(1) Narrated from Wail ibn Hujr: “I came to the Messenger of Allah, and I saw him raise his hands to the level of his shoulders when he began the prayer and when he intended to bow. When he sat after two rakahs he spread his left leg and kept his right leg upright, placed his right hand on his right thigh, pointed with his finger in supplication, and laid his left hand on his left thigh. I returned the following year and found them raising their hands while wearing their cloaks.” Recorded by al-Nasai, 1/173, through the chain: Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Yazid al-Muqri — Sufyan — Asim ibn Kulayb — his father — Wail. The chain is sound; all its transmitters are those of Muslim except Muhammad ibn Abdullah, who is reliable according to Taqrib. The hadith is an explicit proof for iftirash (sitting with the left foot laid flat and the right foot upright) in two-rakah prayers such as Fajr. The scholars who build on it most are Imam Ahmad, followed by Abu Hanifah and al-Thawri, whereas Malik and al-Shafii maintain that the sunnah here is tawarruk (sitting with both legs to the right)—a question that will be discussed later under “the final tashahhud.” This hadith overturns their view.