The Method of Jalsah al-Istirāḥah (Resting Sitting) in Prayer – In the Light of Authentic Aḥādīth

(Excerpt adapted from Shaykh Zubair ʿAlī Zaʾī’s book Hudiyyat al-Muslimīn – Namāz ke Aham Masāʾil maʿa Mukammal Namāz Nabawiyyah ﷺ)

Primary Evidence​

From Mālik ibn al-Ḥuwayrith رضي الله عنه:


"I saw the Prophet ﷺ praying. When he was in an odd-numbered rakʿah of his prayer (i.e., first or third rakʿah), he would not stand up immediately after the second sajdah; rather, he would first sit, and then stand up."
(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 1/113, ḥadīth 823)

Rulings and Benefits​

① Legitimacy of Jalsah al-Istirāḥah
This ḥadīth proves that Jalsah al-Istirāḥah (brief sitting after the second sajdah before standing) is part of the Prophet’s ﷺ prayer.


The long ḥadīth of Abū Ḥumayd al-Sāʿidī رضي الله عنه states:

• The Prophet ﷺ, when starting prayer, before and after rukūʿ, would raise his hands.
• In the first rakʿah, after completing the second sajdah, he would sit; after two rakʿahs, when standing up, he would again raise his hands; and in the last rakʿah, he would sit in tawarruk.
  (Sunan al-Tirmidhī, 1/67, ḥadīth 304 – graded ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ; also authenticated by Ibn Khuzaymah 1/297–298, ḥadīth 587–588; Ibn Ḥibbān – Mawārid: 442, 491–492; al-Bukhārī in Juzʾ Rafʿ al-Yadayn, ḥadīth 5–6; Ibn Taymiyyah; Ibn al-Qayyim, and others.)
  ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Jaʿfar in its chain is reliable according to the majority of ḥadīth scholars; criticism on him is rejected. (Naṣb al-Rāyah, 1/344)

② Some Consider It Wājib
Some scholars considered Jalsah al-Istirāḥah obligatory because in a ḥadīth of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (2/924, ḥadīth 6251) it comes under the Prophet’s ﷺ command to “Pray as you have seen me praying” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ḥadīth 631 to Mālik ibn al-Ḥuwayrith).


③ Clarifying the Abū Dāwūd Report
The report in Sunan Abī Dāwūd (ḥadīth 733, 966) which says lam yatarawwak (“he did not do tawarruk”) also contains earlier wording “fatatarawwak” in some versions. If authentic, it would mean the Prophet ﷺ did not sit in tawarruk after the second sajdah (i.e., not sitting with one thigh on the ground) — but Jalsah al-Istirāḥah is not tawarruk; it is a simple, brief sitting.


Those who oppose Jalsah al-Istirāḥah based on this hadith should note:

• This ḥadīth’s chain is weak: ʿĪsā ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mālik is majhūl al-ḥāl (unknown), declared reliable only by Ibn Ḥibbān.
• Selectively using part of a ḥadīth and rejecting the part about raising the hands before and after rukūʿ (which is in the same narration) is inconsistent.

④ Weakness of Opposing Athār
The narrations presented by opponents in Naṣb al-Rāyah (1/289), al-Jawhar al-Naqī (2/125), etc., are not sound or explicit against Jalsah al-Istirāḥah. For example:

• Al-Bayhaqī’s report containing ramaqt Ibn Masʿūd is weak due to Sufyān’s tadlīs.
• Presenting isolated athār in opposition to an established, authentic marfūʿ ḥadīth is methodologically incorrect.

Conclusion​

• Jalsah al-Istirāḥah is established by authentic ḥadīth and was part of the Prophet’s ﷺ prayer.
• It is a brief, non-tawarruk sitting after the second sajdah in the first and third rakʿah before standing.
• The stronger view is that it is sunnah (confirmed practice), and not leaving it does not invalidate the prayer — but following it is more in line with ṣallū kamā raʾaytumūnī uṣallī (“Pray as you have seen me praying”).

Hādhā mā ʿindī, wallāhu aʿlam biṣ-ṣawāb.