keeping his hands away from his sides, and then he would prostrate. At times he would also raise his hands as he went down into prostration. ⦗706–713⦘

Going down into prostration on the hands
He used to set his hands on the ground before his knees, and he instructed the same, saying, “When any one of you prostrates, let him not drop the way a camel drops; rather, let him place his hands down before his knees.” ⦗714–724⦘

The manner of his prostration
He said, “The two hands prostrate just as the face prostrates; so when one of you places his face on the ground, let him place his hands, and when he lifts (his face), let him lift them as well.” He would lean on his palms—spreading them out—bring his fingers together, and direct them toward the qiblah. He would set them level with his shoulders and, at times, in line with his ears.

He would press both his nose and his forehead firmly to the ground, and he said to the man who prayed poorly, “When you prostrate, make your prostration firm.” In another wording: “When you prostrate and you have set your face and hands down, let every bone settle into its place.”

He also said, “No prayer is valid for the one whose nose does not touch the ground as the forehead does.”

He would likewise plant his knees and the tips of his feet on the ground, turning the fronts and toes of his feet toward the qiblah. He kept his feet upright and commanded others to do so. He would spread the toes and join the heels together, and he raised his posterior.

Thus he ﷺ prostrated on seven limbs: the two palms, the two knees, the two feet, and the forehead together with the nose. He counted the last two as one, saying, “I have been commanded—indeed, we have been commanded—to prostrate on seven bones: the forehead”—and he indicated his nose—“the two hands,” in another wording “the two palms,” “the two knees, and the tips of the two feet; and do not gather up your clothes or hair.”

He also said, “When the servant prostrates, seven body parts prostrate with him: his face, his two hands, his two knees, and his two feet.”

Concerning a man who prayed with his hair tied behind his head, he remarked, “This man is like someone who prays while his hands are bound together,” and he added, “That is Satan’s perch,” meaning the place where Satan sits and digs in his claws.

He would not lay his forearms along the ground; rather, he forbade doing so. Instead, he lifted them and distanced them from his sides until the whiteness of his armpits could be seen from behind, so that if a small lamb wished to pass beneath his arms it could do so. He took this so far that some of his Companions said, “We used to feel compassion for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ because of how far he separated his arms from his sides when he prostrated.” He instructed the same, saying, “When you prostrate, place your palms on the ground and lift…"