A man once came to Ibn Masud and said, “Last night I recited the entire mufassal (the short surahs from Qaf to Nas) in a single rakah.” Abdullah replied, “Did you rattle it off the way poetry is rattled off? I am well aware of the matching pairs that the Messenger of Allah used to join together.” He then named twenty surahs from the mufassal, two surahs in every rakah. Shubah also transmitted it from al-A‘mash, who said: “I heard Abu Wail narrate the same.” It is recorded by al-Tayalisi (nos. 34, 36) and, through him, by al-Tirmidhi (20/498), who graded it “hasan sahih.” The report likewise appears in al-Bukhari (9/33–34), Muslim, al-Nasai, and Ahmad (1/455) through various chains from al-A‘mash; and in al-Bukhari (9/72–73), Muslim, al-Tahawi, and Ahmad (1/427) through other chains from Abu Wail. Al-Nasai, al-Tahawi, and Ahmad (1/417) also relate it by two additional isnads from Ibn Masud. Abu Dawud (1/221) narrates it from Israil, from Abu Ishaq, from Alqamah and al-Aswad, who said: A man came to Ibn Masud and said, “I recite the mufassal in one rakah.” He responded, “Do you mumble it like poetry and scatter it as one scatters inferior dates? Rather, the Prophet used to read the matching surahs—two in a rakah: ar-Rahman (The All-Merciful) and an-Najm (The Star) in one rakah, Iqtarabat (al-Qamar, The Moon) and al-Haqqa (The Inevitable) in one rakah, and so on.” Al-Tahawi and Ahmad (1/418) also report it through Zuhayr, from Abu Ishaq, but without naming the surahs. Abu Khalid al-Ahmar listed them from al-A‘mash in Ibn Khuzaymah (1/269/538); and Muhammad ibn Salamah ibn Kuhayl listed them from his father, from Abu Wail as well.