Answered by Shaykh Hamza Karamali, SunniPath Academy Teacher
Assalaamu ”Alaikum wa Rahmatullaah!
Kindly let me have two or three Ahadith with their references concerning Tawarruk in sitting in salaah. Jazaakumullaah!
Was-salaam.
Siddiq Nasir
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
In al-Majmu` fi Sharh al-Muhadhdhab, Imam Nawawi (Allah have mercy on
him) examines the hadiths about the recommended way of sitting while reciting the testification of faith.
He first explains that scholarly opinions about the optimal way of sitting during the testification of faith revolve around the iftirash position and the tawarruk position. Iftirash means to place the left foot on the ground and sit on its ankle, while keeping the right foot standing vertically on its toes, which are pointed towards the direction of prayer. One can do tawarruk by first sitting in the iftirash position and then moving so that one is sitting on one’s left thigh and the left foot comes out from underneath the right leg.
These sitting positions are explained in more detail in The Reliance of the Traveller, sections f8.36 and f8.43.
After listing the positions of the four schools regarding this issue, he discusses the hadith evidence for each position, saying that some hadiths mention that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) sat in iftirash whereas others mention that he sat in tawarruk. None of these hadiths, however, qualify the iftirash or tawarruk as taking place in a particular rak`ah of the prayer. Another hadith– rigorously authenticated and related from ten major companions– describes the prayer of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him
peace) and says, “when he sat after two rak`ahs, he would sit on his left foot and stand up his right foot [i.e., sit in iftirash], and when he sat in the last rak`ah, he moved his left leg forward, stood up his right foot, and sat on his buttock [i.e., sat in tawarruk].” (Bukhari and others) Imam Shafi`i used this last hadith to join between these previous hadiths by interpreting the hadiths of iftirash as referring to the first sitting in a prayer of more than two rak`ahs and the hadiths of tawarruk to the final sitting of the prayer.
Imam Nawawi says that one of the wisdoms behind these two manners of sitting is that it is easier to stand up from the iftirash position than the tawarruk position, so the iftirash position was legislated for points in the prayer that have to be stood up from, and the tawarruk position was legislated for the final sitting in order to encourage one to sit for a long time and make much supplication to Allah in the final sitting.
And Allah knows best.
Hamza.