and this is indeed as he stated—God willing (*)—for all its transmitters are trustworthy except Ibn Jarir al-Dabbi (whose given name is Ghazwan) and his father; both were declared reliable by Ibn Hibban, and several scholars narrated from them. Al-Bukhari also cited this report at length in his Sahih (3/55) with decisive wording from ʿAli. Among what may legitimately be adduced here are the previously-mentioned hadith of Sahl ibn Saʿd and that of Waʾil. The wording of Waʾil’s narration is: “He placed his right hand on the back of his left hand, the wrist, and the forearm.” Sahl’s version reads: “The people were instructed to place the right hand on the left forearm during the prayer.” You may say, “Neither hadith indicates where on the body the hands should be placed.” I reply that the location is implied: when you apply what they describe you will naturally be driven to put the hands on the chest, or very near to it, for that is the result of resting the right hand on the left palm, wrist, and forearm. Try it and you will find the point sound. These reports therefore prove that the sunnah is to fold the hands on the chest, while any other position is either weak or baseless (1). … [research continues on p. 222] _________ (*) See the Shaykh’s grading of this report as weak in Daʿif Sunan Abi Dawud, no. 130. (1) One zealous partisan of the Hanafi school, prepared to defend it even against the sunnah, found these words unpalatable. In his marginal notes on al-ʿAwasim wa-l-Qawasim by Ibn al-Wazir al-Yamani he quoted only the first half of my statement and then remarked (3/8): “It has what it has.” He then cited Ibn al-Qayyim in Badaiʿ al-Fawaʾid (3/91): “Scholars have differed about where to fold the hands…,” adding that Ibn al-Qayyim related from Imam Ahmad that he would place them above the navel, upon it, or below it, all of which he considered permissible.