Explanation of the ruling on pointing with the finger while sitting between the two prostrations.

The Shaykh: Praise is 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 mislead, and whomsoever He leaves to mislead, none can guide. And 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 which says: "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to point with his index finger when he sat in prayer." I said to him: Yes, this exists. His argument is that the sitting here is general, so it includes 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 specific. It is correct to say that it is explanatory. If you are convinced by this, otherwise refer to "Sahih Muslim." Here it is now, "Sahih Muslim," which you see before me. Now we will conduct a practical lesson in it, containing some beneficial fiqh, if Allah wills, so that students of knowledge become accustomed to the method of application and reconciling texts, 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. And I have mentioned in past sessions that: "Any general text or any comprehensive text where 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, his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): And so on. And I built upon that and gave an example of it: If a group entered the mosque for the Sunnah prayer before the obligatory one and they dispersed, each praying alone, then a caller called out to them—each praying alone as we see today, and this is from the practical Sunnah transmitted from generation to generation—a caller called out: "O people, the hand of Allah is upon the congregation. Do not disperse in your prayer. Gather in your prayer, and it will be blessed for you." And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said such and such. And among what he said was the hadith mentioned earlier: ; so they prayed in congregation. 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 of it. But because 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 students of knowledge!
Now we have something similar to this example, and it is a new example. Here in "Sahih Muslim" in the margin: "Chapter on the Sunnah of Sitting," or "Chapter on the Sunnah of Sitting in Prayer and the Method of Placing the Hands on the Thighs."
On this occasion, I remind you, and the reminder benefits the believers. These chapters that you find sometimes in the old copies of "Sahih Muslim" you find in the margin, and in the printings—or in some of the new printings—you find these chapters in "Sahih Muslim." This is an error arising from an error, and that is that these chapters are not the work of Imam Muslim, but rather they are 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 author Muslim, and that is not the case. Muslim has in his book known as "Al-Sahih" only the books: "Book of Faith, Book of Prayer, Book of Purification, and so on." As for the details that most authors in the Sunnah or in the Sunan followed, Imam Muslim did not follow them. I hope...
After this observation or this note, we say:
Muslim narrated in his "Sahih" with his authentic chain from the route of Uthman ibn Hakim. He narrated to me Amir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr from his father, who said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to, when he sat in prayer, place his left foot between his thighs, between his thigh and his leg, spread his right foot, place his left hand on his left knee, and place his right hand on his right thigh, and point with his finger."
The point is: Some people in this era use this hadith as evidence that pointing with the finger is also done in general sitting, and between it and the two prostrations. Why? Because Ibn al-Zubayr said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to, when he sat in prayer," so he generalized the prayer. Then Imam Muslim repeats this hadith from the route of Ibn Ajlan from Amir ibn Abdullah. There—please pay attention, because a reminder of another issue 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, and from the route of Ibn Ajlan from Amir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr. So two met in narrating from Amir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr: the first is Uthman ibn Hakim, and the other is Ibn Ajlan—and he is Muhammad ibn Ajlan. He said: From Amir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr from his father, who said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to, when he sat to supplicate." Here, like the first narration; except that the wording differed and the meaning was the same. In the first narration: "sat," and in the other narration: "sat down." In the first narration, which is from the route of Uthman ibn Hakim, he used the word: "sat." As for from the route of Ibn Ajlan, he used the word: "used to, when he sat down." So he generalized 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 from the route of Uthman ibn Hakim and Ibn Ajlan 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, when he sat in prayer." Also here he mentioned sitting and generalized it to the end. Then he presented from the route of Nafi'—also—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 Ayyub from Nafi' from Ibn Umar: "That the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to, when he sat in the tashahhud"—pay attention now—here came an addition: "in the tashahhud," and with the word: "sat down," as mentioned in some of the previous narrations. But in the previous narration, the sitting down was generalized as the sitting was generalized, and the meaning is one, as is clear. But here he said: "He used to, when he sat in the tashahhud, place his left hand on his left knee," to the end of what was mentioned.
He then presented another route from Ibn Umar. The narrator Ali ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Ma'awi said that he said: Abdullah ibn Umar saw me playing with pebbles in prayer. When he finished, he forbade me and said: Do as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do. I said: How did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do? He said: "He used to, when he sat in prayer, place his right palm on his right thigh," to the end. This other narration from Ibn Umar generalized this sitting or this sitting down, while the narration before it explicitly stated that this movement was in sitting down, but in the tashahhud.
If we now set aside *Sahih Muslim* and keep these narrations in our minds, we will find what we mentioned: that none of these narrations restricted the pointing with the finger to the sitting in the tashahhud. This restriction is what also appeared in other hadiths, other than the narration of Ibn al-Zubayr and other than the narration of Ibn 'Umar; such as the well-known narration of Wa'il ibn Hujr, in which it is stated: "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he sat in the tashahhud, placed his left hand on his left thigh and his right hand on his right thigh, gathered his fingers, circled with his thumb and middle finger, and pointed with the index finger, and I saw him moving it, supplicating with it." Thus, the other hadiths came restricting the pointing or the movement to the tashahhud, and not in an absolute sense. This is from the perspective of the narration from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
I said earlier, and I gave as an example a text that is clearer in terms of generality and comprehensiveness than this hadith which mentioned sitting and sitting down in an absolute sense, but it came restricted to 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 practice of the Salaf did not proceed on this understanding of this particular aspect of this generality. The matter is the same here; the practice of the Salaf did not proceed on moving the finger between the two prostrations, and 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 proceed on it. And so we say regarding such hadiths that they are to be reconciled, and it is not to be made that every hadith gives a ruling other than what the other gave. Rather, we reconcile between 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 restricted by the statement: "in the tashahhud." This is what I intended to explain on the occasion of the discussion that may have taken place regarding this hadith of Ibn 'Umar.