Reading from the author's words, with commentary on them and collation of the manuscripts: "And what Anas ibn Malik mentioned regarding the shortening
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The reader: "And what Anas ibn Malik mentioned regarding the shortening: this is relative to what some of the governors and others used to do in the standing of the prayer. For among them, some would prolong the standing beyond what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do in most times, and they would shorten the bowing, prostration, and the standing up between them from what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do in most times. Perhaps most of the imams, or many of them, had come to pray in that manner. And some of them would recite a surah in the last two rak'ahs along with al-Fatihah. All of this had become the schools of some of the jurists. And the Khawarij also went to extremes and were severe, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) described them when He said: Sahih Muslim 1064f.
Therefore, when Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) prayed in Basra, Imran said:Sunan Abi Dawud 1002Sahih (Al-Albani).
And the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was moderate: he would shorten the standing and sitting, and prolong the bowing and prostration.
This has come explained from Anas ibn Malik himself. Al-Nasa'i narrated from Qutaybah, from al-Ataf ibn Khalid, from Zayd ibn Aslam, who said:Sunan an-Nasa'i 981Hasan (Darussalam) "
The Shaykh : What? Bring me
The reader: Bring me water for ablution
The Shaykh : Yes
The reader: "Sunan an-Nasa'i 981Hasan (Darussalam). Zayd said: And 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz would complete the bowing and prostration, and shorten the standing and sitting.
This is an authentic hadith, for al-Ataf ibn Khalid al-Makhzumi, Yahya ibn Ma'in said about him—more than once: He is trustworthy.
And Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: He is from the people of Makkah, trustworthy, with authentic hadiths, and about a hundred hadiths were narrated from him.
And Ibn 'Adi said: He narrates close to a hundred hadiths, and I have not seen any objection to his hadiths when a trustworthy person narrates from him.
Abu Dawud and al-Nasa'i narrated from the hadith of 'Abd Allah ibn Ibrahim ibn 'Umar ibn Kaysan: .
The Shaykh : I have Ibn 'Amr ibn 'Amr; 'Umar without a waw, yes.
The reader: " He said: My father narrated to me from Wahb ibn Manus, who said: I heard Sa'id ibn Jubayr say: I heard Anas ibn Malik say:Sunan Abi Dawud 888Da'if (Al-Albani). And Yahya ibn Ma'in said: Ibrahim ibn 'Umar ibn Kaysan is a Yemeni man of trustworthiness.
And Hisham ibn Yusuf said: Ibrahim ibn 'Umar narrated to me, and he was one of the best people in prayer, and his son 'Abd Allah—Abu Hatim said of him: His hadith is sound.
And Wahb ibn Manus—with a nun—this is what 'Abd Allah says, and 'Abd al-Razzaq used to say it with a ba with one dot below. He was an old, ancient shaykh, and this Ibrahim took from him, and he followed what he narrated to him" .
The Shaykh : Followed
The reader: And he followed what he narrated to him
The Shaykh : What he narrated without a pronoun; do you have a pronoun?
The reader: I have it saying in 12: what he narrated.
The Shaykh : There is a copy.
The reader: Yes, indeed
The Shaykh : Very well.
The reader: " And if he had not trusted him, he would not have acted upon what he narrated to him, and his hadith" .
The Shaykh : So, followed
The reader: Listen
The Shaykh : Followed what he narrated.
The reader: " And he followed what he narrated to him, and if he had not trusted him, he would not have acted upon what he narrated to him, and his hadith agrees with the narration of Zayd ibn Aslam, and I do not know of any criticism of it.
And Muslim narrated in his *Sahih*, from the hadith of Hammad ibn Salama, who said: Thabit narrated to us, from Anas, who said:Sahih Muslim 473 And Abu Dawud narrated it, from the hadith of Hammad ibn Salama, who said: Thabit and Humayd informed us, from Anas ibn Malik, who said: Sunan Abi Dawud 853Sahih (Al-Albani).
So Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) combined in this authentic hadith between the report of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) shortening of the prayer and its completion, and that among the completion he reported is: lengthening the two upright positions, and he reported in the preceding hadith: that he did not see a shorter prayer than his, nor a more complete one.
It seems—Allah knows best—that the shortening referred to the standing, and the completion to the bowing and prostration, because the standing is hardly done except in a complete manner, so it does not need to be described as completed, unlike the bowing, prostration, and the two upright positions.
Also, by shortening the standing and lengthening the bowing and prostration, the prayer becomes complete due to its balance and proportionality, so his saying is true:.
As for if the shortening is attributed to the very thing that was completed, and the completion to the very thing that was shortened, it would result in a contradiction in the speech, because one who lengthens his standing in his standing is not less in completing the standing, unless it is said: the increase in form becomes a decrease in meaning, and this is contrary to the apparent meaning of the wording, because the principle is that the meaning of shortening and lightening is different from the meaning of completing and perfecting. And because Zayd ibn Aslam said: So it is known that the term completion with them is the completion of the apparent action.
And all of Anas's hadiths indicate that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to lengthen the bowing, prostration, and the two upright positions, more than what most imams do. And the rest of the narrations in the Sahih indicate that.
So in the *Sahihayn*: from Hammad ibn Zayd, from Thabit, from Anas ibn Malik, who said:.
Thabit said: So Anas used to do something that I do not think you do: when he raised his head from the bowing, he would stand upright until the one saying: he has forgotten, and when he raised his head from the prostration, he would remain until the one saying: he has forgotten.
And in a narration—in the Sahih: and when he raised his head between the two prostrations, and in a narration of al-Bukhari, from the hadith of Shu'bah, from Thabit: This makes it clear to you that Anas meant by the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): lengthening the bowing and prostration, and the rising in them, as the people used to do, and shortening the standing from what the people used to do" .
The Shaykh : Yes.
The student: I have it as: as the people used to know.
The Shaykh : I have it as: they used to do. Did he point to a copy, Samih?
The student: No, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : They used to do.
The reader: " And shortening the standing from what the people used to do" .
The Shaykh : The time is up. The summary of the author's (may Allah have mercy on him) speech is that in the era of the Umayyads, there became a difference in prayer, so they used to lighten the standing after the bowing and the standing after the prostration, meaning the sitting, and they used to lengthen the standing greatly and shorten the bowing and prostration. So these are three things: lengthening the standing greatly, shortening the bowing and prostration, and lightening the standing after the bowing and the sitting between the two prostrations. And Anas used to denounce that and mention that the prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was balanced, meaning there would not be a vast difference between the standing, the bowing, the prostration, the sitting between the two prostrations, and the standing from the bowing. And it is established that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), from the hadith of al-Bara' ibn 'Azib, that his prayer was proportionate, so he (peace and blessings be upon him) used to lengthen the bowing and the standing after it, and the prostration and the sitting after it. He said: Which indicates that the prayer is to be proportionate. As for lengthening the standing greatly and lightening the bowing, or in reality stealing from the sitting between the two prostrations and the standing after the bowing, this is contrary to the Sunnah. And we observe now many of our brothers who come from outside the country, you find they lighten greatly in the standing after the bowing, and also in the sitting between the two prostrations. So it is upon the one who sees them to clarify to them that this is not permissible, and that this necessitates that the prayer is invalid, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): And success is from Allah.
that everyone among you would consider his prayer insignificant as compared with their prayer, and his fast as compared with their fasts
يحقر أحدكم صلاتَه مع صلاتهم وصيامَه مع صيامهمTherefore, when Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) prayed in Basra, Imran said:
The end of the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)
لقد أذكرني هذا صلاة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلمAnd the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was moderate: he would shorten the standing and sitting, and prolong the bowing and prostration.
