(1) Al-Nihaya states: “For every letter there is a hadd (limit), that is, an endpoint; the extremity of anything is its hadd.” I understand this to mean that, in this sitting, he did not flare his right elbow away from his side; for had he done so, the end of the elbow would not have rested on the thigh but would have protruded beyond it. I later found Ibn al-Qayyim affirming the same in Zad al-Maad (1/92): “He ﷺ would rest his right forearm on his right thigh without separating it, so that the elbow ended at the far edge of the thigh, while the left arm lay with the fingers outstretched on the left thigh.” (2) The report is from the hadith of Wail b. Hujr, who said: “I said, ‘I shall watch the prayer of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to see how he prays.’ He stood, faced the qibla, raised his hands until they were level with his ears, then clasped his left hand with his right. When he intended to bow he raised them again in the same way and placed his hands on his knees. On rising from bowing he raised them likewise. When he prostrated he put his head where his hands had been. Then he sat, spread out his left leg, placed his left hand on his left thigh, set the end of his right elbow on his right thigh, folded two fingers and formed a ring, and I saw him do this”—Bishr pointed with the index finger of his right hand and made a circle with the thumb and middle finger. It was recorded by Abu Dawud (1/115) and al-Nasaʾi (1/186) through the chain of Bishr b. al-Mufaddal, from Asim b. Kulayb, from his father, from Wail. The same wording is corroborated by Zuhayr b. Muʿawiya and Abd al-Wahid b. Ziyad (Ahmad 2/316, 318), by Zaʾida (al-Nasaʾi), and by others; all transmit it from Asim.