He described the manner of the Prophet's ﷺ prayer, and it included the following. Then he sat, spreading out his left leg, placing his left hand on his left thigh, and resting his right elbow on his right thigh. He folded two fingers and formed a ring with another. I saw him doing it like this.Bishr formed a ring with the thumb and the middle finger and pointed with the index finger.
أنه ذكر صفة صلاة النبي ﷺ وجاء فيه: ثم جلس فافترش رجله اليسرى، ووضع يده اليسرى على فخذه اليسرى، وحد مرفقه الأيمن على فخذه اليمنى، وقبض اثنتين، وحلق حلقة، ورأيته يقول: هكذا. وحلق بشر الإبهام والوسطى، وأشار بالسبابة.
Abu Dawud (726) narrated it, and this is his wording, as did Nasai (1267) and Ibn Majah (867), all of them through Bishr bin Mufaddal, from Asim bin Kulayb, from his father, from Waail bin Hajar, who related it. Its chain is hasan, because of Asim bin Kulayb, for he is "trustworthy." Nawawi said in Majmu (3/312), Abu Dawud narrated it with a sahih chain.Bayhaqi (2/131) narrated it through Khalid bin Abdullah, who said, Asim bin Kulayb narrated to us, from his father, from Waail, with the wording, "Then he closed his little finger and ring finger, then made a circle with his middle finger and thumb, and pointed with his index finger."So Bishr bin Mufaddal and Khalid bin Abdullah, who is Wasiti, and those who followed them, as will be mentioned, narrated it from Asim bin Kulayb and said, "and he pointed with his index finger." Zaida bin Qudama alone narrated it from Asim bin Kulayb with the same chain and meaning, but said in it, "Then he placed his right hand on the back of his left palm, wrist, and forearm," and said in it, "Then I came after that in a time of severe cold, and I saw the people wearing garments and moving their hands beneath the garments," as found in Abu Dawud (727) and others. And in one report, "Then I saw him move it, supplicating with it."Nasai (889), Ibn Jarud (208), Imam Ahmad (18870), Ibn Khuzayma (714), Ibn Hibban (1860), and Bayhaqi (2/27-28) narrated it, all of them through routes from Zaida bin Qudama, from Asim bin Kulayb, with his chain.More than ten narrators reported this hadith from Asim, namely, Abdul-Wahid bin Ziyad, Shuba, Sufyan Thawri, Zuhayr bin Muawiya, Sufyan bin Uyayna, Salam bin Salim, Abu Ahwas, Bishr bin Mufaddal, Abdullah bin Idris, Qays bin Rabi, Abu Awana, and Khalid bin Abdullah Wasiti, and they did not mention in their reports "Then I saw him move it, supplicating with it." For this reason some scholars judged this addition to be anomalous. Ibn Khuzayma said, "The word 'moving it' does not appear in any of the reports except in this report, which Zaida mentioned."As for the soundness of its establishment, since Zaida bin Qudama Thaqafi was one of the reliable narrators well known for precision, so much so that Ahmad said, "The most precise in hadith are four," and he mentioned Zaida among them, his statement "Then I saw him move it, supplicating with it" should be understood according to what Bayhaqi (2/132) said, "It is possible that what is meant by the movement is pointing with it, not repeated movement, in which case it would agree with the report of Ibn Zubayr." And Allah knows best.I say, on this topic there is also a report from Numayr Khuzai, who said, "I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ placing his right hand on his right thigh during prayer, pointing with his finger." Nasai (1271), Abu Dawud (991), Ibn Majah (911), Ibn Khuzayma (715), and Ibn Hibban (1946) narrated it, all of them through Isam bin Qudama, from Malik bin Numayr Khuzai, from his father, who related it. Malik bin Numayr is unknown, as Dhahabi said, and in Taqrib he is described as "acceptable," meaning if corroborated, otherwise his hadith is weak. He is fine for use as corroborating evidence.As for pointing with the index finger, there is no disagreement among the scholars about it, as Ibn Abdul-Barr and others said. As for what some Hanafis said in their books, that pointing with the index finger during tashahhud is disliked, they have contradicted Imam Abu Hanifa himself, since Muhammad bin Hasan related in his Muwatta, from the Imam, after narrating the hadith of Malik from Muslim bin Abu Maryam, that he said, "We take the practice of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and this is the view of Abu Hanifa." End of quote.The eminent scholar Abdul-Hayy Laknawi said, "Our three companions agreed on permitting the gesture, due to its establishment from the Prophet ﷺ and his companions through numerous narrations and multiple routes, leaving no way to deny or reject it." He then directed severe criticism at the authors of fatwa collections, such as the author of Khulasa, Bazzaziyya Kubra, Atabiyya, Ghiyathiyya, Wulujiyya, Umdat Mufti, Zahiriyya, and others, where they stated that the preferred view is not to gesture, and some of them even stated that it is disliked. End of quote. Taliq Mumajjad ala Muwatta Muhammad (1/464).Then it is part of the sunnah to continue pointing with the index finger, from the beginning of the tashahhud to the end of the salam, and there is no evidence for those who say that the gesture occurs only at the words of the shahada, which are, "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."