Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it: Isḥāq narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Razzāq, from Ibn ʿUyaynah.
I say: This is a good chain of transmission.
He also narrated it (3/105/2), through this chain, from Ibn Jurayj, who said: Abū al-Zubayr informed me that he heard Ṭāwūs say:
“I said to Ibn ʿAbbās about sitting back upon the feet: ‘Is it Sunnah?’ He replied, ‘It is the Sunnah.’ I said, ‘We certainly consider it hard on a man!’ He said, ‘It is the Sunnah of your Prophet.’”
Muslim and Abū ʿAwānah also narrated it in their respective Ṣaḥīḥs, as did al-Bayhaqī (2/119), through another route from Ibn Jurayj with the same wording.
This is an authentic chain, in which both Ibn Jurayj and Abū al-Zubayr explicitly stated direct transmission.
It also has another route from Ibn ʿAbbās, narrated by Ibn Isḥāq, who said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Najīḥ al-Makkī narrated to me, from Mujāhid ibn Jabr, Abū al-Ḥajjāj, who said: “I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās mention the Prophet’s—peace and blessings be upon him—sitting upon his heels with the fronts of his feet upright between the two prostrations when he prayed. I said to him, ‘O Abū al-ʿAbbās! By Allah, we used to consider this an awkward practice for whoever did it!’ He said, ‘It is Sunnah.’”
Al-Bayhaqī narrated it.
I say: Its chain is good, and Ibn Isḥāq likewise explicitly stated direct transmission.
Al-Bayhaqī then narrated, through another authentic chain, from Abū Zuhayr Muʿāwiyah ibn Ḥudayj, who said:
“I saw Ṭāwūs sitting in the heel-resting posture, so I said, ‘I saw you sitting in this posture!’ He replied, ‘You saw me sitting in that posture? But it is part of the prayer. I saw the three ʿAbd Allāhs doing it: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, and ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr. They used to do it.’” Abū Zuhayr said: “And I saw him sitting in that posture.”
I say: This hadith and these reports constitute evidence that the aforementioned heel-resting posture is legislated, that it is a Sunnah practiced as an act of worship, and that it is not restricted to cases of excuse, as some partisan zealots have claimed. How could that be, when these