Fath al-Rabbani

Benefits: … In the narration with the first chain, the following words are found in Sahih Bukhari: Sayyiduna Malik bin Huwairith radi Allahu anhu says: I saw the Noble Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam performing prayer; when he sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was in the odd-numbered units (rak‘ahs) of his prayer, he would not stand up until he had sat down evenly. (Sahih Bukhari: 823)

Benefits: … The sitting of rest (jalsah al-istirahah) is a Sunnah act. One proof has already been mentioned above; two further proofs are as follows:

(1) The hadith of Sayyiduna Abu Humayd al-Sa‘idi radi Allahu anhu, according to which he led ten Companions in prayer, states: “Then he would prostrate, then say ‘Allahu Akbar’ and rise, and fold his left leg and sit upon it, then sit upright until every bone returned to its place, then stand up.” (Abu Dawud, Darimi, and its meaning is narrated by Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah)

(2) The hadith narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas radi Allahu anhu, in which the prayer of tasbih (salat al-tasbih) is described, states that the phrase for this prayer is recited ten times for the last time specifically in this sitting of rest (jalsah al-istirahah), which means that sitting is performed at this point.

Proofs negating the sitting of rest and their reality:

(1) Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah radi Allahu anhu says: “The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would rise in prayer upon the balls of his feet.” However, this hadith is weak; in its chain is Khalid bin Iyas, who is abandoned in hadith, and Salih, the freed slave of al-Tu‘mah, experienced confusion at the end of his life. Since the Hanafis do not accept this sitting, therefore al-Tahawi al-Hanafi said: It is possible that the sitting of rest mentioned in the hadith of Sayyiduna Malik bin Huwairith radi Allahu anhu was done by the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam due to some illness, not because it is a Sunnah of prayer. If it were legislated, there would be a specific remembrance (dhikr) for it. It is astonishing that the Companion Sayyiduna Malik bin Huwairith radi Allahu anhu, who transmitted the prayer of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, understood this sitting as the Prophet’s sallallahu alayhi wa sallam method and Sunnah, and practiced and transmitted it accordingly, but later minds, due to their particular mindsets, express various possibilities and try to reject it. Now, where has that Hanafi legal principle gone, that the opinion of the narrator should be considered authoritative, not just his narration? As for the issue of specific remembrance, it is the right of the Lawgiver (Shari‘) to specify which remembrance is to be recited at which place and where it is not; it is an invention of our own minds to consider remembrance necessary for every sitting, and then, in light of this invention, to begin rejecting the Sunnah. The real principle is that every Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is the foundation of all foundations and worthy of practice; to attribute it to illness or some cause requires clear evidence.