"He used to place his hands on the ground before his knees."⁴⁴³

He used to instruct likewise, saying, When one of you performs sajdah, he should not kneel like a camel, but should place his hands before his knees.⁴⁴⁴

He also used to say, Verily, the hands prostrate as the face prostrates, so when one of you places his face (on the ground), he should place his hands, and when he raises it, he should raise them.⁴⁴⁵

443 Ibn Khuzaimah (1/76/1), Daaraqutni & Haakim, who declared it Saheeh and Dhahabi agreed. All the ahaadeeth which contradict this are inauthentic. This way has been endorsed by Maalik, and similar is reported from Ahmad in Ibn al-Jawzi's al-Tahqeeq (108/2). Also, al-Marwazi quoted with a saheeh isnaad, Imam al-Awzaa'i in his Masaa'il (1/147/1) as saying, "I found the people placing their hands before their knees."

444 Abu Daawood, Tammaam in al-Fawaa'id, & Nasaa'i in Sunan as- Sughraa and Sunan al-Kubraa (47/1) with a saheeh isnaad. 'Abdul Haqq declared it saheeh in al-Ahkaam (54/1), and went on to say in Kitaab al-Tahajjud (56/1), "it has a sounder isnaad than the previous one", i.e. the hadeeth of Waa'il which is the other way round (knees before hands). In fact, the latter hadeeth, as well as being contradictory to this saheeh hadeeth and the preceding one, is neither authentic in isnaad nor in meaning, as I have explained in Silsilah al- Ahaadeeth ad-Da'eefah (no. 929) and al-Irwaa' (357).

It should be known that the way to differ from the camel is to place the hands before the knees, because the camel places its knees first; a camel's "knees" are in its forelegs, as defined in Lisaan al-'Arab and other books of the 'Arabic language, and as mentioned by Tahaawi in Mushkil al-Aathaar and Sharh Ma'aani al-Aathaar. Also, Imaam Qaasim al-Saraqusti (rahimahullaah) narrated in Ghareeb al-Hadeeth (2/70/1-2), with a saheeh isnaad, Abu Hurairah's statement, "No one should kneel the way a runaway camel does", and then added, "This is in sajdah. He is saying that one should not throw oneself down, as a runaway (or untamed) camel does, hurriedly and without calmness, but he should go down calmly, placing his hands first, followed by his knees, and an explanatory marfoo' hadeeth has been narrated in this regard." He then mentioned the hadeeth above.

As for Ibn al-Qayyim's extremely strange statement, "These words are incomprehensible, and not understood by the experts of the language", it is answered by the sources which we have mentioned, and also many others which can be consulted. I have also expanded on this in the refutation against Shaikh Tuwaijari, which may be published.

445 Ibn Khuzaimah(1/79/2), Ahmad & Siraaj; Haakim declared it saheeh and Dhahabi agreed. It is given in Irwaa' (313).

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