Ibn Saʿd said: “He was reliable.”(1)
What we have stated is corroborated by the report related by Muslim in his Ṣaḥīḥ from ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir(2), who said: The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, “A man’s elongation of the prayer and brevity of the sermon is an indication(3) of his understanding; so lengthen the prayer and shorten the sermon,(4) for among eloquence there is a kind of magic.”(5)
Thus he made lengthening the prayer a sign of a man’s insight into the religion and commanded that it be lengthened. This command is either general, applying to all the prayers, or it is intended specifically for the Friday prayer. If the wording(6) is general, the matter is clear; but if what is meant(7) is the Friday prayer,(8) then when he ordered that it be lengthened despite the fact that the congregation therein is(9) large—containing the weak, the elderly, and those
(1) The previously cited source. I consulted the printed edition of Ibn Saʿd’s al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā for the biography of the person just mentioned, but did not find it (5/422).
(2) The reference is to the noble Companion ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir ibn ʿĀmir ibn Mālik al-ʿAnsī, ally of Banū Makhzūm and one of the earliest converts to Islam. He and his parents were tortured for God’s sake, and the Prophet used to tell them: “Patience, family of Yāsir, for your meeting-place is Paradise.” He emigrated to Madinah, took part in every campaign with the Messenger of Allah, and was killed at Ṣiffīn in 37 AH. See al-Iṣābah 2/513, no. 5704.
(3) The word miʾnah means “a sign” or “an indication.” See: al-Nawawī, Sharḥ (6/158); Mukhtār al-Ṣiḥāḥ, s.v. m-ʾ-n, p. 612.
(4) Copies (Ab, Ṭ) read al-khuṭab, whereas Muslim’s wording—as confirmed by copies (J, D) and the printed edition—is as given in the main text.
(5) Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Book of Jumuʿah, chapter “Shortening the prayer and the sermon,” hadith 869 (2/594).
(6) Copy (D) reads: “fa-in kāna al-lafẓ wa-in kāna al-murād, fa-idhā umira bi-iṭālatihā …,” which involves omission and alteration; I suspect this is a copyist’s conflation.
(7) The printed edition reads: “al-murād bihi” (“what is meant by it”).
(8) Copy (B) repeats the phrase “wa-in kāna al-murād ṣalāt al-Jumuʿah,” which is probably a copyist’s slip.
(9) Copy (B) reads: “fa-yakūn.”