An-Nu'man ibn Bashir

Wa'il ibn Hujr al-Hadrami (may Allah be pleased with him) was a Companion of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ from a noble lineage in Hadramawt, Yemen. He was a king among his people before embracing Islam, and when he came to the Prophet ﷺ, the Prophet received him warmly, spread his own cloak for him to sit on, and assigned him land in Yemen. Wa'il ibn Hujr is best known for narrating some of the most detailed and precise descriptions of the physical form of the Prophet's prayer, including the exact manner of raising the hands at the beginning of prayer, how the Prophet placed his right hand over his left, the way he pointed his index finger during tashahhud, and how he turned his head for the taslim at the end. These narrations are foundational references in Islamic jurisprudence for the detailed rulings of prayer posture and form, and different legal schools cite his reports when establishing their positions on these matters. He settled in Kufa after the Prophet's death and his descendants became notable scholars of hadith. His narrations are preserved in the Sunan of Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, al-Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah.