What is the prescribed method for turning over the garment during Istisqa?
Chapter on the Prayer for Rain (Istisqa)
Al-Mughni
Book of the Eclipse Prayers (Solar and Lunar)
Primary text
The prescribed method of turning the garment is to place what was on the right side onto the left side, and what was on the left side onto the right side. This is narrated from Aban ibn Uthman, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, Hisham ibn Isma'il, Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Amr ibn Hazm, and Malik.
Supporting text
Al-Shafi'i initially held this view but later retracted, suggesting instead that the top part of the garment should be placed on the bottom, based on a narration where the Prophet (peace be upon him), wearing a black cloak, intended to put the lower part on top, but due to its weight, he instead placed the loop from the left side onto his right shoulder and the loop from the right side onto his left shoulder. The basis for the preferred method is that the narration detailing the right-to-left exchange was narrated by a group without mentioning the top-to-bottom reversal, making the latter potentially a narrator's assumption that should not override the established action of the Prophet.