As for lengthening the prayer, it is because the imam appreciates the station of this noble obligation—the finest of all the prescribed prayers—and therefore grants it its full due of composure, fulfilling both its obligatory and recommended elements.

5. The imam’s conduct within the prayer—his arrangement of the Qur’anic recitation, the order of the surahs, lengthening the first rak‘ah and shortening the second, selecting passages suited to each prayer, pairing kindred surahs in a single prayer, and every other matter he ought to observe—testifies to his knowledge, his familiarity with the speech of Allah Most High, and his understanding of the religion.