Others have likewise stated that sadl during the prayer is disliked.
Ṣāliḥ ibn Aḥmad said: “I asked my father about sadl in the prayer. He answered: ‘A person puts on a garment, and if he does not cast one of its two ends over the other, that is sadl.’” This, he added, is the view adopted by the vast majority of scholars.
As for the definition given by Abū ʼl-Ḥasan al-Āmidī and Ibn ʿAqīl—that sadl is to let one’s garment hang so low that it falls beneath the feet and is dragged along, thereby equating it with the forbidden practice of isbāl (lowering and trailing the garment)—this is an error that runs counter to the consensus of the scholars. Although isbāl and dragging the garment are indeed prohibited by agreement, and there are more prophetic traditions on that subject, they are not what is meant by sadl.
(1) MS Ṭ reads: “wa-ghayr al-thawb” (“and anything other than the garment”).
(2) The word “sadl” (letting the cloth hang down) is missing from the printed edition.
(3) I did not find this exact wording, only statements to the same effect; see: Abu Dawud, Masāʾil al-Imām Ahmad, p. 40; al-Naysaburi, Masāʾil al-Imām Ahmad, 1:59.
(4) See al-Naysaburi, Masāʾil al-Imām Ahmad, 1:59, which conveys the same meaning.
(5) MS A adds: “This is the prohibition, and the majority of scholars uphold it.”
(6) ʿAli ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Baghdadi, al-Amidi, a disciple of Qadi Abu Yaʿla and one of the foremost Hanbali jurists of his time; author of ʿUmdat al-Hadir and Kifayat al-Musafir. He died in 467 AH. See: Dhayl Tabaqat al-Hanabila 1:8–9.
(7) ʿAli ibn ʿAqil ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAqil ibn Ahmad, Abu’l-Wafa, the eminent Hanbali jurist and theologian, born 431 AH. He excelled in fiqh and usul and produced many works, the most famous being al-Funun (over 200 volumes), al-Fusul, al-Mufradat, ʿUmdat al-Adillah, al-Irshad, and Nafiyy al-Tashbih. A staunch defender of Imam Ahmad, he was at one point accused of heterodox views but is said to have repented. He died in 513 AH. See: Dhayl Tabaqat al-Hanabila 1:142, 163, no. 66.
(8) MSS J and D read: “ʿalā.”