Likewise (1) he led the believers (2) in the dawn prayer in Mecca, and a cough overtook him when he came to the mention of Moses and Aaron (3). These ḥadiths and others like them show that, toward the end of his blessed life, the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—used to recite, in the Fajr prayer, from the long sūrahs of the Mufaṣṣal, and the proofs for this are numerous (4). All of the Companions agreed that this was the manner in which the Messenger of Allah consistently prayed, and no one ever reported that, in his final days, he shortened (5) his prayer from what (6) he had previously performed. The jurists are likewise unanimous (7) that the Sunnah is to recite from the long sūrahs of the Mufaṣṣal in the dawn prayer.

As for his words:

“and let him not pray the prayer of these people,”

he may have intended either those who lengthen the prayer beyond this (8) or those who abbreviate it below it (9)—meaning, he himself kept it moderate. Yet even so, he did not truncate it as do those who omit the bowing, the prostrations, and the two upright pauses, as the ḥadiths of Anas and al-Barāʾ indicate. Alternatively, those governors may have been shortening the recitation, or both the recitation and the remaining pillars, below what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to do. As Abū Qazʿah (10) narrated: