(1) This is taken from the hadith of Abu Humayd, which al-Bukhari records in the wording: “When he sat in the final rakʿah, he brought his left leg forward, kept the right foot upright, and sat on his buttocks.” As for a two-rakʿah prayer such as Fajr, the sunnah is the iftirash posture, as noted earlier (p. 829). Imam Ahmad adopted this very distinction, as related in Masaʾil Ibn Haniʾ from him (p. 79). (2) This is drawn from the hadith of ʿAbd Allah b. al-Zubayr, the wording of which has just been cited [pp. 981–982]. The scholars differed over how to reconcile his report with the preceding hadith of Abu Humayd. Al-Bayhaqi (2/305), after quoting Ibn al-Zubayr’s narration, remarks: “Perhaps that was due to an ailment.” Ibn al-Qayyim (1/87) explains: “The meaning of ‘spreading his right foot’ is that he would sit in this posture on his buttocks, with the right foot laid flat and the left foot positioned between his thigh and calf while his buttocks rested on the ground. Hence the disagreement concerns the right foot: was it laid flat or kept upright? In reality—Allah knows best—there is no contradiction: he did not sit upon his foot; rather, he let it extend to his right so that it was in a position between being upright and being completely flat. Its inner side was on the ground, so in one sense it was ‘spread’, for he was not sitting on his heel; yet in another sense it was ‘upright’, for he was not resting on its sole with its dorsum on the ground. Accordingly, both the description given by Abu Humayd and his companions and that of ʿAbd Allah b. al-Zubayr are correct. Alternatively, one may say that the Prophet ﷺ practiced both forms: at times he kept the foot upright, and at others he laid it flat, the latter being more restful. Allah knows best."