Salafi Research Institute SRI
Abu Khuzaimah Ansari
We generally neglect two postures of the prayer, the standing after ruku and the period between the two sujud or prostrations. We tend to stand after ruku and immediately go into sujud or we make the two sujud without any duration between them. The Sunnah teaches us 4 prayer positions should be of equal duration generally,
(1) The Ruku
(2) The standing after the Ruku
(3) The Sajdah
(4) The period between the two Sujud
This is evidenced from 6 separate hadith of al-Bara b. A’zib RadhiAllahu Anhu in the 6 canonical books of hadith. Imam al-Bukhari brings the following hadith with 3 separate chains of transmission in his Sahih under 3 different chapter headings, therefore indicating his juristic views related to the prayer.
al-Bara b. Azib RadhiAllahu Anhu narrates, “The bowing, the prostration the sitting in between the two prostrations and the standing after the bowing of the Prophet Sallalahu Alayhi Wasallam but not qiyam (standing in the prayer) and qu’ud (sitting in the prayer) used to be approximately equal (in duration).” (al-Bukhari no.792)
In a shorter worded hadith al-Bara RadhiAllahu Anhu narrates, “The bowing, the prostrations, the period of standing after bowing and the interval between the two prostrations of the Prophet Sallalahu Alayhi Wasallam used to be equal in duration”. (al-Bukhari no.801)
See also (al-Bukhari no.820)
The hadith al-Bara RadhiAllahu Anhu in (Abu Dawud no.852) does not mentioning the standing after ruku.
Imam an-Nasa’i was another formidable Muhaddith and hadith specialist who exerted great effort in codifying jurisprudence through his chapter headings in his Sunan. He established the following chapter heading, “The duration of the standing between rising up from bowing to prostrating”. We can see Imam an-Nasa’i was very meticulous in wanting to explain the specific period of the standing after ruku until one prostrates.
al-Bara b, Azib narrates, “The bowing of Allah’s Messenger Sallalahu Alayhi Wasallam, and when he raised his head from bowing, and his prostration, and the time between the two prostration, were almost equal in length”. (an-Nasa’i no.1065)
Imam an-Nasa’i then established the following chapter after almost 100 hadith later, “How long one should sit between the two prostrations” and then bought the following hadith,
al-Bara RadhiAllahu Anhu said, “In the prayer of Allah’s Messenger Sallalalhu Alayhi Wasallam, his bowing, his prostration, the standing after he raised his head from bowing and (sitting) between the two prostrations, were almost the same.” (an-Nasa’i no.1148)
IMPORTANT NOTE
The various Azkar we should recite during these postures and positions of Salah are mentioned in books authored on the prayer, for example books authored by, Shaikh Muhammad Isma’il as-Salafi, Shaikh al-Albani, Shaikh Ibn Baz, Shaikh Ibn Uthaymin, Shaikh Muqbil and Shaikh Zubair Ali Za’i, so kindly refer to them.
