alone, without a herald shouting ahead of him, and without wearing a taylasān (mantle), a tarha (head covering), or black garments (1).

When he entered the mosque, he would greet them. When he ascended the pulpit, he would face the people and greet them. He did not supplicate facing the direction of prayer. He would then sit down, and Bilāl would begin the call to prayer. Once Bilāl had finished, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would stand and deliver the sermon, with nothing intervening between the call to prayer and the sermon—neither the narration of a report nor anything else.

He would not hold a sword or anything else in his hand. Before the pulpit was made, however, he would lean on a bow or a staff (2). In war, he would lean on a bow, and on Fridays, on a staff. There is no recorded report that he leaned on a sword.

The belief of some ignorant people that he always leaned on a sword, and that this signified that the religion was established by the sword, stems from their profound ignorance (3). After the pulpit was made, there is no recorded report that he ascended it with a sword, a bow, or anything else; nor is there any report that, before it was made, he ever held a sword in his hand. Rather, he would lean on a staff or a bow.