Prayer (Kitab Al-Salat): Details of Commencing Prayer

Dawud :: Book 3 : Hadith 957

Narrated Wa'il ibn Hujr:

I said that I should look at the prayer of the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) how he prays. The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) stood up and faced the qiblah (i.e. the direction of Ka'bah) and uttered the takbir (Allah is most great); then he raised his hands till he brought them in front of his ears; then he caught hold of his left hand with his right hand (i.e. folded his hands).

When he was about to bow, he raised them (his hands) in a like manner. Then he sat, stretched out his left foot (to sit on it), placed his left hand on his left thigh, and kept away the tip of his right elbow from his right thigh, joined two fingers, formed a ring, to do so. And the narrator Bishr made a ring with the thumb and the middle finger.