and he disliked sleeping before it and conversing after it. He would finish the dawn prayer when a man could recognize the person sitting beside him, and he would recite between sixty and a hundred verses in it.”

Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

“We estimated how long the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, stood in the noon and afternoon prayers. We estimated his standing in the first two units of the noon prayer to be the time needed to recite thirty verses—the length of Sūrat Alif Lām Mīm al-Sajdah. We estimated his standing in the first two units of the afternoon prayer to be as long as his standing in the last two units of the noon prayer, and his standing in the last two units of the afternoon prayer to be half that.”

Reported by Muslim, Abū Dāwūd and al-Nasā’ī.

In the two Sahīhs and elsewhere, Jābir ibn Samurah reported that Umar said to Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqās:

“The people have complained about you in everything, even the prayer.”

He replied, “As for me, I lengthen the first two units and shorten the last two, sparing no effort to follow the example of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in prayer.”

Umar said, “That is what we would expect of you, Abū Ishāq.”

Also in Sahīh Muslim, Abū Saʿīd, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

“The noon prayer would begin, and a man could go to al-Baqīʿ, relieve himself, perform ablution and then return while the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was still in the first unit, so long did he make it.”

Also in Sahīh Muslim, Abū Wā’il said:

“One day, Ammār ibn Yāsir delivered a sermon to us, speaking concisely and eloquently. We said, ‘Abū al-Yaqzān, you have spoken eloquently and concisely; if only you had spoken a little longer!’

“He replied, ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say: “Indeed, the length of a man’s prayer and the brevity of