Hassan AlMalki on the distortions on salah during the Umayyad period
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I recently listened to this lecture by Hassan Farhan AlMalki. He describes in it several hadiths where sahabah had forgotten how the Prophet prayed. In one hadith, Ali ibn Abi Talib visits Kufa and leads the community in prayer. And one of the sahabah (I believe it was Abu l-Darda' al-Ansari) who then comments to the hadith narrator that Ali's prayer reminded him of the prayer of Mohammad, because he did the takbeer whenever he prostrated or rose.
In another hadith, this time from Abu Hurayrah, he mentions that saying the takbeer while prostrating or rising is "the Hashemite way of prayer".
Al-Maliki is very shocked by these hadiths, and wonders how it is possible for important sa7abah to forget how the prophet prayed. Instead, I believe this shows that the earliest Muslims viewed prayer more loosely than modern Muslims. That there was no fixed formula, as long as it contained certain elements such as standing and prostrating.
