The Meaning of (Whoever Prays for People, Let Him Shorten the Prayer)

The Shaykh : because their main evidence is the well-known hadith The one who said this true statement is the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). He used to lead the people in prayer, but did he make it a free-for-all where every person follows his own desire, or every person follows his own obsession, saying to you: And there are no guidelines or restrictions for this. Yes, this is necessary; otherwise, religion would become mere personal desire. What was the occasion on which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said this beautiful phrase? I think all of you, or most of you, remember the story of that Ansari who used to pray behind Mu'adh in his tribe. It was Mu'adh's (may Allah be pleased with him) custom to pray the Isha prayer behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in his mosque, striving to gain the virtue of praying behind the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the virtue of praying in the mosque of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and also to learn. He would pray the Isha prayer behind the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), then go to his people and pray that same Isha prayer with them; for him it was a voluntary prayer, and for them it was an obligatory one. This man came, working with the *nadih*. The *nadih* is the camel that, until recently in the desert, they would tie the bucket to in some way; if you look at it, the camel would turn in this manner and pull the bucket from the well, no matter how heavy it was. This is called a *nadih*. This Ansari came to pray behind Mu'adh. Mu'adh recited al-Fatihah, then "In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate." This is the time for reciting Surat al-Baqarah. He was afraid, and it appears that this fear had a basis, meaning he had previously prayed behind Mu'adh and knew that he usually lengthened the prayer. On that day, perhaps this man was tired, so he feared that Mu'adh would lengthen the prayer while he was unable to cut it short. So he went to a side of the mosque and prayed alone. Naturally, the congregation noticed what the man had done and reported his story to Mu'adh. Mu'adh began to curse him, backbite him, and say about him, "This is a hypocrite." This has a side to the argument, so that we do not attribute a grave error to Mu'adh. Why? Because this man came to the mosque and prayed alone; this is a hypocrite, because the one who does not pray with the congregation is a hypocrite. But Mu'adh excused him because he did not know what his excuse was. The man was informed of Mu'adh's cursing of him, so he went and complained to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), saying, "O Messenger of Allah, we are owners of water-carrying camels. We work during the day and come at night to pray behind Mu'adh, and he lengthens the prayer for us." So he sent for Mu'adh and said to him: three times Here is the point And it was in this context that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the aforementioned hadith. So they extracted this hadith from that context and began to interpret it in whatever way they wished to lighten the burden. This hasty person did not realize that the man was exhausted from his work during the day and had explained his excuse to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He complained to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) was prolonging the prayer for them. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not tell him to recite only al-Fatihah, even though it is sufficient for the prayer to be valid if one recites al-Fatihah. Rather, he told him: "It is sufficient for you to recite after al-Fatihah these short surahs from the final part of the Qur'an." So, imagine a person who is praying as imam in the 'Isha' prayer and recites al-Fatihah and "The Sun and Its Rising" or "Glory be to your Lord, the Most High." What is this prolongation, O Shaykh? You are burdening us and being severe with us. And the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: You tell him: "Take it easy; it is not up to you to lighten the prayer." The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the one who complained about the length of the prayer: "I instructed Mu'adh to recite the surah that I recited." Why are you not willing to complain? You complain to me and say, "You made it long for us." No, I did not make it long for you. If I had recited for them, for example, This is considered long because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “It is sufficient for you to recite from the short surahs.” If he recites about two or three of these, he has the right to say that he prolonged the prayer. However, if you adhere to the Sunnah, you have not prolonged it. It is he who is a man of lax religion who wants to pray here, check his work, check on his children, and look after his interests, and so on. That is one thing. And the summary of this matter is that this hadith It is not up to people’s preferences; rather, it is defined. A hadith in Sunan al-Nasa'i, narrated by 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with them both), confirms this meaning. He said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to order us to make things easy, and yet he would lead us in the Fajr prayer reciting Surah al-Saffat, which is a long surah." This is a very great hadith. If one of the imams today led people in the Fajr prayer and recited Surah al-Saffat for them, which is very long, and they said, "Why did you make it so long for us?"—while the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was making things easy—'Abdullah ibn 'Umar narrated this hadith. He used to say: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to order us to make things easy, and yet he would lead us in the Fajr prayer reciting Surah al-Saffat." So, the meaning of this hadith is that the one who used to order us to make things easy used to make the Fajr prayer longer for us than he might make other prayers. So, may Allah reward you. There are two matters: it does not harm you what people say if you have followed the guidance, as Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: The second matter: it is necessary to address the ignorance of these people with gentleness and kindness by conveying the Sunnah to them. There is no doubt that these people are living in a state of pre-Islamic ignorance (jahiliyyah), my brothers. The situation is very serious. The students of knowledge, and even the scholars, are far from the Sunnah. As was said in the past in a poem—and I am breaking the meter because I am not a poet, but the meaning
"If the master of the house is beating the drum, then what is left for the inhabitants but to dance?"
So if these scholars themselves are ignorant of the Sunnah, then the scholars shortened the recitation out of consideration for the people, even in the Fajr prayer, and even in the Friday morning prayer. The Friday morning prayer in which it is prescribed to recite Surat al-Sajdah in full, out of consideration for those behind them, they divide it into two parts: the first part in the first rak'ah and the second part in the last rak'ah. This is contrary to the Sunnah, my brother. You are lengthening it. But it is necessary to address these people with correct knowledge, along with gentleness and softness.