Sidna Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, says that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, used to teach us and say: Do not do any action before the Imam; when he says the takbeer, then you say the takbeer; and when he says "wa la ad-dallin," then you say "Ameen" after him; and when he bows (for ruku‘), then you bow after him; and when he says "Sami‘ Allahu liman hamidah," then you say "Rabbana lakal hamd" after him.

`Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that due to falling from a horse, the right side of the body of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was injured, so we went to visit him. Since it was time for prayer, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) led the prayer while sitting, and we also prayed sitting behind him. When we all finished the prayer, he said: The Imam is appointed so that he may be followed; when he says the takbir, you also say the takbir, and when he goes into prostration, you also prostrate, and when he raises his head, you also raise your heads, and when he recites tasmi‘, you recite tahmid, and when he leads the prayer sitting, you also perform the prayer sitting. (This was the initial command; later, during the illness of death, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) led the prayer sitting, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) prayed standing with him, and the companions prayed standing behind them.)

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Wa'il bin Hujr (may Allah be pleased with him) that he saw the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in such a way that when he started the prayer, he raised both his hands and said Allahu Akbar. (The narrator of this hadith, Hammam, states that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) raised both his hands up to his ears.) Then he put on his cloak, after which he placed his right hand over his left hand. Then, when he intended to bow (ruku‘), the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) took both his hands out from the cloak, raised them up to his ears, said the takbir, and went into ruku‘. And when, while standing, he said "Sami‘ Allahu liman hamidah," he also performed the raising of the hands (raf‘ al-yadayn). Then the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prostrated between both his palms.

Sayyiduna Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would stand in prayer, he would say: "I have turned my face towards Him who created the heavens and the earth, being upright, and I am not of the polytheists. Surely, my prayer, my sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, the Lord of all the worlds, who has no partner, and this I have been commanded, and I am of the Muslims. O Allah, You are the King, there is no deity except You, You are my Lord and I am Your servant. I have wronged myself and I confess my sins, so forgive all my sins, for none forgives sins except You. And teach me good habits, for none teaches them except You, and keep bad habits away from me, and none can keep them away except You. I am present for Your service and obedient to You, and all goodness is in Your hands, and nearness to You cannot be attained through evil (or evil alone is not attributed to You, for example, it is not said 'Creator of apes and swine' or 'Lord of evil', or evil does not ascend to You as the good word and righteous deed ascend to You, or no creature is evil for Your sake, even if it is evil for us because we are human, for You have created everything with wisdom). My success is from You and my supplication is to You. You are Most Blessed and Exalted. I seek Your forgiveness and turn to You in repentance."

And when he would bow (in ruku‘), he would say: "O Allah! I bow to You, I believe in You, and I submit to You. My hearing, my sight, my brain, my bones, and my sinews have all bowed to You."

And when he would raise his head from (ruku‘), he would say: "O Allah! O our Lord! All praise is for You, filling the heavens, filling the earth, filling whatever is between them, and filling whatever else You will after that."

And when he would prostrate (in sujud), he would say: "O Allah! I have prostrated for You alone, and I have believed in You, and I have submitted to You. My face has prostrated to the One who created it and fashioned it, and split its hearing and sight. Blessed is Allah, the Best of creators."

Then, at the end, between tashahhud and salam, he would say: "O Allah! Forgive me for what I have sent forth and what I have left behind, what I have concealed and what I have made apparent, what I have transgressed, and what You know better than me. You are the First and the Last; there is no deity except You."

In another narration, it is mentioned that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would begin the prayer, he would say Allahu Akbar and then say: "I have turned my face towards Him who..." and recite until the end.

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I have performed prayer with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), Sayyiduna Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), Sayyiduna Umar al-Faruq (may Allah be pleased with him), and Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), but I did not hear any one of them recite "Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim" aloud in the prayer.

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) says that one day we were sitting in the gathering of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) when a light drowsiness overtook him. Then, smiling, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) raised his blessed head, upon which we asked, "O Messenger of Allah! What are you smiling at?" He replied, "Just now a surah of the Noble Qur'an has been revealed to me." Then he recited "In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful" and recited the entire surah: '(O Noble Prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] !) Indeed, We have granted you Al-Kawthar...' and then said, "Do you know what Al-Kawthar is?" We said, "Allah and His Messenger know best." He said, "Al-Kawthar is a river which my Lord has promised me. It has many virtues, and on the Day of Resurrection, my followers will come to drink from this reservoir. There will be as many cups on this reservoir as there are stars in the sky. A person will be driven away from there, and I will say, 'O Allah! This person is from my followers.' Allah, the Exalted, will say, 'You do not know what new things (innovations) they introduced after you.'"

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: Whoever does not recite Surah Al-Fatihah in the prayer, his prayer is not complete, rather his prayer is deficient. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said this sentence three times. The people asked, "O Abu Hurairah, what should we do when we are behind the Imam?" Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: At that time, you should recite Surah Al-Fatihah quietly, because I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say that Allah, the Exalted, has said: I have divided the prayer between Myself and My servant into two halves, and My servant shall have what he asks for. When the servant says, "All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds," Allah, the Exalted, says: My servant has praised Me. And when (the worshipper) says, "The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful," Allah, the Exalted, says: My servant has extolled Me. And when (the worshipper) says, "Master of the Day of Judgment," Allah, the Exalted, says: My servant has glorified Me, and He also says: My servant has entrusted all his affairs to Me. And when (the worshipper) says, "You alone we worship and You alone we ask for help," Allah, the Exalted, says: This is between Me and My servant, and My servant shall have what he asks for. Then when (the worshipper) in his prayer recites, "Guide us to the straight path, the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have evoked [Your] anger or of those who are astray," Allah, the Exalted, responds: All this is for My servant, and whatever he asks for, it shall be given to him.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to the mosque when a man arrived. After performing the prayer, he greeted the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), so the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) replied to his greeting and said: "Go and pray, for you have not prayed." The man went back and prayed again as he had done before, then returned and greeted the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) replied, "And peace be upon you," and said: "Go and pray, for you have not prayed." This happened three times. Then the man said to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "O Messenger of Allah! By Him Who has sent you with the truth, I do not know any better way than this, so please teach me." The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "When you stand for prayer, first say Allahu Akbar, then recite whatever portion of the Qur'an is easy for you, then bow with calmness, then stand up straight with ease, then prostrate with tranquility, then sit with tranquility, and do this throughout your entire prayer." (From this hadith, it is understood that maintaining calmness and composure in each posture of prayer is very important; without it, the prayer is not valid. According to the majority of scholars, maintaining calmness in each posture is obligatory.)

Sayyiduna Imran bin Husain (may Allah be pleased with him) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) led us in the Zuhr or Asr prayer. Then he (peace be upon him) said: "Who among you recited 'Subh-isma Rabbikal A'la' behind me?" A man said: "I recited this Surah and I intended good by reciting it." The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "I know that some of you confuse me." (Regarding this narration, Imam Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) has written that the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not prohibit recitation itself, but prohibited reciting aloud. And it is established in the hadith that the companion recited aloud, so the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked: Who recited such-and-such Surah behind me?)

Narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: When the Imam says Ameen, the followers should also say Ameen, and whoever's Ameen coincides with the Ameen of the angels, his past sins will be forgiven. Ibn Shihab (may Allah have mercy on him) stated that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to say Ameen after (the recitation of) "wa la-d-dallin."