So the question remains: is the standing posture more virtuous, or the prostration? According to our school, as stated in Sharh al-Zad, “performing many bowings and prostrations is better than lengthening the standing,” provided no specific text has prescribed making the standing long; they base this on the hadith under discussion.

Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn declared: the sound conclusion is that the remembrance spoken during the standing—namely the Qur’anic recitation—is superior to the remembrance uttered in bowing and prostration, whereas the very acts of bowing and prostration are themselves superior to the mere act of standing. Thus the two elements counter-balance one another, and for this reason the Prophet’s ﷺ prayer was evenly balanced.