its import that one is to lean on the hands when rising. Even those who did not put it into practice concede its indication, although they refrained from acting on it, imagining that this was only because of the Messenger’s (peace and blessings be upon him) advanced age. See al-Mughni by Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisī, 1/569.

As for the respected contemporary mentioned above, he has produced something that the earlier authorities never voiced. On p. 16 he says:

“This sound hadith is not explicit about supporting oneself on the ground with the hands; therefore it may be understood both of leaning on the hands and of leaning on the knees when rising.”

He says this of his own accord, seeking thereby to weaken the hadith’s force, while knowing that all the imams—those who acted upon it and those who did not—understood it contrary to his claim, as has already been noted. Here, for instance, is Imām al-Shāfiʿī, the Arab Qurashī, who writes in his book al-Umm 1/101, after citing the hadith:

“On the basis of this we rule that anyone who rises from prostration or from sitting in the prayer should lean on the ground with both hands, following the Sunnah.”

And here is Imām Aḥmad—who is reported to have held that one should rise on the balls of the feet—when he quoted the hadith of Ibn al-Huwayrith in Masāʾil Ibnihi, p. 81/286. He cited it in a wording that nullifies the second possibility:

“…He sat before standing, then stood up and did not rise on the balls of his feet.”

This is the only meaning that any genuine Arab, unmixed with the taint of foreignness, would understand!

2 – After setting out the variant wordings of the hadith of Ibn al-Huwayrith he said:

“None of its versions contains the phrase ‘with his hands,’ i.e. ‘he leaned on the ground with his hands.’ Some researchers have categorically stated that this wording occurs in none of the narrations, as ʿAbd-Allāh al-Amīr concluded, according to what al-Albānī mentioned in al-Daʿīfa 2/392.”

I say: What I quoted there is evidence against him, had he presented it in full; instead, he selects from it only what