The third view: one does not say the takbir at all.

“And he sits and says the salām, but does not recite the tashahhud, …”

His statement, “And he sits and says the salām, but does not recite the tashahhud”: “he sits” means that this is obligatory. However, it is a sitting in which there is no remembrance except for one thing: the salām, once to his right. Hence he said, “and he says the salām, but does not recite the tashahhud.” Thus, this prostration includes a takbir before it and a takbir after it, sitting, and the salām, but it does not include the tashahhud, because the tashahhud is only prescribed in the prayer.

However, the sunnah indicates that there is no takbir when rising, nor any salām, unless it is performed during the prayer. In that case, he must say the takbir when he prostrates and when he rises, because when it is performed within the prayer, it takes the ruling of the prayer. Even those who hold that it is permissible to prostrate in a direction other than the qiblah do not hold this when one is in prayer.

The evidence for this is what Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated: the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “prostrated at ‘When the sky is split open’ during the ‘Isha’ prayer.” (1)

It is also authentically established that he would say the takbir with every rising and lowering (2), and the prostration of recitation falls under this general wording. As for what some imams do—saying the takbir when they prostrate for a verse of prostration during the prayer, but not when they rise—this is based on an erroneous understanding, not on knowledge. Having seen that some scholars preferred saying the takbir in the prostration of recitation when prostrating but not when rising, they assumed that this applied both within and outside the prayer. But this is not so. Rather, when the prostration is performed during the prayer, one says the takbir when prostrating and when rising, as mentioned previously.

Note: The author, may Allah have mercy on him, did not mention what one says in this prostration. So what should one say?