and need for rest, might lie on his back and place one of his legs over the other without being tired, but rather out of liking for this posture, as is not hidden. So God, Mighty and Majestic, is more perfect, greater, and the Doer of whatever He wills. This applies to negation and affirmation by way of greater priority after the establishment of the textual evidences.
Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyya has detailed the matter of negation and affirmation by way of greater priority in Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyya, al-Tadmuriyya, and others.
May Allah have mercy on the Predecessors (Salaf) of the Umma when they said: If the Jahmī says to you, "I disbelieve in a Lord who moves from His place," then say, "I believe in a Lord who does whatever He wills."
Muslim narrated in his Ṣaḥīḥ (hadiths 72, 73, 74) from Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh, may God be pleased with them, that the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, said: "Let none of you lie on his back and then place one of his legs over the other."
Ibn Ḥibbān narrated in his Ṣaḥīḥ (hadith 5554), and al-Ṭaḥāwī in Sharḥ Maʿānī al-Āthār (4/277), with a chain of transmission meeting the criteria of the two Shaykhs, from Abū Hurayra, may God be pleased with him, that the Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, forbade a man from lying on his back and crossing one of his legs over the other.
This is contradicted by what al-Bukhārī narrated in his Ṣaḥīḥ (hadith 475) and Muslim in his Ṣaḥīḥ (hadiths 75, 76) from ʿAbd Allāh b. Zayd, may God be pleased with him, that he saw the Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, lying on his back in the mosque, placing one of his legs over the other.
The Companions, may God be pleased with them, and those after them differed regarding the permissibility of that. Among those reported to have done it are: ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAwf, and Ibn Masʿūd, may God be pleased with them. Ibn ʿUmar, may God be pleased with them, saw no harm in it. Likewise, sitting and placing one leg over the other is reported from Bilāl b. Rabāḥ, Anas b. Mālik, and Usāma b. Zayd, may God be pleased with them, and Ibn ʿUmar, may God be pleased with them, also saw no harm in that.
Its performance is also reported from some of the Successors (Tabi'i), among them: Muḥammad b. al-Ḥanafiyya and al-Shaʿbī. Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī said: "The Jews used to dislike it, so the Muslims opposed them."
Abū Mijlaz said: "There is no harm in it; it is merely something the Jews disliked."
It was narrated from Ibn Sīrīn in one report that he was asked about this posture, "Is it disliked?" He replied, "No."
