(continuation) Ahmad (3:124) transmits it: Ismail b. Ibrahim—better known as Ibn Ulayyah—narrated to us; Abd al-Aziz b. Suhayb narrated to us. On another occasion he said: Abd al-Aziz b. Suhayb informed us, from Anas, something similar, in which the Prophet said: “Do not make it long for them; recite Sabbih isma rabbika al-a‘la (87), al-shamsi wa duhaha (91), and the like.” The chain is sound according to the criteria of the six canonical compilers and counts among the thulathiyyat of the Musnad. Al-Hafiz states in Fath al-Bari (2:154): “It was narrated by Ahmad, al-Nasai, Abu Ya‘la, and Ibn al-Sakan with a sahih isnad.” The same ruling is reported from Buraydah b. al-Hasib: Ahmad (5:355) records it with a chain that meets Muslim’s standards—the same sanad cited just above—and Ibn Hajar remarks, “Its isnad is strong.” The hadith indicates that an imam may not lengthen the recitation beyond what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to recite or beyond the limits he laid down, lest he cause people to waver in their faith or drive them away from congregational prayer. Numerous reports in the two Sahihs and elsewhere command lightening the prayer, explaining that the congregation includes the sick, the weak, the elderly, and those with pressing needs. What concerns us here—and needs clarification—is the case where some of those present actually prefer that the imam recite the shortest surah in the longest prayer, such as Fajr and its like. Must the imam comply with their wish, or with that of the weakest among them, as certain hadiths appear to dictate,