Mishkat al-Masabih 853

Sulaiman b. Yasar quoted Abu Huraira as saying, “I never prayed behind anyone whose prayer more closely resembled that of God’s Messenger than so and so’s.” Sulaiman said that he prayed behind him, and he was prolonging the first two rak'as of the noon prayer, shortening the last two, shortening the afternoon prayer, reciting short suras from al-Mufassal* at the sunset prayer, medium suras from al-Mufassal at the evening prayer, and long ones from al-Mufassal at the morning prayer. * A name applied to the latter part of the Qur’an because there are many divisions, but opinions differ about where it begins. Lane mentions the different views in his Lexicon, pp 2407 f., saying the most correct opinion is that it begins with sura 49. Nasa’i transmitted it, and Ibn Majah transmitted up to “shortening the afternoon prayer.”