Ishaq used to lead us in the witr prayer, would raise his hands during the qunut, recite the qunut before bowing, and place his hands on his chest or just below it. A similar statement is found in Qadi Iyad al-Maliki’s section on the recommended acts of prayer in his book al-Ilam (p. 15, 3rd ed., Rabat): “and to place the right hand over the back of the left at the upper chest (nahr).” (1) The hadith comes from Abu Hurayrah—cited in Irwa al-Ghalil, no. 374—who said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade ikhtisar (standing with one’s hand on the side) during the prayer.” It is reported by al-Bukhari (3/68), Muslim (2/72), Abu Dawud (1/150), al-Nasaʾi (1/142) and, through him, by Ibn Hazm in al-Muhalla (2/18), al-Tirmidhi (2/222), al-Darimi (1/332), al-Tabarani in al-Saghir (p. 173), al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak (1/264), al-Bayhaqi (2/287), and Ahmad (2/232, 290, 295, 331, 399) through several chains from Muhammad ibn Sirin. The wording given above is that of Abu Dawud, al-Hakim, and one of Ahmad’s narrations. The other versions—except al-Tabarani’s—read: “He forbade a man to pray in the manner of ikhtisar.” Al-Tabarani’s text has “one of us” instead of “a man,” and this wording also appears in one of Ahmad’s reports. Ahmad and al-Bayhaqi additionally relate that when Hisham was asked, “What is ikhtisar?” he replied: “It is that a person places his hand on his waist.”