Book 4: Prayer

‘Abd ar-Rahman b. Shibl said that God’s Messenger forbade a crow’s peck,* extending the forearms like a wild animal, and imitating a camel by a man making one spot his regular place in the mosque. * An exaggerated way of speaking of a very short prostration. Abu Dawud, Nasa’i and Darimi transmitted it.

‘Ali reported God’s Messenger as saying, “I like for you, ‘Ali what I like for myself, and I dislike for you what I dislike for myself; do not sit on your heels between the two sajdas.” Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Talq b. ‘Ali al-Hanafi reported God’s Messenger as saying, “God does not regard the prayer of a servant who does not straighten his spine between his bowing and his prostration.” Ahmad transmitted it.

Nafi’ told how Ibn ‘Umar used to say, “He who puts his forehead on the ground should put the palms of his hands on the place where he put his forehead, then when he raises himself he should raise them, for the hands perform prostration just as the face does.” Malik transmitted it.