The Shaykh’s remarks on moving the finger during the tashahhud.

The Shaykh : Perhaps I forgot. I saw you praying a complete prayer according to the Sunnah, but I saw that you do not move your finger. Is it you, or someone else?
The student : We were two, Shaykh.

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : We were two, and it was not...

The Shaykh : I am saying I was lost between you and the second one, so I did not even doubt it. I mean, what is the reason? There must be a reason.
The student : Without a doubt, we naturally researched this hadith in the books of Sunnah and sources, and we found that most of the narrations in this hadith say: without moving it, except for the narration that came from Zayd.

The Shaykh : But, but, stop there.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Your saying "without moving it"—is this a marginal note from you, or is it from the narration?
The student : It is from me.

The Shaykh : ... So just stick to "he points."
The student : He was pointing with it without moving it, naturally, from me.

The Shaykh : How do you know "without moving it"?
The student : The hadith.

The Shaykh : He points.
The student : He points, he does not move, he said.

The Shaykh : He said, as we told you, you have ruined it and added to it. Now you have made the marginal note part of the narration.
The student : No, it is not from the narration.

The Shaykh : You said "he said."
The student : No, he said: .

The Shaykh : Stick to the hadith, I will tell you.
The student : If Allah wills, yes.

The Shaykh : No marginal notes.
The student : No marginal notes.

The Shaykh : Because the one who added the marginal notes did not add "he points."
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : What does "he points" mean?
The student : What I understand from "he points" is he points like this.

The Shaykh : And this is not a pointing?
The student : This is moving and pointing.

The Shaykh : Moving and pointing. Well, if you saw a man from a distance, you would say to him like this.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : What is this, is it not a pointing?
The student : It is a pointing, naturally, and moving.

The Shaykh : And this is a pointing, naturally.
The student : Pointing and moving.

The Shaykh : Well, now here you said "pointing, naturally," then you made a marginal note "pointing and moving." Why? May Allah reward you. I think people will believe that the Arabs have become non-Arabs.
The student : Shaykh, I am a non-Arab.

The Shaykh: No.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : That is not my point, I mean, why? What do you mean?
The student : I am a Circassian.

The Shaykh : A Circassian.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : So we meet here, ha, so there is no surprise.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : That you are a non-Arab, but I thought you were an Arab, so I wanted to say "the Arabs have become non-Arabs." So what do you want to be? My brother, the present tense verb "he points" means he continues to point. May Allah reward you. If you see a person say like this, you say "he pointed."
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : But if you see a person do like this, you say "I saw him pointing." The present tense verb indicates continuity in the language. If you had a chapter on "move," like this movement, you would not say, or I would not say, it does not concern you. Now I concern myself. Now, if I see the door moved, I say "he moved the door." But if he did this, this, and this to the door and you say "he moved the door," you would be a non-Arab. But if you say "I saw him moving the door," you are an Arab, or you are an Arabized person, you are an Arab who has become non-Arab. So the word "present tense verb indicates continuity"—remember this. That is, if you say "I saw so-and-so eating," it is different from if you say "I saw so-and-so ate."
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : If he took a bite, you would believe it when you said "I saw him ate." But if he ate bites, one after another, "I saw him ate" is not correct. You need to be what? Fluent in the Arabic language, you say "I saw him eating." This hadith is: "I saw him pointing"; meaning he points, that is, he moves, because pointing implies repeating the pointing. So when the hadith of Zayd ibn Qudamah came, which you and others think is an anomalous hadith, it is not anomalous. It is the same meaning as the other hadiths, but it is clearer. Clearer for us, the non-Arabs. As for the Arabs, they understand that "he points" and "he moves" are one thing.