in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) . Thus, the other hadiths came qualified by the pointing or the movement in the tashahhud, and not in general terms. This is regarding the narration from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). I mentioned earlier that I gave an example with a text that is clearer in terms of generality and comprehensiveness than this hadith which stated the sitting and sitting down in general terms, but it came qualified by the tashahhud. I gave as an example his saying (peace be upon him) . Is it correct for us to use this generality as evidence that we should pray the sunnah prayers in congregation? The answer is no. What is the reason, even though the hadith is clear in its indication? The answer is no, because the Salaf did not conduct their practice based on this understanding of this particular aspect of this generality. The same is the case here: the practice of the Salaf was not conducted based on moving the finger between the two prostrations, even if this absolute text came. The absolute text here is like the general text there. Here it said "when he sat," and there it said . We did not act on this generality here for the reason I mentioned earlier, which is that the practice of the Salaf did not follow it. Likewise, we say regarding such hadiths that they should be reconciled, and one should not make every hadith give a ruling different from what the other gave. Rather, we reconcile the hadiths and derive from them a single result: that the absolute movement in some narrations, as you heard, when he sat or sat down, is qualified by his saying "in the tashahhud." This is what I intended to clarify on the occasion of the discussion that took place regarding this hadith of Ibn 'Umar.
Another point that drew your attention is that the hadith of Ibn al-Zubayr came through two paths in Sahih Muslim. The first path is from Uthman ibn Hakim from 'Amir ibn 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr from his father. The other path is from Ibn 'Ajlan from 'Amir ibn 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. In the hadith, as is known, it mentions the pointing with the finger, and it did not explicitly deny the movement that came in the hadith of Wa'il, nor did it affirm it; rather, it said "he pointed." And as we explained in some sessions, both old and new, that his pointing (peace be upon him) in the narration of this Companion, 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, does not deny the movement, and we are not currently in this context.