I have found no report of bending the finger except in this ḥadith, and since its weakness is now established, it is not legislatively valid to act upon it. Allah knows best.

Regarding his words, “The Shāfiʿīs hold that one points with the finger only once, whereas the Ḥanafīs…,”

I say: none of these specific counts or modes has any foundation in the Sunnah. The view that comes closest to being correct is that of the Ḥanbalīs—were it not that they limit the movement to the mention of the divine name. Yet this restriction does not seem to go back to Aḥmad himself, for Ibn Hāniʾ relates in his Masāʾil, p. 80, that the Imām was asked, “Should a man point with his finger in prayer?” He replied, “Yes—firmly.”

The plain sense of the aforementioned ḥadith of Wāʾil is continuous movement of the finger until the end of the tashahhud (final testimony) without any stipulation or special form, and al-Ṭaḥāwī alluded to the same in Sharḥ al-Maʿānī 1/153.

Benefit: The author did not mention how the worshipper should sit for the tashahhud in a two-rakʿah prayer such as Fajr: should he sit iftirāsh (spreading the left leg and erecting the right) as Aḥmad says, or tawarruk (resting on the left hip with both legs to the right) as al-Shāfiʿī says?

In my judgment the former is correct, on account of the ḥadith of Wāʾil ibn Ḥujr: “I came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and saw him raise his hands when he began the prayer … and when he sat after the two rakʿahs he spread his left leg, erected the right, placed his right hand on his right thigh, pointed with his finger in supplication, and put his left hand on his left leg.” Recorded by al-Nasaʾī 1/173 with a sound chain.

This clearly indicates that the prayer he described was a two-rakʿah prayer, and it is strengthened by the ḥadiths of ʿĀʾishah and Ibn ʿUmar cited earlier by the author concerning the sitting posture between the two prostrations. Thus our position is confirmed, and praise belongs to Allah.