Bismillaah, wal-hamdulillaah, was-salaatu was-salaamu 'alaa rasoolillaah.
Assalamu 'alaykunna wa rahmatullaahi wa barakatuh,
Taken from the book: "The Prophet's Prayer Described" by Shaikh Naasir-ud-Deen Al-Albaani
"He (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) would spread his left palm on his left knee, clench all the fingers of his right hand, point with the finger adjacent to the thumb towards the qiblah, and fix his sight on it (i.e. the finger)." [1]
Also, "when he pointed with his finger, he would put his thumb on his middle finger"[2], and sometimes "he would make circle with these two."[3]
"When he raised his finger, he would move it, supplicating with it" [4], and he used to say, "It is surely more powerful against the devil than iron, meaning the forefinger." [5]
Also, "the Companions of the Prophet (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) used to remind each other, that is, about pointing with the finger when supplicating." [6]
Once, "he saw a man supplicating with fingers, so he said, "Make it one, [make it one,]" and indicated with his forefinger." [7]
"He (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) would do this in both tashahhuds." [8]
[1] Muslim, Abu 'Awaanah & Ibn Khuzaimah. Humaidi (13/1) and Abu Ya'la (275/2) added with a saheeh sanad on the authority of Ibn 'Umar: "and this is the shooting of the devil; no-one will forget when he does this", and Humaidi raised his finger. Humaidi also said that Muslim bin Abi Maryam said, "A man related to me that in a church in Syria, he saw images of Prophets depicted like this", and Humaidi raised his finger. This is an extremely strange remark, but its sanad up to "the man" is saheeh.
[2] Muslim & Abu 'Awaanah
[3] Abu Dawood, Nasaa'i, Ibn al-Jaarood in al-Muntaqaa (208), Ibn Khuzaima (1/86/1-2) & Ibn Hibbaan in his Saheeh (485) with a saheeh sanad. Ibn al-Mulaqqin also declared it saheeh (28/2), and it has a supporting narration in Ibn 'Adi (287/1).
[4] ibid. About "supplicating with it", Imaam Tahaawi said, "This is evidence that it was at the end of the prayer." Hence, there is evidence in this that the Sunnah is to continue pointing and moving the finger until tasleem, for the supplication is until then. This is the view of Maalik and others. Imaam Ahmed was asked, "Should a man point with his finger during prayer?" He replied, "Yes, vigorously." (Mentioned by Ibn Haani in his Masaa'il of Imaam Ahmad, 1/80). From this, it is clear that moving the finger in tashahhud is a proven sunnah of the Prophet (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam), and it was practiced by Ahmad and other imaams of the Sunnah. Therefore, those who think that it is pointless and irrelevant and has nothing to do with the Prayer, should fear Allaah, since because of this, they do not move their fingers although they know it to be an established sunnah; and they take great pains to interpret it in a way which is inconsistent with the 'Arabic way of expression and contrary to the understanding of the imaams with regard to it... [For the remainder of this paragraph, refer to the book]
As for putting the finger down after pointing, or limiting the movement to the affirmation (saying laa ilaaha: 'there is no god...') and negation (saying: illallaahu: '... except Allaah'), all of that has no basis in the Sunnah; in fact, it is contrary to the Sunnah, as this hadeeth proves.
Further, the hadeeth that he would not move his does not have an authentic isnaad, as I have explained in Da'eef Abi Daawood (175). Even if it were authentic, it is negatory, whlie the hadeeth above is affirmatory: the affirmatory takes precedence over the negatory, as is well known among the scholars.
[5] Ahmad, Bazzaar, Abu Ja'far al-Bukhteeri in al-Amaali (60/1), 'Abdul Ghani al-Maqdisi in his Sunan (12/2) with a hasan sanad, Rooyaani in his Musnad (249/2) & Baihaqi.
[6] Ibn Abi Shaibah (2/123/2) with a hasan sanad
[7] Ibn Abi Shaibah (12/40/1, 2/123/2) & Nasaa'i. Haakim declared it saheeh and Dhahabi agreed, and there is a supporting narration for it in Ibn Abi Shaibah.
[8] Nasaa'i & Baihaqi with a saheeh sanad.
Note: If you do not have the book, it is on PDF walhamdulillaah.http://abdurrahman.org/salah/
BaarakAllaahu feekunna
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