Performing Salaah Correctly (Part 2) – Mufti Taqi Usmani

When you begin the Salah

1. Make niyyah or intention in your heart to the effect you are offering such and such Salah. It is not necessary to say the words of the niyyah verbally.

2. Raise your hands upto your ears in a way that palms face Qiblah and the end of the thumbs either touch the lobes of the ears or come parallel to them. The rest o the fingers stay straight pointing upwards. There are some who would tend to turn the direction of their palms towards their ears rather than having them face the Qiblah. There are some others who almost cover their ears with their hands. There are still others who would make a faint symbolic gesture without raising their hands fully upto the ears. Some others grip the lobes of their ears with their hands. All these practices are incorrect and contrary to Sunnah. These should be abandoned.

3. While raising your hands in the manner stated above, say “Allahu-Akbar”. Then,using the thumb and the little finger of your right hand, make a circle round the wrist of your left hand and hold it. You should then spread out the three remaining fingers of our right hand on the back of your left hand so that these three fingers face the elbow.

4. Placing both hands slightly below the navel, fold them as explained above.

When you are standing:

1. If you are praying your Salah alone, or leading it as Imam, you first recite Thana’; then Surah al-Fatihah, then some other Surah. If you are behind an Imam, you only recite Thana’ : and then stand silent listening attentively to the recitation of the Imam. If the Imam’s recitation is not loud enough for you to hear, you should be thinking of Surah al-Fatihah using you heart and mind without moving your tongue.

2. When you are reciting yourself, it is better that you, While reciting Surah al-Fatihah, stop at every verse and break your breath. Recite the next verse with fresh breath. Do not recite more than one verse in a single breath. For example, break your breath at “Alhum do lillahi Rabbil Aa’lameen” and then on “Ar-Rahmanir-Rahim” and then on “Maleki Yaumid’deen”.

Recite the whole Surah al-Fatihah in this manner. But, there is no harm if, during recitation that follows, more than one verse has been recited in a single breath.

3. Do not move any part of your body without the need. Stand in peace – the more, the better. If you have to scratch or do something else like that, use only one hand and that too, under very serious compulsion using the least time and effort.

4. Transferring all the weight of the body on to one leg and leaving the other weightlessly loose to the limit that it shows a certain bend is against the etiquette of Salah. Abstain from it. Either you transfer your body weight equally on both legs or if you must channel your body weight on one leg, you have to do it in a way that the other leg shows no bend or curve.

5. If you feel like yawning, try your best to stop it.

6. When standing for Salat, keep your eyes looking at the spot where you make your Sajdah. Abstain from looking to your right and left, or front.

When in Ruku:

When you bend for Ruku’, watch out for the following:

1. Bend the upper part of your body upto a point where the neck and back nearly level up. Do not bend any more or less than that.

2. While in Ruku’, do not bend the neck to the limit that the chin starts touching the chest, nor raise it is high that the neck goes higher than the waist level. Instead, the neck and the waist should be in one level.

3. In Ruku’, keep feet straight. Do not place them with an outward or inward slant.

4. Place both hands on your knees in a way that fingers on both hands stay open. In other words, there should be space between every two fingers when you thus go on to hold the right knee with your right hand and the left knee with your left hand.

5. In the state of Ruku’, wrists and arms should remain stretched straight. They should not bend, curve or sag.

6. Stay in Ruku’, at least for a time during which “Saubhan Rabbiyal Azeem” could be said three times calmly and comfortably.

7. In the state of Ruku’, the ayes should be looking towards the feet.

8. Body weight should be evenly distributed on both feet and both knees should be parallel to each other.

Source: http://www.central-mosque.com/fiqh/salaht.htm

Edited: Ar Rihla