two feet that are spread apart. Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Khuzaymah likewise states that the Prophet ﷺ would place his feet together while in prostration.

As for the knees, they remain in their natural position—he neither presses them together nor forces them apart; they stay just as they normally are.

Among his ﷺ invocations was: “O Allah, I seek refuge in Your pleasure from Your wrath.” That is, he sought refuge with Allah—through righteous deeds—from evil deeds, for evil deeds incur anger and wrath whereas righteous deeds earn pleasure. A thing is remedied only by its opposite: wrath is countered by pleasure, so he sought shelter in pleasure from wrath.

He would also say: “and in Your pardon from Your punishment,” meaning, “I seek refuge in Your pardon from sins, their traces, and the punishments they entail—that is, from Your punishment for those sins.” This wording implicitly includes a plea for forgiveness.

And he said: “and I seek refuge in You from You.” This is broader and more comprehensive, for he seeks refuge in Allah from Allah Himself; there is no escape and no sanctuary from Allah except with Him. No one can deliver you from Allah’s punishment but Allah, so you seek refuge in Allah from Allah—that is, from His punishment and from whatever else He decrees.

All of this supports what we mentioned about keeping the feet together in prostration. It also shows that the Prophet ﷺ would sometimes perform voluntary prayers in the mosque, even though offering them at home is better, as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The best prayer a person offers is in his home, except for the obligatory prayers.” Yet he ﷺ would at times pray