when he ﷺ returned the salām of the Anṣār while he was praying! Rather, that gesture was accompanied by movement. Therefore, we should not imagine that those narrations contradict the report that explicitly mentions movement; they may in fact agree with it. In my estimation, this is exactly what motivated those who authenticated the ḥadith and put it into practice, as well as those who acknowledged its soundness yet interpreted it without declaring it anomalous.

What further strengthens this view is the sound report that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to point with his index finger during the Friday sermon, as related by Muslim and others and cited in Irwāʾ, 3/77. The obvious sense is that he moved his finger as a sign of monotheism, not that he merely raised it without motion. Supporting this is the narration of Ibn Khuzaymah in his Ṣaḥīḥ, 2/351, whose chain is weak, from Sahl ibn Saʿd, similar to the ḥadith of ʿUmārah, which states:

“He pointed with his index finger, moving it.”

Ibn Khuzaymah entitled the chapter: “Chapter: The speaker’s pointing with the index finger on the pulpit while supplicating in the sermon, and his moving it when pointing.”

In short, pointing with the index finger does not preclude moving it; indeed, the two may coincide, as demonstrated above. Thus, framing a dispute between them is untenable both linguistically and jurisprudentially.

From this it becomes clear that our Yemeni brother erred when he insisted that pointing rules out movement. Regarding the ḥadith of Ibn ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—in which he said, “It is harsher upon Satan than iron,” meaning the index finger, he remarked:

“This ḥadith contains no mention of movement. I ask: are we more knowledgeable about its meaning than Ibn ʿUmar himself? Nāfiʿ described Ibn ʿUmar’s prayer with the term ‘pointing,’ not ‘moving.’”

I reply: yes, the narration does not explicitly mention movement—yet it does not negate it either; both possibilities remain open.