How to lower oneself into prostration in prayer
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The Shaykh : Likewise, the scholars also differed on whether, when a person prostrates, he should place his hands first or his feet, i.e., his knees? Some said to place the hands first, and some said to place the knees first. Each of the two groups argued with evidence. So, when people differ on an issue like this, does that become a cause for dislike? No, it is never from Satan, who wants to sow enmity and hatred between you. The stronger position in this issue is that a person should place his knees before his hands, because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Sunan Abi Dawud 840Sahih (Al-Albani) Pay attention to the comparison so that the matter becomes clear to you. The comparison is with the posture, the posture of prostration. And when you see a camel kneel down, you find that it lowers its hands before its feet, is that not so? Or have you not seen a camel?
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : Yes, the camel is seen.
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : What does it have, hands? It walks on its hump, does it?!
The student: It walks on four legs.
The Shaykh : Yes, the first two are hands.
The student: Hands?
The Shaykh : Yes, and the other two are legs.
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : Yes, it walks on four, but it did not say four legs.
So it has two hands and two legs. If we look at the kneeling of the camel, we find that it lowers what? The front of its body before the back. If the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had said, "Do not kneel as the camel kneels," the difference between the two expressions: if he had said "as the camel kneels," we would say do not kneel on the knees, because the camel kneels on its knees, there is no doubt, and no one denies that the camel's knees are in its hands and that it kneels on them; there is no issue with that. But the wording of the hadith does not support this: "Do not kneel as [it] kneels," he did not say "as [it] kneels." So, if we differ on this issue and we find a person praying next to us who places his hands first, and another who places his knees first, is it permissible for us, while we are one community, to make this disagreement a cause for dislike? No, rather I say: as long as you have differed with me because this is the truth in your view and you are following the evidence, then you are actually in agreement with me, because I have not differed with you except in accordance with the evidence I have. So the action is one and the goal is one, and it is not befitting for us to mislead one another with such issues in which there is room for independent legal reasoning.
when one of you prostrates himself he must not kneel in the manner of camel
إذا سجد أحدكم فلا يبرك كما يبرك البعيرThe student: ... .
The Shaykh : Yes, the camel is seen.
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : What does it have, hands? It walks on its hump, does it?!
The student: It walks on four legs.
The Shaykh : Yes, the first two are hands.
The student: Hands?
The Shaykh : Yes, and the other two are legs.
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : Yes, it walks on four, but it did not say four legs.
So it has two hands and two legs. If we look at the kneeling of the camel, we find that it lowers what? The front of its body before the back. If the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had said, "Do not kneel as the camel kneels," the difference between the two expressions: if he had said "as the camel kneels," we would say do not kneel on the knees, because the camel kneels on its knees, there is no doubt, and no one denies that the camel's knees are in its hands and that it kneels on them; there is no issue with that. But the wording of the hadith does not support this: "Do not kneel as [it] kneels," he did not say "as [it] kneels." So, if we differ on this issue and we find a person praying next to us who places his hands first, and another who places his knees first, is it permissible for us, while we are one community, to make this disagreement a cause for dislike? No, rather I say: as long as you have differed with me because this is the truth in your view and you are following the evidence, then you are actually in agreement with me, because I have not differed with you except in accordance with the evidence I have. So the action is one and the goal is one, and it is not befitting for us to mislead one another with such issues in which there is room for independent legal reasoning.