He would prolong the prayer for himself as he wished, and (1) in a single cycle he would recite Sūrat al-Baqarah, Āl ʿImrān, and al-Nisāʾ. He would then bow (2) for roughly the length of his standing, rise for about the length of his bowing, prostrate for about the length of his standing, and sit for about the length of his prostration (3).
As for that standing which Anas and others described as “light,” and the lightness the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—commanded, the Prophet (4) himself clarified it through both his practice and his instructions, and this reached his Companions. When he once prayed on the pulpit he said, “I only did this so that you might follow me and learn my prayer” (5). He also said to Mālik ibn al-Huwayrith (6) and his companion (7): “Pray as you have seen me pray” (8).
The point is that almost every action can be called “light” when compared to something longer and “long” when compared to something lighter; hence the term has no fixed limit in the language. Moreover, the act in question is not one of the customary dealings—such as taking possession, seizing, hunting, or reviving barren land—so that (9)
(1) MS Aṭ reads: “fa-kana” (so it was).
(2) The phrase “naḥwan min qiyāmihi wa-yarfaʿ” (“about the same length as his standing, and he would raise…”) is missing from MS T.
(3) This wording occurs in a hadith recorded by Muslim, Book of the Prayer of Travellers and Shortening It, chapter “The recommendation to lengthen the recitation in the night prayer,” hadith 772 (1:536–37).
(4) The word “the Prophet” is absent from MS B, while MS Aṭ has “the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and his family.”
(5) These words form part of a hadith transmitted by both Bukhari and Muslim: see Sahih Bukhari, Book of Jumuʿah, chapter “The sermon on the minbar,” hadith 917 (Fath al-Bari 2:397); Sahih Muslim, Book of Mosques, chapter “The permissibility of taking one or two steps in prayer,” hadith 544 (1:386–87); and Ahmad, Musnad 5:339 under the Musnad of Sahl ibn Saʿd.
(6) The narrator is the Companion Malik ibn al-Huwayrith ibn Ashim ibn Ziyad al-Laythi, who settled in Basra. Numerous hadiths from him appear in the two Sahihs and the Sunan. He died in 74 AH. See al-Isaba 3:342–43, no. 7617.
(7) I could not locate any biographical notice for its transmitter in the sources consulted; cf. Fath al-Bari 2:112.
(8) The hadith is found in Sahih Bukhari; its documentation has already been given on p. 308.
(9) The printed edition adds the explanatory phrase “in the prayer.” This should have been flagged in a footnote, as it appears in none of the manuscript copies.