upon the ground, just as the beasts of prey do. The people of knowledge have disliked this. In the hadith of Abu Humayd: "And when he prostrated, he prostrated without sprawling, nor holding them tightly together" (5).

163 - Issue; He said: "And he shall separate his upper arms from his sides, his belly from his thighs, and his thighs from his calves, and he shall be upon the tips of his toes."

The summary of this is that it is from the Sunnah for one to separate his upper arms from his sides, and his belly from his thighs, when he prostrates, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to do that in his prostration. Abu Abdullah said in his "Risala" (1): It has come from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that when he prostrated, if a young animal were to pass [under his arms] (2), it would have passed through, and that was due to his extreme exaggeration in raising his elbows and upper arms. It was also recorded by Abu Dawood in the hadith of Abu Humayd (3), that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to, when he prostrated, separate his upper arms from his sides. And for Abu Dawood (4): Then he prostrated, and he positioned his nose and forehead firmly, and moved his hands away from his sides, and placed his hands level with his shoulders. Abu Ishaq al-Sabi'i (5) said: Al-Bara' described the prostration to us, so he placed his hands on the ground and raised his posterior, and said: "This is how I saw the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) do." He also said: "The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to, when he prostrated, jakh" (6). And jakh means to be hollow (the space between the chest and ground). Both narrations were recorded by Abu Dawood and al-Nasa'i (7).