while the right hand: he folds the little and ring fingers, joins the middle finger to the thumb to form a circle, and leaves the index finger extended, ready to signal monotheism and exaltation. This configuration was known in the old numerical code as “three and fifty.”
4 – Another wording of the ḥadith states that the recommended practice is to clench all four fingers of the right hand and point with the index finger.
These, then, are two legitimate manners of positioning the hands during the two tashahhuds, as established by this report.
5 – In some versions of Ibn ʿUmar’s ḥadith recorded by Muslim (580) it is said: “When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sat in the prayer, he placed his right palm on his right thigh, gathered all his fingers, and pointed with the finger next to the thumb.”
Yet this unrestricted wording must be understood in the light of the restricted narrations, in accordance with the uṣūlī principle, for the following reasons:
First: it differs from numerous narrations about folding the right hand during the tashahhud. Ibn ʿUmar relates: “When he sat for the tashahhud he placed his left hand on his left knee, his right hand on his right, and formed ‘three and fifty.’”
Maqsam, the freedman of ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥārithī, narrates: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to do that, declaring the oneness of his Lord with it.” ⦗al-Bayhaqī 2/133⦘—and that declaration of oneness occurs in the tashahhud.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr reports: “When he sat in the tashahhud, he placed his right hand and pointed with the index finger,” and there are other similarly restricted narrations.
Second: “the sitting in the prayer” is meant for the tashahhud; the sitting between the two prostrations is always identified specifically as “the sitting between the two prostrations.”
Third: the very wording of the unrestricted report indicates that it pertains to the tashahhud, for Muslim narrates (585)