This has come explained from Anas ibn Malik himself. Al-Nasa'i narrated from Qutaybah, from al-Ataf ibn Khalid, from Zayd ibn Aslam, who said:
We entered upon Anas bin Malik and he said: 'Have you prayed?' We said: 'Yes.' He asid: 'O slave girl, bring me water for Wudhu! I have never prayed behind
دخلنا على أنس بن مالك ، فقال : صليتم ؟ قلنا : نعم . قال : يا جارية، هلمي لي وضوءاً، ما صليت وراءThe Shaykh : What? Bring me
The reader: Bring me water for ablution
The Shaykh : Yes
The reader: "
whose prayer more closely resembles the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) than this Imam of yours
إمام أشبه بصلاة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، من إمامكم هذاThis is an authentic hadith, for al-Ataf ibn Khalid al-Makhzumi, Yahya ibn Ma'in said about him—more than once: He is trustworthy.
And Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: He is from the people of Makkah, trustworthy, with authentic hadiths, and about a hundred hadiths were narrated from him.
And Ibn 'Adi said: He narrates close to a hundred hadiths, and I have not seen any objection to his hadiths when a trustworthy person narrates from him.
Abu Dawud and al-Nasa'i narrated from the hadith of 'Abd Allah ibn Ibrahim ibn 'Umar ibn Kaysan: .
The Shaykh : I have Ibn 'Amr ibn 'Amr; 'Umar without a waw, yes.
The reader: " He said: My father narrated to me from Wahb ibn Manus, who said: I heard Sa'id ibn Jubayr say: I heard Anas ibn Malik say:
I did not offer behind anyone after the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) a prayer like the prayer offered by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) than this youth, i.e. Umar ibn AbdulAziz. We estimated reciting glorification ten times in his bowing, and in his prostration ten times.
ما صَليت وراء أحد بعد رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، أشبه صلاة برسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، من هذا الفتى - يعني عمر بن عبد العزيز - قال : فحزرنا في ركوعه عشر تسبيحات، وفي سجوده عشر تسبيحاتAnd Hisham ibn Yusuf said: Ibrahim ibn 'Umar narrated to me, and he was one of the best people in prayer, and his son 'Abd Allah—Abu Hatim said of him: His hadith is sound.
And Wahb ibn Manus—with a nun—this is what 'Abd Allah says, and 'Abd al-Razzaq used to say it with a ba with one dot below. He was an old, ancient shaykh, and this Ibrahim took from him, and he followed what he narrated to him" .
The Shaykh : Followed
The reader: And he followed what he narrated to him
The Shaykh : What he narrated without a pronoun; do you have a pronoun?
The reader: I have it saying in 12: what he narrated.
The Shaykh : There is a copy.
The reader: Yes, indeed
The Shaykh : Very well.
The reader: " And if he had not trusted him, he would not have acted upon what he narrated to him, and his hadith" .
The Shaykh : So, followed
The reader: Listen
The Shaykh : Followed what he narrated.
The reader: " And he followed what he narrated to him, and if he had not trusted him, he would not have acted upon what he narrated to him, and his hadith agrees with the narration of Zayd ibn Aslam, and I do not know of any criticism of it.
And Muslim narrated in his *Sahih*, from the hadith of Hammad ibn Salama, who said: Thabit narrated to us, from Anas, who said:
I have never said such a light and perfect prayer as I said behind the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). The prayer of the Messenger. of Allah (ﷺ) was well balanced. And so too was the prayer of Abu Bakr well balanced. When it was the time of 'Umar b. al-Khattab he prolonged the morning prayer. When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Allah listened to him who praised Him, he stood erect till we said: He has forgotten. He then prostrated and sat between two prostration till we said: He has forgotten.
ما صليتُ خلف أحد أوجز صلاة من صلاة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم في تمام، كانت صلاة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم متقاربة، وكانت صلاة أبي بكر متقاربة، فلما كان عمر رضي الله عنه، مد في صلاة الفجر، وكان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، إذا قال : سمع الله لمن حمده، قام حتى نقول : قد أوهم، ثم يسجد ويقعد بين السجدتين، حتى نقول : قد أوهمI did not offer prayer behind anyone more brief than the one offered by the Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) and that was perfect. When the Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) said: “Allah listens to him who praises Him,” he stood long we thought that he had omitted something; then he say takbir(Allah is most great) and prostrate, and would sit between the two prostrations so long that we thought that he had omitted something.
