Chapter: The permissibility of lying on one’s back and placing one leg over the other when there is no fear of exposing the private parts, and the permissibility of sitting cross-legged or in the posture of ihtibāʾ (sitting with the knees drawn up and the arms clasped round them).

820 – ʿAbd Allah ibn Yazīd related that he saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ lying on his back in the mosque with one of his legs placed over the other. Agreed upon.

821 – Jābir ibn Samurah said: Whenever the Prophet ﷺ had performed the dawn prayer, he would sit cross-legged in his place until the sun rose bright. This is an authentic ḥadīth reported by Abū Dāwūd and others through sound chains.

822 – Ibn ʿUmar said: I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the courtyard of the Kaʿbah sitting in ihtibāʾ, clasping his legs with his hands like this—and he demonstrated the posture with his hands; it is the crouching position known as qurfusāʾ (squatting). Narrated by al-Bukhārī.

823 – Qayla bint Makhramah said: I saw the Prophet ﷺ seated in the crouching posture of qurfusāʾ; when I beheld the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, so humble in the way he sat