—even if that would clash with the Prophet’s ﷺ customary lengthening of the recitation in such prayers? The stronger view is that he may not do so, and that the hadiths cited do not cover this kind of abbreviation, for it would in effect suspend the prophetic sunan. Lightening (takhfif) is a relative matter: what one community finds light another may deem long, as Ibn Daqiq al-Id observed. The judgment also varies with people’s zeal for the sunnah, their energy in following the Prophet ﷺ, their physical ability to stand, and other individual differences. Therefore a fixed benchmark for the commanded takhfif is required, namely, limiting oneself to the Prophet’s regular practice in recitation. Whoever keeps to that has lightened the prayer; whoever exceeds it has prolonged it and acted contrary to the Messenger’s command. Thus, when a man complained to the Prophet ﷺ about Muadh, the Prophet instructed Muadh to recite as he ﷺ used to recite, and did not tell him to use anything shorter. I have derived this discussion from Ibn al-Qayyim—may Allah reward him richly for his service to the sunnah—who, in refuting those who “peck” through the prayer, shortening it in a way that violates his ﷺ practice (1/76), wrote: “As for his ﷺ statement, ‘When any of you leads the people, let him lighten the prayer’ (reported by the six compilers), and Anas’s report, ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ offered the most concise complete prayer of anyone’ (al-Bukhari and Muslim), lightening is a relative notion that must be measured against what the Prophet ﷺ himself did and maintained, not against the desires of the congregation. He ﷺ would not command them to do something and then act contrary to it when he knew that behind him were the elderly, the weak, and those with pressing needs. What he practiced is the very lightening he enjoined; he could have made his prayer many times longer than it actually was.”