As for placing the hands below the navel, there is only one musnad report on the matter, and it is solely transmitted by a narrator who is unanimously judged weak; moreover, he narrates it with contradictory chains, attributing it once to Ali and another time to Abu Hurayrah. The narrator in question is Abd al-Rahman ibn Ishaq al-Wasiti, who said: “Ziyad ibn Zayd al-Suwa’i related to me from Abu Juhaifah, from Ali, who said: ‘Part of the sunnah in prayer is to lay one palm upon the other beneath the navel.’ ” This version was recorded by Abu Dawud (1/120); al-Daraqutni (107) and, through him, al-Bayhaqi (2/31); Ahmad (1/110); and in Masail Ibnihi Abd Allah through several routes from him. Al-Daraqutni—followed by al-Bayhaqi—also brought it through the route of Hafs ibn Ghiyath, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Ishaq, from al-Numan ibn Saʿd, from Ali. Again, Abu Dawud and al-Daraqutni recorded it through the chain of Abd al-Wahid ibn Ziyad, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Ishaq, from Sayyar Abi al-Hakam, from Abu Wail, who said: “Abu Hurayrah said …,” and he mentioned the same wording. This is a grave inconsistency: one time the chain is “Ziyad ibn Zayd al-Suwa’i → Abu Juhaifah → Ali,” another time “al-Numan ibn Saʿd → Ali,” and a third time “Sayyar Abi al-Hakam → Abu Wail → Abu Hurayrah.” Such disorder would undermine the hadith even if the person responsible were reliable—how much more so when he is, by consensus, weak. That person is Abd al-Rahman ibn Ishaq. Abu Dawud said, “I heard Ahmad ibn Hanbal declare Abd al-Rahman ibn Ishaq al-Kufi weak.” Al-Bayhaqi remarked, “Its isnad contains weakness,” and then added, “Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Yahya ibn Maʿin, and al-Bukhari all criticised this Abd al-Rahman.”