Imam Malik said about sadl was said in his Mudawwana in the Chapter of putting one hand over

the other page 75 and 76: Ibn Qaasim said that Imam Malik said (about putting the right over the left) , " I have no knowledge of it in the fard and it is disliked, but in the Nawaafil if the prayers are long LA BASA `ALAIHI- there is no harm in it, and it is for the individual to decide." Sayyid Sabiq quoted Imam Tirmidhi in his Fiqh As-Sunnah as saying: "Knowledgeable Companions their followers and those who came after them believed that one should put his right hand over his left during prayer, while some say above the navel and other say below." You may have noticed or they may have brought it to your attention that in the Muwatta that Imam Malik recorded the hadith of the position of the hands in which the right is over the left. This shows his willingness to accept the hadith that are true. But this is not a contradiction on his part. The reason for this is that although the hadith is true, in his method he had preferred the `Amal of Medina, the City of the Prophet (s). So whatever people had done in Medina, he considered adequate proof.

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MALIKI SALAT heres their evidence Ahmed related to us- Abu `Asim Ad-Dabbaak ibn Maklad related to us- (transfer); Musaddad related to us- Yahya related to us. And the chain from Ahmed reads; Abdul-Hameed informed us- that is, Ibn Ja`far (he said)Muhammad ibn `Amr ibn `Atta informed me. He said, "I heard Abu Hameed As-Saa`idi say while in the company of ten of the companions of the Messanger of Allah- May Allah Bless him and grant him Peace." "I am the most knowledgeable of you of the prayer of the Messanger of Allah." They said, "how so? For by Allah, you were neither the one who spent the most time with him, nor the eldest of us to him in companionships." He said, "True indeed." They said, "Show (us)". He said, "Whenever the Messanger of Allah would stand up to pray he would raise his hands until they were parassel with his shoulders, then say 'Allahu Akbar' until each bone became settled in its place straightly. Then he would recite... And the natural place of the hands/arms of a person is at his/her sides. And it cannot be said that a person's arms are straight if they are folded on his/her chest.

The statement of Abu Qattada that, "[A]nd didn't being reciting until all of his limbs had rested in their natural position" is proof that the Prophet did not always place his right hand over his left, for this is not the natural position at which the limbs rest, rather, this is what is known as sadl. If the Prophet placed his right hand over his left in the prayer all the time, then (at least) one of the Sahabah would have objected to Abu Humaid's failure to report that in his narration. Furtherstill, and most importantly perhaps, amongst those Sahabah was Sahl ibn Sa'd, the narrator of the hadith: "The people were ordered (literally "used to be ordered") that a man place his right hand over his left arm in the prayer," as stated by Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bari (2:334). Mujahid said, "If the right hand is to be placed over the left, then it should be on the palm or the wrist on the chest." The narrator added from Mujahid, "and he hated that." It is understood from this that placing the right hand over the left was not what Mujahid was accustomed to, proof that he did not witness the Sahabah doing it. 4. Ibn 'Abd al-Barr also narrates in the same book (20:76): 'Abd Allah ibn al-Izar said, "I used to make tawaf around the Kaba with Said ibn al-Jubayr. Once, he saw a man placing one hand over the other, so he went to him, separated his hands, and then returned to me.

Also it should be noted that the Amal of Medina has more authority for us then any ahad hadith since the Amal is a mutwatir qati proof and it was the practise of the Sahaba in Medina. they beleive praying with arms crossed makruh and rely on how people acted in medina rather then the other sources of hadiths although im not sure of imam maliks personal view on this