How do I position my hands during Tashahhud?

Answered by Shaykh Rami Nsour

Question: Asalaamu Alaykum,

I read that Ibn Abi Zayd (Risalah) and Al-Azhari (Thamr Ad-Dani) said that the position in the Madhab is that one should point with his index finger uppermost (such that his palm faces the left) while moving his index finger left to right (Mukhtasar Khalil). Al-Kharashi explained that this is to make it look like a butcher’s knife (against the Shaytan) as Al-Baji said Sufyan reported this from Muslim ibn Abi Maryam.

Is it confirmed that this is how Malik or Ibn Qasim pointed in the Salah or did it come later from the Imams of the School?

Answer: Wa alaykum as salam wa rahmatullah, 

Between Ibn Abī Zayd and Mālik are four teachers. Ibn Abī Zayd took from Ibn al-Lubāb who took from al-Balwī who took from Ibn Ḥabīb and Shanūn who took from Ash-hab and Ibn al-Qāsim who took from āalik. The strongest chain in the Māliki School is Saḥnun from Ibn al-Qāsim from Mālik. 

The positions mentioned in the Mukhtaṣar are taken from the Mudawwannah, it’s commentaries and many of the early mujtahideen of the madhab. 

You may choose to look at those other sources but it will be difficult for them to contradict the strength of the above two sources. As you mentioned, the opinion of the palm facing the left is in the Risalah and the Mukhtasar. 

And Allāh knows best. 

Rami