Anas ibn Mālik said:

“I have never prayed behind anyone whose prayer was briefer, yet more complete, than the prayer of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘Allah hears those who praise Him,’ he would remain standing so long that we thought he had forgotten. Then he would pronounce the takbīr and prostrate, and he would sit between the two prostrations until we again thought he had forgotten.”

In this sound report Anas—may Allah be pleased with him—brings together two facts: he informs us that the Prophet’s prayer, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, was both concise and perfected, and he points out that among the aspects of this perfection was the lengthening of the two upright pauses. In the earlier narration he likewise stated that he had never seen a prayer more concise, nor more complete, than the Prophet’s.

It therefore appears—Allah knows best—that conciseness applies to the standing portions, while completeness pertains to the bowing, prostration, and the two upright pauses; for standing is almost always performed in full and thus needs no special description of perfection, unlike the bowing, prostration, and the upright pauses.

Moreover, by abbreviating the standing and lengthening the bowing and prostration, the prayer becomes balanced and proportionate, thereby validating his statement: “I have never seen one more concise yet more complete.”

If, however, conciseness were referred to the very components that he perfected, and completeness to those that he abbreviated, the wording would be self-contradictory, for anyone who lengthened the standing beyond his standing would not be inferior to him in completeness