The Prophet's Prayer From The beginning To The End As Though ...

Anas ibn Maalik (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: "He (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) made it
[i.e. the recitation] short one day in the dawn prayer." (In another hadeeth: he prayed the morning
prayer and recited the two shortest soorahs in the Qur'aan.) So it was said: "O Messenger of Allaah,
why did you make it short" He said: I heard the crying of a child, and I supposed that his mother
was praying with us, so I wanted to free his mother for him. 153
He also used to say: I enter into prayer intending to lengthen it, but I hear the crying of a child so I
shorten my prayer because I know how deeply his mother feels about his crying. 154
He used to start from the beginnning of a soorah, completing it most of the time. 155
He used to say: Give every soorah its share of rukoo' and sujood. 156 In another narration: Every
soorah should have a rak'ah. 157
Sometimes he would divide the soorah into two rak'ahs 158 and sometimes he would repeat the whole
soorah in the second rak'ah 159 .
Sometimes he would combine two or more soorahs in one rak'ah. 160
One of the Ansaar used to lead them in the mosque of Qubaa', and every time he recited a soorah 161
for them, he would begin with "Say: He is Allaah, the One and Only " (soorah al- Ikhlaas, 112) until
its end, and then recite another soorah with it, and he would do this in every rak'ah. Because of this,
his people spoke to him, saying: "You begin with this soorah, and then you do not regard it as
enough until you recite another one: you should either recite it (only) or leave it and recite another
one. He said: "I will not leave it: if you do not mind me leading you with it, I shall carry on, but if you
do not like it, I shall leave you." They knew that he was one of their best, and they did not like to be
led by anyone else, so when the Prophet (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) came to them, they told him
the story. He said: O so- and-so, what stops you from doing what your people ask you to What
makes you recite this soorah in every rak'ah He said: "I love this soorah." He said: Your love for it
will enter you into the Garden. 162
Combining Similar Soorahs and others in One Rak'ah
He used to combine the pairs 163 of the mufassal 164 soorahs, so he used to recite one of the following
pairs of soorahs in one rak'ah 165 :
• ar-Rahmaan (55:78) 166 & an-Najm (53:62);
• al-Qamar (54:55) & al-Haaqqah (69:52);
• at-Toor (52:49) & Dhaariyaat (51:60);
• al-Waaqi'ah (56:96) & al-Qalam (68:52);
• al-Ma'aarij (70:44) & an-Naazi'aat (79:46);
• al-Mutaffifeen (83:36) & 'Abasa (80:42);
• al-Muddaththir (74:56 ) & al-Muzzammil (73:20);
• ad-Dahr (76:31) & al-Qiyaamah (75:40);
• an-Naba (78:40) & al-Mursalaat (77:50);
• ad-Dukhaan (44:59) & at-Takweer (81:29).
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