rabbī al-aʿlā” (Glory be to my Lord, the Most High) three times. One who is praying alone adds: “O Allah, to You I have prostrated; in You I believe; to You I submit. My face has prostrated to the One who created it, fashioned it, and opened for it hearing and sight. Blessed is Allah, the Best of creators.”
He places his hands level with his shoulders, spreads his fingers while keeping them together toward the qiblah, separates his knees, and raises his abdomen from his thighs and his elbows from his sides in both bowing and prostration. A woman and an intersex person, however, keep their limbs close to the body.
- Sitting between the two prostrations with composure. He must neither intend another act by rising, nor prolong this sitting, nor treat it as an iʿtidāl. Its optimal form is to pronounce the takbīr, sit in iftirāsh, place his hands near his knees with the fingers spread, and say: “Lord, forgive me, have mercy on me, mend my state, raise me, provide for me, guide me, and grant me well-being.” Then he performs the second prostration as he did the first. The well-known view is that, after the second prostration of every rakʿah, one sits briefly before rising.
9–11. The tashahhud, the sitting for it, and invoking blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ. The tashahhud and its sitting are pillars if followed by the closing salām; otherwise they are sunnah. Any sitting posture suffices, yet in the first tashahhud it is recommended to sit in iftirāsh: he sits on the ball of his left foot, erects his right foot, and points its toes toward the qiblah. In the last tashahhud he sits in tawarruk, which is like iftirāsh except that he brings his left leg out to the right side and rests his hip on the ground. The sounder view is that a late-comer and one who has forgotten both use iftirāsh. In both sittings he places his left hand at the edge of his knees with the fingers spread and not joined.
I say: the more correct position is that they be joined, and Allah knows best. From his right hand he folds the little and ring fingers—and, according to the more apparent view, the middle finger as well—leaving the index finger extended. He raises it when he says “illā Allāh” (except Allah) and does not move it. The stronger opinion is that the thumb should rest against it.