The ruling on reading from the middle of surahs in voluntary and obligatory prayers
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: Does not the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) regarding the recitation of two verses from Surat al-Baqarah and Surat al-Imran in the two rak'ahs of Fajr indicate that it is a recommended practice (sunnah) to read from the middle of surahs in voluntary and obligatory prayers, contrary to what some jurists mention, namely that it is not a sunnah but merely permissible?
Answer:
I do not recall any jurist saying that it is not a sunnah. However, this does not apply to the obligatory prayers; there is no report of this for the obligatory prayers. This is only for voluntary prayers, specifically the two rak'ahs of Fajr, as Imam Ibn al-Qayyim states: specifically the two rak'ahs of Fajr. Yes. As for what is known from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), it is that he either reads from the beginning of a surah, reading from the beginning of the surah, and either completes it, or does not complete it, or divides it between the two rak'ahs.
As for reading from the middle of surahs in voluntary prayers other than the two rak'ahs of Fajr, this has not been reported. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: Does not the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) regarding the recitation of two verses from Surat al-Baqarah and Surat al-Imran in the two rak'ahs of Fajr indicate that it is a recommended practice (sunnah) to read from the middle of surahs in voluntary and obligatory prayers, contrary to what some jurists mention, namely that it is not a sunnah but merely permissible?
Answer:
I do not recall any jurist saying that it is not a sunnah. However, this does not apply to the obligatory prayers; there is no report of this for the obligatory prayers. This is only for voluntary prayers, specifically the two rak'ahs of Fajr, as Imam Ibn al-Qayyim states: specifically the two rak'ahs of Fajr. Yes. As for what is known from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), it is that he either reads from the beginning of a surah, reading from the beginning of the surah, and either completes it, or does not complete it, or divides it between the two rak'ahs.
As for reading from the middle of surahs in voluntary prayers other than the two rak'ahs of Fajr, this has not been reported. Yes.
Source
شرح كتاب المنتقى من أخبار المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم، بداية من باب حكم من لم يحسن فرض القراءة — islamhouse.com (53:42)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.