final tashahhud, the contradiction is removed, and this matches the detailed description given in the hadith of Abu Humayd. Allah knows best. This is all the proof we have found for the proponents of this view, and—as the foregoing analysis shows—not a single one of those proofs withstands scrutiny. As for the second position, its adherents cite the recently mentioned report from Ibn ʿUmar that he used to sit on his left hip. The reply, made clear earlier, is that this narration refers to the final tashahhud so that it can be reconciled with the contrary report; taken together, the two narrations support Ahmad’s view over that of Malik. I have found another argument advanced for this position: the hadith of Ibn Masʿud in which the Prophet says, when he sits in the middle and at the end of the prayer, “al-tahiyyat …,” while sitting on his left hip. This wording plainly affirms tawarruk in both tashahhuds, yet its chain of transmission is not sound, as already shown under “Sitting with the left leg spread in the tashahhud”; consult that discussion if you wish. Their third proof is the present hadith of ʿAbd Allah b. al-Zubayr. The answer is that its wording is general and is understood to refer only to the final tashahhud, as indicated by the hadith of Abu Humayd cited earlier; this is noted in Zad (1/86). As for the third opinion, it has no evidence except a version of the hadith of Abu Humayd that states: