in full, for the Messenger of Allah recited it during the Maghrib prayer; therefore any conjectural “perhaps” or “if only” is of no use. Furthermore, the hadith of Aisha in Sunan al-Nasa’i relates that the Messenger of Allah recited Surah al-Araf in Maghrib and split it over the two rak‘ahs. It is obvious that half of al-Araf is still longer than the short surahs, so dividing it cannot be cited as evidence for restricting oneself to short surahs. The sound reply, then, is the third view.” End of his words. (1) This report comes from Umm al-Fadl bint al-Harith (may Allah be pleased with her) through two routes: The first route—through her son Abdullah ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them): she heard him reciting “Wal-mursalati ‘urfa” and said, “My son, your recitation of this surah has reminded me; it is the last surah I heard the Messenger of Allah recite in the Maghrib prayer.” It was transmitted by Malik (1/99–100); from him by al-Bukhari (2/195), Muslim (2/40–41), Muhammad (142), Abu Dawud (1/129), al-Tahawi (1/124), al-Bayhaqi (2/392), and Ahmad (6/340)—all via Malik—from Ibn Shihab, from Ubaydullah ibn Abdullah ibn Utbah ibn Mas‘ud, from her. It was also recorded by al-Bukhari (8/105), Muslim, al-Nasa’i (1/154), al-Darimi (1/296), Ibn Majah (1/275), al-Tahawi, and Ahmad (6/338, 340) through other chains from al-Zuhri with similar wording. Al-Tirmidhi (2/112) narrated it through Muhammad ibn Ishaq, from al-Zuhri, with the wording: “The Messenger of Allah came out to us with his head bandaged during his illness, performed the Maghrib prayer, and recited al-Mursalat.”