and he would cast his gaze toward it—or thereabouts]. Whenever he pointed with that finger he placed his thumb on his middle finger; at other times he would join the two of them to form a ring.
Whenever he raised his index finger he moved it while supplicating, and he would say, “It is more devastating to Satan than iron,” meaning the index finger itself. The Companions of the Prophet ﷺ used to correct one another about this—namely, pointing with the finger during supplication. He ﷺ practiced it in both tashahhuds. On seeing a man supplicate with two fingers the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Make it one, make it one,” and he pointed with his index finger. ⦗838–859⦘
Obligation of the first tashahhud and the legitimacy of supplication in it
Then, in every two rakʿahs he ﷺ would recite the Tahiyyat, and the very first words he uttered upon sitting were: “al-Tahiyyatu lillah.” If he forgot it in the first two rakʿahs he performed the prostration of forgetfulness. He ordered its recitation, saying, “When you sit after every two rakʿahs, say: al-Tahiyyat … etc., and let each of you choose the supplication he likes best and ask Allah with it.” In another wording: “Say in every sitting: al-Tahiyyat …” He also enjoined it upon the man who prayed incorrectly, as noted earlier. He ﷺ used to teach them the tashahhud just as he taught them a surah from the Quran, and the sunnah is to recite it softly. ⦗860–869⦘
Formulations of the tashahhud
He ﷺ taught them several formulations of the tashahhud:
- The tashahhud of Ibn Masʿūd. He said, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ taught me the tashahhud—my hand was between his two hands—just as he would teach me a chapter from the Quran:
al-Tahiyyatu lillah, al-ṣalawatu, al-ṭayyibat. Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Peace be upon us and upon the righteous slaves of Allah—for when he says this it reaches every righteous slave in heaven and earth. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.”
[He was still among us, and when he passed away we used to say, “Peace be upon the Prophet.”]
Before that—before the tashahhud was prescribed—they used to say: “Peace be upon Allah before His servants; peace be upon us from our Lord; peace be upon Gabriel; peace be upon Michael; peace be upon so-and-so and so-and-so,” meaning the angels. Then, when the Prophet ﷺ finished the prayer on one occasion, he turned toward us and said, “Do not say: Peace be upon Allah, for Allah Himself is Peace. When one of you sits in…"