ways—whether one descends for sujud on the knees or on the hands—and it seems that he did not have this text before him when he wrote his fatwa. Allah knows best. (1) He put them directly on the ground while prostrating; by “hands” he meant the inner surfaces of the palms and the fingers. This shows that placing the forehead and the hands on the ground in sujud is obligatory because they are explicitly commanded, just as one must also prostrate on the nose, the knees, and the feet, as will be mentioned later. This is the view held by most scholars. (2) This is the hadith of Abdullah ibn Umar, related as a marfu report (*). Recorded by Abu Dawud (1/142) through Ahmad—who also included it in his Musnad (2/6)—by al-Nasa’i (1/165), Ibn Khuzayma (1/79/2 = 1/320/630), al-Siraj, al-Hakim (1/226), al-Bayhaqi (2/101) through al-Hakim, and al-Maqdisi in al-Mukhtara, all through the chain Ismail ibn Ibrahim → Ayyub → Nafiʿ → Ibn ʿUmar in marfu form. Al-Hakim declared it sound according to the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim, a judgment endorsed by al-Dhahabi. Al-Bayhaqi (2/102), al-Siraj, and al-Maqdisi also transmitted it via Wahib from Ayyub, wording it: “from Ibn ʿUmar, from the Prophet…,” and this chain is likewise sound. Al-Bayhaqi added: “Thus he narrated it; Ismail ibn ʿUlayya—that is, Ibn Ibrahim—reported it from Ayyub as marfu, whereas Hammad ibn Zayd reported it from Ayyub as the statement of Ibn ʿUmar, and Ibn Abi Layla narrated it from Nafiʿ as marfu.” _________ (*) It is also cited in Irwa al-Ghalil, no. 313.