ما صليتُ خلف رجل أوجز صلاة من رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم في تمام، وكان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم إذا قال : سمع الله لمن حمده قام حتى نقول قد أوهم . ثم يُكبر ثم يسجد . وكان يقعد بين السجدتين حتى نقول قد أوهمSo Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) combined in this authentic hadith between the report of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) shortening of the prayer and its completion, and that among the completion he reported is: lengthening the two upright positions, and he reported in the preceding hadith: that he did not see a shorter prayer than his, nor a more complete one.
It seems—Allah knows best—that the shortening referred to the standing, and the completion to the bowing and prostration, because the standing is hardly done except in a complete manner, so it does not need to be described as completed, unlike the bowing, prostration, and the two upright positions.
Also, by shortening the standing and lengthening the bowing and prostration, the prayer becomes complete due to its balance and proportionality, so his saying is true:
I have never seen [a prayer] more concise and more complete.
ما رأيتُ أوجز ولا أتمAs for if the shortening is attributed to the very thing that was completed, and the completion to the very thing that was shortened, it would result in a contradiction in the speech, because one who lengthens his standing in his standing is not less in completing the standing, unless it is said: the increase in form becomes a decrease in meaning, and this is contrary to the apparent meaning of the wording, because the principle is that the meaning of shortening and lightening is different from the meaning of completing and perfecting. And because Zayd ibn Aslam said:
'Umar used to shorten the standing and sitting, but complete the bowing and prostration.
كان عمر يخفف القيام والقعود، ويتم الركوع والسجودAnd all of Anas's hadiths indicate that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to lengthen the bowing, prostration, and the two upright positions, more than what most imams do. And the rest of the narrations in the Sahih indicate that.
So in the *Sahihayn*: from Hammad ibn Zayd, from Thabit, from Anas ibn Malik, who said:
I do not spare any effort in praying for you as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray for us.
إني لا آلو أن أصلي بكم كما كان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يصلي بناThabit said: So Anas used to do something that I do not think you do: when he raised his head from the bowing, he would stand upright until the one saying: he has forgotten, and when he raised his head from the prostration, he would remain until the one saying: he has forgotten.
And in a narration—in the Sahih: and when he raised his head between the two prostrations, and in a narration of al-Bukhari, from the hadith of Shu'bah, from Thabit:
Anas used to describe for us the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He would pray, and when he raised his head from the bowing, he would stand until we would say: "He has forgotten."
كان أنس ينعت لنا صلاة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فكان يُصلي، وإذا رفع رأسه من الركوع قام حتى نقول : قد نسيThe Shaykh : Yes.
The student: I have it as: as the people used to know.
The Shaykh : I have it as: they used to do. Did he point to a copy, Samih?
The student: No, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : They used to do.
The reader: " And shortening the standing from what the people used to do" .
The Shaykh : The time is up. The summary of the author's (may Allah have mercy on him) speech is that in the era of the Umayyads, there became a difference in prayer, so they used to lighten the standing after the bowing and the standing after the prostration, meaning the sitting, and they used to lengthen the standing greatly and shorten the bowing and prostration. So these are three things: lengthening the standing greatly, shortening the bowing and prostration, and lightening the standing after the bowing and the sitting between the two prostrations. And Anas used to denounce that and mention that the prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was balanced, meaning there would not be a vast difference between the standing, the bowing, the prostration, the sitting between the two prostrations, and the standing from the bowing. And it is established that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), from the hadith of al-Bara' ibn 'Azib, that his prayer was proportionate, so he (peace and blessings be upon him) used to lengthen the bowing and the standing after it, and the prostration and the sitting after it. He said: