the following day with the reply, as in Allah’s words:

“He said, ‘Did I not tell you that you would never be able to bear patiently with me?’”

Such pauses are not permissible even within a single sitting when the two parts are separated by a lengthy interruption involving unrelated matter. Hence, if a coordinate phrase, exception, condition, or the like is appended to a statement after such an interruption, it is not valid, by agreement of the scholars. Likewise, if acceptance is separated from the offer by such an interruption between the speakers, it is not valid, without dispute. Whoever attributes a contrary view to Ahmad is mistaken, just as whoever attributes a contrary view to Ibn ‘Abbās concerning the former issue is mistaken.

What is reported from Ahmad concerns a situation in which both contracting parties are absent, or one is absent and the other present: one conveys the offer to the other, who accepts it during the session in which it is communicated to him. This is permissible, unlike the case in which both are present. What the Quran relates, however, is the speech of two people present beside one another. How, then, can separating their words in this way be permissible without any need? This differs from dividing a passage when teaching someone to recite because the learner has not memorized it, or for a similar reason.

Second: The usual practice of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his Companions was to recite a surah such as Qāf or the like during prayer. Likewise, ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, used to recite Yūnus, Yūsuf, and al-Nahl.

“When he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, recited the surah of the Believers in the dawn prayer, a coughing fit overtook him, so he bowed partway through it. He also said: ‘I begin the prayer intending to prolong it, but then I hear a child crying and shorten it, knowing the distress this causes his mother.’”