213 – Abū Humayd al-Saʿidī (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “I saw the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. When he pronounced the opening takbīr he raised his hands level with his shoulders. When he bowed, he set his palms firmly on his knees and then straightened his back. When he raised his head he stood upright until every vertebra returned to its proper place. When he prostrated he placed his hands on the ground without spreading them out or clutching them, and he pointed the tips of his toes toward the qiblah. When he sat after two rakʿahs he sat on his left leg and kept the right upright, and when he sat in the final rakʿah he brought his left leg forward, kept the other upright, and sat on his haunches.” Reported by al-Bukhārī (1).

Vocabulary of the ḥadith
• amkana yadayhi: the verb makkana/amkana means “to enable or give mastery.” Thus “he amkana his hands upon his knees” means he placed each hand firmly on its respective knee and grasped it.
• jaʿala yadayhi ḥadhwa mankibayhi: ḥadhwa (with an open ḥāʾ and a silent dhāl) means “parallel to.” In other words, the worshipper raises his hands at the opening takbīr until they are level with his shoulders.
• mankibayhi: the mankib (with an open mīm and a kasrah on the kāf) is the point where the upper arm meets the shoulder.
• haṣara ẓahrahu: the root haṣr originally refers to taking the top of a stick and bending it toward oneself. Al-Khaṭṭābī said: “He bent his back in an even, level manner, without arching.” In al-Bukhārī’s wording, the sounder reading is ḥattā ẓahrahu—with an undotted ḥāʾ—meaning “until his back (was level).”