How should the fingers be held during tashahhud (tahiyyat)?

-  When is it necessary to raise the index/shahadah finger?

Dear Brother / Sister,

According to Hanafis:(1) In tashahhud, the praying person places his right hand on his right thigh and his left hand on his left thigh and spreads his fingers. It is like the sitting between two prostrations. The fingers are spread slightly apart and the tips are placed on the knees, but the soundest view is that the hands do not hold the kneecaps. According to the reliable view, a person raises the index finger of the right hand while saying “La” of “La ilaha” and lowers it while confirming deity, that is while saying “Illallah”; thus, one confirms that Allah has no partner with those gestures of raising and lowering. None of the fingers are closed during the sitting.

Their evidence is a hadith narrated in Sahih Muslim from Ibn Zubayr and proving it because in the narration in Muslim, it is mentioned that only the index finger is raised and lowered.

According to Malikis:(2) The left hand is left free during tashahhud and the right hand is closed except for the index finger and the thumb. They are the little finger, the ring finger and the middle finger. The tips of these fingers are attached to the fleshy part at the base of the thumb and the index finger is raised as if it is used for pointing at something.

It is mandub to move the index finger moderately to the right and left, not up and down from the beginning to the end of tashahhud. The evidence for it is the hadith narrated by Wail b. Hujr. While describing the Prophet’s (pbuh) way of praying, Wail said:

“Then, he sat down and put his left foot on the ground and placed the palm of his left hand on his thigh and his left knee and brought his right elbow to the level of his right thigh. After that, he closed two of his fingers and made a ring; then, he raised his finger and I saw him moving it and he was praying.”(3-4)

According to Shafi’is and Hanbalis:(5) It is sunnah to place the hands on both thighs while sitting in the first and second tashahhud. According to Shafi’is, a person opens his left hand and keeps his fingers adjacent. The tips of the fingers should be at the the kneecaps; and the tips of the fingers should be directed toward the qiblah; and the fingers should not be kept apart because keeping the fingers apart causes the thumb to be turned away from the qiblah.

According to Shafi’is, the person who sits in the tashahhud places his right hand on his right thigh and closes the little finger, the one next to it and the middle finger. According to Hanbalis, he makes a circle with his thumb and middle finger.

Then, he points with his index finger and raises it while saying “Illallah”, but does not move it left or right. That is what the Prophet (pbuh) did. He would constantly look at his finger, as mentioned above in Ibn Zubayr’s narration.

According to the widely accepted view in Shafi’is and Hanbalis, the person who is sitting puts his thumb together with his index finger in tashahhud. It becomes like the number 53. One realizes it by placing the thumb in the palm of his hand under his hand. If he releases the thumb and index finger together, or if he closes them together on the middle finger, or if he makes a circle between them, or if he ties the tip of the middle finger to the thumb, he will have fulfilled the sunnah because there are hadiths about all those acts. However, the first one is more virtuous. As a matter of fact, Shafi’is also hold that view because its narrators are better at fiqh.

The evidence on which Shafi’is and Hanbalis rely regarding the issue is the hadith narrated by Ibn Umar:

“The Prophet (pbuh) placed his right hand on his right knee and closed his fingers in the form of number fifty-three and pointed with his index finger.”(6)

The evidence that one should not move his fingers is the following hadith narrated by Abdullah b. Zubayr:

“When the Prophet (pbuh) prayed, he would gesture with his finger and not move it.”(7)

The following is stated in the narration of Sa’d b. Abu Waqqas:

“While I was praying with my fingers, the Prophet (pbuh) came to me and said, ‘ahad, ahad’ and gestured with his index finger.” (8)

Footnotes:

1. Ad-Durrul-Muhtar, I,474,231 - Naylul-Awtar, II, 283.
2. Ash-Sharhus-Saghir, I, 330.
3. Bayhaqi said: It is possible that the intention of moving it is to point with it, not the repetition of its movement. In that case, there is no contradiction between Ibn Zubayr’s narration and what Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Nasa’i and Ibn Hibban said: “The Prophet (pbuh) would gesture with his index finger and did not move it, and his eye did not move beyond it.” Naylul-Awtar, II, 283.
4. This hadith was narrated by Ahmad, Nasai, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, Ibn Khuzayma and Bayhaqi. (Naylul-Awtar, II, 283.) Bayhaqi narrated a weak hadith from Ibn Umar: “Moving the fingers in prayer means giving fear to the devil.”
5. Mughnil-Muhtaj, 1:172 ff.; Hashiyat al-Bajuri, 1:177; al-Mughni, I, 534.
6. This hadith was narrated by Muslim. Its resemblance to number fifty-three is according to some mathematicians. Many call this figure 59. Fiqh scholars preferred the meaning of fifty-three based on the wording of the hadiths.
7. Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Nasai and Ibn Majah narrated it.
8. Nasai narrated this hadith.

(see İslam Fıkhı, Wahba Zuhayli, II, 39-40)

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