Shuʿba, from Thābit, who said:

Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, describing to us the prayer of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“When he prayed, after raising his head from bowing, he would remain standing until someone would say, ‘He has forgotten.’”

These authentic reports from Anas explicitly state that, in the prayer which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, kept brief yet complete—the briefest and most complete of prayers—he would remain standing after bowing until someone would say, “He has forgotten,” and would sit between the two prostrations until someone would say, “He has forgotten.”

If he did this in such a prayer, then it is established by the agreement of the Muslims and the mass-transmitted Sunnah that his bowing and prostration were no shorter than these two upright postures. Indeed, many scholars say that it is neither prescribed nor permissible to make these two upright postures as long as the bowing and prostration; rather, they should be shorter.

In the two Sahīh collections, Shuʿba narrated from al-Hakam, who said:

“A man—whose name he mentioned, and whom Ghundar identified in one narration as Matar ibn Nājiya—took control of Kufa during the time of Ibn al-Ashʿath. He ordered Abū ʿUbayda ibn ʿAbd Allāh to lead the people in prayer. When he prayed, after raising his head from bowing, he would remain standing for as long as it takes me to say: ‘O Allah, our Lord, to You belongs all praise, filling the heavens, filling the earth, and filling whatever else You will. You are worthy of praise and glory. None can withhold what You give, and none can give what You withhold; nor can worldly fortune avail its possessor before You.’”

Al-Hakam said: “I mentioned this to ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn Abī