Question: What is the way of moving the finger in Salah-in the Tashahhud?
Answer: There is the Hadith of Wa’il ibn Hujr that he saw the Prophet sallahu alayhi wa salam when he sat in Tashahhud in Salah. He said:
فَرَأَيْتُهُ يُحَرِّكُهَا يَدْعُو بِهَا
“So I saw him moving it, supplicating with it” [Saheeh Sunan Nasai no. 888]
This movement does not mean lowering and raising and this did not come in a Hadith at all. As for the intent of the movement, then it is a movement in its place. It is authentic from Imam Ahmad rahimahullah that he said: “He moves it vigorously“.
[Fataawa al-‘Emaaraat no. 4]