and see Sahih Abi Dawud, no. 653. Al-Tirmidhi said: “This is the practice adopted by the scholars; they dislike a man’s praying with his hair tied up.” Al-Bayhaqi added: “We have likewise transmitted the disapproval of that from Umar, Ali, Hudhayfah, and Abd Allah ibn Masud, may Allah be pleased with them.” (1) This forms part of the hadith of Abu Humayd: “When he prostrated, he placed his hands (on the ground) without spreading them wide or clutching them.” Reported by al-Bukhari and others. (2) Several reports corroborate this: – Among them, the narration of Aisha: “He used to forbid a man to rest his forearms on the ground like a beast…” The full text has already been cited under the section on the takbir; it is recorded by Muslim and others, yet its chain is nevertheless defective, as explained there [p. 177]. – Another is the report of Abd al-Rahman ibn Shibl: “The Messenger of Allah forbade pecking like a crow, sprawling like a beast, and a man’s reserving a fixed spot in the mosque as a camel does.” Reported by Abu Dawud (1/138), al-Nasai (1/167), al-Darimi (1/303), Ibn Majah (1/437), al-Hakim (1/229), al-Bayhaqi (2/118), and Ahmad (3/428, 444), all of them