“I closely observed the Prophet’s prayer, and I found his standing, sitting, bowing, and prostration to be nearly equal in length.” (1) What is meant here by his standing is his standing after bowing, because the standing for recitation is much longer than the bowing. This is for the sake of proportion in the prayer.

“Then he prostrates twice with two long prostrations. Then he performs the second rak‘ah like the first, but shorter than it in everything he does. Then he recites the tashahhud and concludes with the taslim,” ...

His statement, “Then he prostrates twice with two long prostrations,” means: for the duration of the bowing.

The apparent meaning of his words is that he does not prolong the sitting between the two prostrations. Had he intended the sitting between them to be prolonged, he would have pointed this out. Thus, when he says, “He prostrates twice,” and says nothing about the sitting between them, it is as though he is saying: the sitting between them is already known, and it is not a prolonged sitting.

The correct view is that he prolongs the sitting for approximately the duration of the prostration.

His statement, “Then he performs the second like the first, but shorter than it in everything he does,” means in recitation, bowing, standing after it, and prostration. Thus, the second rak‘ah is shorter than the first.

But does this mean that the first standing in the second rak‘ah is like the second standing in the first rak‘ah, while the second standing in the second rak‘ah is shorter than that? Or does it mean that every standing and bowing is shorter than the one preceding it?

The answer is that the sunnah contains nothing to indicate either of these possibilities. We therefore have no clear evidence on this matter. It is possible that the first standing in the second rak‘ah is like the second standing in the first, and this would be so if he makes the