What is the ruling on raising the index finger during supplication between the two prostrations?
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The questioner : In the name of Allah, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon the Messenger of Allah.
May Allah forgive you, O honorable Shaykh. What is your opinion, O Shaykh, regarding raising the index finger in the supplication recited in the sitting between the two prostrations in prayer?
The Shaykh : Yes, what I see is that it is a recommended practice (sunnah). What I see is that it is a recommended practice (sunnah). I have predecessors in this matter, among them: the hadith of Wa'il ibn Hujr in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, about which al-Sa'ati said: its chain is good, and al-Arna'ut said in Zad al-Ma'ad: it is authentic. In it, there is an explicit statement that placing the right hand between the two prostrations is like placing it in the tashahhud, exactly the same.
I have another predecessor—and it is known that the first predecessors are the role models, namely the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)—and that is Ibn al-Qayyim in Zad al-Ma'ad. He also explicitly stated that placing the hands between the two prostrations is like placing them in the tashahhuds.
I also have a basis: it is to say, "Bring a hadith, or a single letter from a hadith, that indicates that the right hand is spread on the thigh as the left hand is spread."
You will not find a way to that, meaning: there is not a single letter in the hadith that says: and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) spread his right hand on his thigh.
As for the left hand, the recommended practice (sunnah) in this is explicit that it is spread on the thigh, or placed on the knee. All of this is permissible, and they are two descriptions.
But the question remains: when do we point with it? When do we point with it? Do we leave it always like this, like this, meaning, or what? What I understood from the Sunnah is that it is pointed with during supplication. A person moves it upward every time he supplicates. The appropriateness in this is that the supplication is directed to whom? To Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And pointing upward is a sign to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This is what became clear to me in this issue. Yes.
May Allah forgive you, O honorable Shaykh. What is your opinion, O Shaykh, regarding raising the index finger in the supplication recited in the sitting between the two prostrations in prayer?
The Shaykh : Yes, what I see is that it is a recommended practice (sunnah). What I see is that it is a recommended practice (sunnah). I have predecessors in this matter, among them: the hadith of Wa'il ibn Hujr in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, about which al-Sa'ati said: its chain is good, and al-Arna'ut said in Zad al-Ma'ad: it is authentic. In it, there is an explicit statement that placing the right hand between the two prostrations is like placing it in the tashahhud, exactly the same.
I have another predecessor—and it is known that the first predecessors are the role models, namely the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)—and that is Ibn al-Qayyim in Zad al-Ma'ad. He also explicitly stated that placing the hands between the two prostrations is like placing them in the tashahhuds.
I also have a basis: it is to say, "Bring a hadith, or a single letter from a hadith, that indicates that the right hand is spread on the thigh as the left hand is spread."
You will not find a way to that, meaning: there is not a single letter in the hadith that says: and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) spread his right hand on his thigh.
As for the left hand, the recommended practice (sunnah) in this is explicit that it is spread on the thigh, or placed on the knee. All of this is permissible, and they are two descriptions.
But the question remains: when do we point with it? When do we point with it? Do we leave it always like this, like this, meaning, or what? What I understood from the Sunnah is that it is pointed with during supplication. A person moves it upward every time he supplicates. The appropriateness in this is that the supplication is directed to whom? To Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And pointing upward is a sign to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This is what became clear to me in this issue. Yes.