He also said: “There is no disagreement that a worshipper may, in the second rakʿah, recite a surah that comes before the one he recited in the first; the only disliked case is to do so within a single rakʿah, or for someone who is reciting outside the prayer.” He added: “Some scholars have allowed it absolutely, and they explained the prohibition reported from the early generations against ‘inverted’ recitation as referring to a person who recites a surah from its end back to its beginning.” End of Qadi Iyad’s words as quoted in Sharh Muslim. What he mentioned—namely that some scholars permit departing from the ʿUthmanic order within one rakʿah—is supported by certain hadiths, such as the report of Ibn Masʿud cited above (pp. 402–3), which states that the Prophet ﷺ would combine related passages from the mufassal surahs. In that report he recited Waylun lil-mutaffifin and ʿAbasa in one rakʿah, and al-Muddaththir and al-Muzzammil in another, and so on. The apparent sense is that he began each pair with Waylun lil-mutaffifin and al-Muddaththir respectively, then followed them with ʿAbasa and al-Muzzammil. (1) Al-Nawawi says in Sharh Muslim: “This hadith shows that these supplications are recommended for every reciter, whether inside or outside the prayer; according to our school they are recommended for the imam, the follower, and the individual alike.” He further says in al-Majmuʿ (4/66): “Because it is a supplication, they are equal in it, just as they are equal in saying amin; this applies to both obligatory and supererogatory prayers. Abu Hanifah held that asking at a verse of mercy and seeking refuge during the prayer are disliked, but the majority of scholars from the early generations onward follow our position.” I add: I recall that Imam Muhammad ibn al-Hasan explicitly affirmed the permissibility—and even the recommendation—of this in his work al-Athar, though he limited it to voluntary prayers; the evidence supports his view, and I had intended to quote his exact words