the first tashahhud and his rising from it, then said: “Until, when he reached the prostration followed by the closing salutation, he sat resting on his hip” (1). This context clearly indicates that this sitting posture was specific to the second tashahhud. And Allah knows best.
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When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, sat for the tashahhud, he would place his right hand on his right thigh, hold his three fingers together (2), and raise his index finger (3). Another wording states: “He curled his three fingers and placed his left hand on his left thigh.” Muslim related this (4) from Ibn Umar.
Wā’il ibn Hujr said: “He placed the edge of his right elbow on his right thigh, then curled two of his fingers and formed a circle, then raised his finger. I saw him moving it as he supplicated with it.” This is recorded in the Sunan collections (5). In Ibn Umar’s hadith in Sahīh Muslim (6), the wording is: “And he formed the finger-sign for fifty-three.”
(1) Reported by al-Dārimī (1396), Abū Dāwūd (730), Ibn Mājah (1061), and al-Bayhaqī (2/72); authenticated by Ibn Hibbān (1876).
(2) The source manuscripts have the numeral in the feminine form. Gender agreement is permissible when the numeral functions as an adjective.
(3) Reported by Muslim (580) from Ibn ‘Umar. The wording more closely resembles that of al-Humaydī in his Musnad (662).
(4) No. (580/116), with similar wording.
(5) Reported by al-Nasā’ī in al-Mujtabā (889, 1268) and al-Kubrā (965, 1191). Its source references were given earlier, together with an explanation that the addition yuharrikuhā (“he moves it”) is anomalous (shādhdha): Zā’ida alone transmitted it, whereas eighteen other narrators did not. It was also reported in abridged form by Ibn Abī Shayba (30295), and by Ahmad (18876), Abū Dāwūd (726, 957), al-Nasā’ī in al-Mujtabā (1265) and al-Kubrā (1189), and al-Bayhaqī (2/72), all through routes other than Zā’ida’s and without this anomalous addition. Its chain of transmission is sound; Ibn Khuzayma authenticated it (713).
(6) No. (580/115).