Chapter

The Book of the Commencement of the Prayer

كتاب الافتتاح

Arabic Text

أَخْبَرَنَا عُبَيْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ الْحَارِثِ، عَنِ الضَّحَّاكِ بْنِ عُثْمَانَ، عَنْ بُكَيْرِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ الأَشَجِّ، عَنْ سُلَيْمَانَ بْنِ يَسَارٍ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ مَا صَلَّيْتُ وَرَاءَ أَحَدٍ أَشْبَهَ صَلاَةً بِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم مِنْ فُلاَنٍ ‏.‏ فَصَلَّيْنَا وَرَاءَ ذَلِكَ الإِنْسَانِ وَكَانَ يُطِيلُ الأُولَيَيْنِ مِنَ الظُّهْرِ وَيُخَفِّفُ فِي الأُخْرَيَيْنِ وَيُخَفِّفُ فِي الْعَصْرِ وَيَقْرَأُ فِي الْمَغْرِبِ بِقِصَارِ الْمُفَصَّلِ وَيَقْرَأُ فِي الْعِشَاءِ بِالشَّمْسِ وَضُحَاهَا وَأَشْبَاهِهَا وَيَقْرَأُ فِي الصُّبْحِ بِسُورَتَيْنِ طَوِيلَتَيْنِ ‏.‏

English Translation

It was narrated that Abu Hurairah said:

"I have never prayed behind anyone whose prayer more closely resembled that of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) than so-and-so. We prayed behind that person and he used to make the first two rak'ahs of Zuhr lengthy and the last two shorter, and he would make 'Asr shorter; in Maghrib he would recite the short Mufassal surahs. In Isha' he recited: 'By the sun and its brightness and similar surahs, and in subh he recited two lengthy surahs."