—the thumb resting against the index as though one were forming the number fifty-three.
Sending blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ is obligatory in the final tashahhud, while the more reliable view is that it is merely recommended in the first. Mentioning his family in that first tashahhud is, on the sound position, not recommended; in the last it is recommended, though some have held it to be obligatory.
The perfect wording of the tashahhud is well known. Its minimum form is:
“Al-taḥiyyātu lillāh. Salāmun ʿalayka ayyuhā ʾl-nabiyyu wa raḥmatullāhi wa barakātuh. Salāmun ʿalaynā wa ʿalā ʿibādillāhi ʾl-ṣāliḥīn. Ashhadu an lā ilāha illā ʾllāh, wa ashhadu anna Muḥammadan Rasūlullāh.”
Another opinion is that one omits “wa barakātuh” and “ʾl-ṣāliḥīn,” and says instead: “wa anna Muḥammadan Rasūluh.”
I say: the sounder view is to say “wa ashhadu anna Muḥammadan Rasūlullāh,” for this wording is recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. Allah knows best.
The least that fulfils the prayer upon the Prophet ﷺ and his family is: “Allāhumma ṣalli ʿalā Muḥammad wa āl Muḥammad.” Extending it to “Ḥamīd Majīd” is sunnah in the final tashahhud, as is the supplication that follows; the transmitted formulas are superior, such as: “O Allah, forgive me what I have done earlier and later…” It is recommended not to lengthen what follows beyond the span of the tashahhud and the blessings on the Prophet ﷺ. Whoever is unable to recite these in Arabic may render them in another language; the same concession applies to the recommended supplications and remembrances for one who is incapable, not for one who is able, according to the sounder opinion.
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The closing salām. Its bare minimum is to say: “al-salāmu ʿalaykum,” and the sounder view allows “salāmun ʿalaykum.” I say: the correct, explicit position is that “salāmun ʿalaykum” is insufficient, and Allah knows best. No intention of exiting the prayer is required. The most complete form is to say: “al-salāmu ʿalaykum wa raḥmatullāh” twice, to the right and then to the left, turning in the first until one sees the right cheek and in the second until the left, intending peace upon the angels, humans, and jinn on one’s right and left. The imam intends peace upon the congregants, and they intend their return salutation to him.
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Maintaining the prescribed order of the pillars, as outlined earlier. Whoever deliberately upsets that order—for example, by prostrating before bowing—invalidates his prayer. If he forgets, everything performed after the omitted pillar is void; if he remembers before reaching a pillar of the same type, he performs it, otherwise his rakʿah is deemed complete with what he has done.