A good detailed book about mistakes made in prayer is:
The Clarified Ruling of Mistakes done in Salaah - By the
Jordanian Shaykh Mashhur Hasan Al Salman, who was a student of Imaam Al-Albaani (rahimahullaah). You can find an english translation online at:It has a discussion on moving the index finger during tashahhud (starting on page 153), so I've pasted some relevant parts of it here, which I hope will help clarify some issues Insha'Allaah. The most relevant parts are highlighted in blue:
Quote:
[11/22] Abandoning moving one’s right index in Tashahhud:
Ahmad in his “Musnad” (vol. 4/ p. 318), An-Nasā’ī his “Mujtabā” (vol. 2/ pp. 126- 7), (vol. 3/ p. 371), Abū Dāwūd in his “Sunnan” (no. 713), Ibn Khuzaimah in his “Sahīh” (no. 480, 714), Ibn Al- Jārūd in “Al- Muntaqā” (no. 208), Ibn Hibban in his” Sahīh” (no. 1851), Al- Baihaqī in “As- Sunnan Al- Kubrā” (vol. 2/pp. 27, 28 and 132) and At- Tabarānī in “Al- Mu’jam Al- Kabīr”
(vol. 22/ p. 35) from Wā’il Ibn Hujr to have said: ‘Indeed, I will watch how the prophet ( ) performs his Salāt. I watched him carefully; he () recited Takbīr, raising his hands,.. (till he said): ‘then raised his [right] index and I saw him moving it and calling into Allāh’.
This is an explicit authentic narration stating the movement of the index finger [in Salāt]. In another narration, the narrator Ibn Hujr used the simple present tense “Yarfa’”[moving] which implies the continuity of this act till the end of one’s Salāt not only when mentioning the word “Allāh” [in the Tashahhud] or when saying “lā Ilāhā Illā Allāh” in it as some Fuqahā’ held for this is based on no hard evidence.(1)
Shaikh Al-‘Athīm Al-‘Ābādī affirmed this point saying: ‘This hadīth indicates that it should be moved continuously [in Tashahhud]’.(2)
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Then it discusses various ahadeeth about moving the index finger, and continues:
Quote:
Al-Qurtubi said: ‘The ‘Ulamah differed regarding moving the index finger [in Tashahhud]; some held that one should move it, others held the opposite opinion. Both groups based their rulings on evidences form the authentic Sunnah, so both acts could be performed [alternately]. AlHamdulillāh’.(4)
Al-‘Amīr As-San’ānī in his “Subul As-Salām” (vol. 1/ pp. 187-8) shared Al-Qurtubi his opinion and so did Ar-Rāfi’ī as reported by Al-Mubārakfūrī who supported both Ar-Rāfi’ī and As-San’ānī.(1)
Moving the [right] index is the soundest of opinions for according to the Fiqh principle” the narration with positive meaning has precedence over the one with a negative meaning. It is so strange that some of those who explained An-Nawawī’s “Al-Minhāj” after narrating Wā’il’s hadīth and having known the preponderance of other ‘Ulamah- reject it and say: ‘The narration that bears the negative has precedence over the one with positive meaning believing this to be the truth and the prophet () may have ordered them [i.e. his Sahābah] not to move it in the Salāt’.(2)
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And it finishes with:
Quote:
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The soundest of all opinions is to apply both narrations, pointing with and moving the [right] index finger as Imām Ahmad said in “Masā’il Ibn Hāni’” (vol. 1 / p. 80). Allāh knows the best.
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Quote:
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Finally, one must pay attention to the following points:
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Quote:
It is of a great importance to attract the reader’s attention to a mistake done by many when moving the index finger which is moving it in a circular way believing that this is what is meant by Wā’il’s narration: ‘I saw the prophet () making a circle with his thumb and middle finger’.
This is indeed a misinterpretation of the hadīth. Some move the index in a manner that was never done by the prophet ( ); that is they move it upwards and downwards. The proper manner is to raise the index and move it while it is raised whether upwards and downwards or to the left and right. |
I hope this has helped Insha'Allaah - for the full discussion, please see the book.
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