On being asked the reason...

On being asked the reason, they said that it was their custom to stand before the eleders with folded hands. 'Umar said: Then we too should do the same when we stand before Allah in prayers. That was the beginning. But as I will explain later the idea was not accepted in Medina. There are some pointers which show that it had caught up in the early days of Mu'awiyah's governorship in Damascus.

When Anas ibn Malik, a companion of the Prophet (s.a.w.), went to Syria, he wept and said: "I do not see here anything which…