Is it permissible for the imam to lengthen the recitation?

The questioner : The imam lengthening the recitation for the general public?

The Shaykh : If the lengthening is without the consent of the congregation, no, it is contrary to the Sunnah.

The questioner : And is it necessary for him to consult them?

The Shaykh : No, it is necessary for him to follow the Sunnah.

The questioner : If he lengthens it, how is that?

The Shaykh : There is a hadith of Mu'adh that he used to recite...

The questioner : I stood as imam, how do I know if I lengthened it or not?

The Shaykh : What is the Sunnah, my brother? Suppose you are Mu'adh ibn Jabal and you want to lead the people in the 'Isha' prayer, and you recite for them from Surat al-Baqarah, or Surat Qaf, or the Noble Qur'an, or any other surah, a full page, did you follow the guidance of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)?

The questioner : So you consider one page to be short.

The Shaykh : You did not answer me. I meant one page, and if you are not convinced with me, I will strike it as a high note, as they say in our region in Sham, I will tell you two pages later; but let us stay with one page for now. So does one page equal, for example, "And the sun and its brightness"?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: No, no.

The questioner : This surah is one page, and the Qur'an has small print and large print.

The Shaykh : This is not what we want to hear from you; because this is purely formalistic.

The questioner : So the verse of riba is one page in some prints, like the civil print, while in another print it is one and a half pages.

The Shaykh : This is true, but we tell you regarding the time, are they equal?

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh : So the criterion is the time, which is the measure of lengthening and not lengthening. Excuse me, we do not want to argue about anything.

The questioner : We must discuss it because this happened to me. I stood as imam two days ago, meaning the imam was absent and they put me in his place, and I recited the story of Qarun in Surat al-Qasas, which is one and a half pages in the 'Isha' prayer.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you, you came...

The questioner : I recited it in one rak'ah, and in the second rak'ah I found people... but I was fast in the rak'ah and I did not see myself as having lengthened it, but I heard that some people said I lengthened it.

The Shaykh : Yes, but you, Professor, after you finished the taslim...

The questioner : I also cannot stop in the middle of it, and my intention was that the people would benefit from the recitation, from the story.

The Shaykh : Far from it, far from it.

The questioner : So some people were pleased and some were displeased...

The Shaykh : Well, if one of the people brought you the story of Mu'adh, what would be your response to it?

The questioner : By Allah, I was pleased with the ruling of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).

The Shaykh : This is a natural reaction, but you did not answer my question.

The questioner : Surat al-Baqarah is impossible.

The Shaykh : You did not answer my question. If someone argued against you with the saying of the Messenger, "It is sufficient for you to recite so much and so much," what would be your answer?

The questioner : He would be truthful, correct.

The Shaykh : What would be your answer to him?

The questioner : He has a right over me, truly.

The Shaykh : If you are done, you do not return to something like this.

The questioner : I did not reprimand.

The Shaykh : My dear, we are not in the position of reprimanding or holding accountable, but rather we are now discussing rationalization and guidance, that if a person finds it pleasing to recite and lengthen in it, he does not go beyond the Sunnah, just as we do not intend by that to follow the desires of the people; because if you recited this recitation in the Fajr prayer, you would find people objecting to you and saying to you, "My brother, you lengthened it on us."

The questioner : And also in the Fajr prayer, we do not lengthen in the recitation?

The Shaykh : And it seems you are not living in our world.

The questioner : And so on the second day, I came and another imam prayed with us, he recited from Surat al-Baqarah the first four verses, and in the second, "When the help of Allah comes and the victory," and the people left satisfied.

The Shaykh : So are you responding to me or supporting me, ...

The questioner : Yes, I support you.

The Shaykh : If this is the intention, then where was my intention? I do not consider the desires of the people, neither negatively nor positively. Meaning, you tell me that you lengthened the recitation in the 'Isha' prayer; but if you recited this recitation in the Fajr prayer, we would tell you you shortened it, do you see? Because the Messenger used to recite thirty verses, and what you recited did not reach, I think, thirty verses; the point is, at that time we do not say, "My brother, consider the people," no, you must consider the Sunnah; so the point is, the original principle is to consider the Sunnah, whether the people are pleased or angry.

The questioner : The professor mentioned something that happened to me. My son, Uthman, we went out to pray the Fajr and we found the mosque locked, until we reached another mosque... we entered... I tried to recite the prostration surah in two rak'ahs, so I recited something from Surat al-Isra, meaning I recited only one page, and they greeted me after the prayer ended, and I wanted to talk to them... what do you think of what happened?

The Shaykh : My opinion is that you made a mistake because you did not speak. You had to convey the Sunnah to them, especially since you, and praise be to Allah, are not an employee such that if you continued to lengthen, they would tolerate you, tolerate you, and then they would vent their frustration with the minister and send a complaint that this imam lengthens on us, and you would receive an order that says, "My brother, whoever leads should shorten," that is what the minister would tell you; but they do not consider the principle of shortening, "Whoever leads should shorten" according to the desires of the people? No; I say, a hadith, I fear most that a day will come when they say, "My brother, if you recite al-Fatihah the prayer is valid, so recite al-Fatihah and bow and the matter is done," and you will find a supporter, meaning not an objector, from the same employees.

The questioner : Ijtihad they impose... in Egypt they recite the prostration surah in two rak'ahs.

The Shaykh : In Syria, it is like that.
Al-Halabi : Our Shaykh, on the occasion of mentioning the issue of dividing Surat al-Sajdah into two rak'ahs, I think I read in al-Ajwibat al-Nafi'ah or in the commentary on Ihsa' al-Masajid that this is an innovation, either he recites it in its entirety.

The Shaykh : Yes, he did.
The questioner: Or he does not recite it.

The Shaykh : It is so; because they understood it, and Imam Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) alerted us to it before them, they recite Surat al-Sajdah thinking the intention is the prostration, no; rather the intention is the whole surah because of the lessons in it.