the tahmid: “filling the heavens1, filling the earth, and filling whatever You will beyond that;”
• uttering more than one tasbīḥ while bowing and prostrating, as well as the phrase “My Lord, forgive me;”
• and—in the final tashahhud—sending blessings upon his family, asking Allah to bless him and them, and making supplication afterward.
The Sunnah bodily acts—also called the postures2—are:
• raising the hands with the opening takbīr3, when going into bowing, and when rising from it, then lowering them immediately thereafter;
• placing the right hand over the left and positioning them below the navel;
• directing one’s gaze to the place of prostration4;
• keeping the feet apart while standing;
• gripping the knees with both hands, the fingers spread, during bowing;
• straightening the back in that posture and keeping the head level with it5 6;
• beginning the prostration by placing the knees first, then the hands, then the forehead and nose;
• firmly setting the limbs of prostration on the ground so that they touch the spot of prostration—except for the knees, for that is disliked;
• and distancing the upper arms from the sides and the abdomen.
(1) The wording cited here follows the narration of Abd Allah b. Abi Awfa in Sahih Muslim, 205/476. In Muslim’s transmission of Abu Sa id al-Khudri (205/477) and likewise in al-Iqna, 1/135, the expression “al-samawat” (the heavens) is used. Al-Furu, 1/432, remarks that this is the version best known in the reports. The text adopted in al-Muntaha, 1/90, al-Ghaya, 1/91, as well as by Imam Ahmad and many later Hanbali jurists, is the form that appears in the present work.
(2) This ruling is given because the word in question functions as a descriptive attribute of something else (Nayl al-Marib, 1/142).
(3) Nayl al-Marib, 1/142, adds two further requirements: (a) that both hands be kept flat; (b) that the fingers remain joined when pronouncing the opening takbir of the prayer.
(4) Nayl al-Marib also lists: (a) saying the opening takbir aloud; (b) reciting the Quran with tartil (measured intonation); (c) rendering the prayer light; (d) lengthening the first rak a; (e) shortening the second.
(5) The manuscripts B, M, and J read the verb “ja ala” in this place.
(6) Manuscript N inserts the phrase “wa mujafatat ududayhi” (keeping his upper arms away from his sides) after the words “his head is level with him.”
(7) Manuscript N has “bi-mahal” with the preposition ba instead of the lam found in the other copies.