peace be upon him: "I have become heavy (12), so do not precede me in bowing or prostration" (13).

170 - Issue: He said: (Unless it is difficult for him, then he may lean on the ground.)

Meaning, if it is difficult for him to rise in the manner we have mentioned, there is no harm in his leaning on the ground with his hands. We do not know of anyone who disagreed on this, and the hadith of Malik ibn al-Huwayrith and the statement of Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) - "unless he is an old man" - have indicated it. The difficulty for that may be due to old age, weakness, illness, obesity, or similar reasons.

Section: It is recommended that the beginning of his takbir (saying Allahu Akbar) coincide with the beginning of raising his head from prostration, and its end coincide with him standing upright, so that the takbir encompasses the entire prescribed pillar. The rest of the takbirs follow this rule, except for one who sits for the rest position (jalsat al-istirahah); his takbir ends when his sitting ends, and then he rises for the standing position without takbir. Abu al-Khattab said: He rises while pronouncing takbir. This is not correct, for it leads to having two takbirs consecutively in one pillar, for which there is no basis in the Shari'ah for combining them.

171 - Issue: He said: (And he does in the second [rak'ah] the same as he did in the first.)

Meaning, he does in the second rak'ah of the prayer the same as he did in the first rak'ah, according to what has been described; because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) described the first rak'ah to the one who performed his prayer poorly, then said: "Do that in your entire prayer" (1). There is no disagreement on this that we know of, except that the second [rak'ah] lacks the intention, the opening takbir, and the opening supplication (istiftah); because those are intended for the commencement of the prayer, and indeed...