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September 8, 2020·Muharram 20, 1442 AH·11:51 AM·36m·Tuesday-Fajr

How long did the Prophet recite in prayer?

The Prophet's Quran Recitation in Daily Prayers: Practices and Wisdom

prophet's sunnahquran recitationdaily prayersfajr prayermaghrib prayerisha prayerislamic jurisprudencecompanions
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Summary

This segment from Zadul-Ma'ad (Provisions for the Hereafter) by Ibn al-Qayyim discusses the Prophet Muhammad's recitation practices across the five daily prayers. Sh. Ali Mashhour explains the typical length and chapters the Prophet would recite in Fajr, Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha prayers, using authentic narrations and scholarly analysis. The lecture contextualizes these practices within the daily life and schedules of Medina's inhabitants, explaining why certain prayers featured longer recitations while others were shorter, and how this balanced spiritual devotion with practical community needs.

Transcript

Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.

Brothers and sisters respected guests thank you for joining us on our latest on our latest segment regarding the book we had authored by the great and esteemed late scholar of islam sudden even may allah subhanahu wa have mercy upon him and may we meet him in the hereafter we were discussing in our previous segment in our previous installment in our previous episode we were discussing what the prophet salallahu would recite in which prayer we discussed only the first prayer and that is surat al-fajr excuse me and we mentioned that ibn al-qayyam said the general rule and the general trend and pattern of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is that he would recite in salat al-fajr between the first and second raqqa between to 100 verses and we said of medium length then he gave us exact particular examples he said that he had recited in one occasion in and we discuss that in another instance when he was traveling just the final two chapters of the quran and we discussed that at on one occasion he had begun in salat al-fajr with reciting surat al-mu'min until he reached roughly the first third and he began to cough and this persisted causing him to go into the core to compose himself to to catch his breath he says.

[Silence]

He says and particularly on the fajr of the day of jumu' the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would traditionally customarily recite in the first surat and in the second s some scholars of of hadith and tafsir he says and the reason that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would recite these two chapters particularly customarily on the fajr of the day of jumu' is because these two chapters when we look at their what they are comprised of and the subjects and topics which they touch upon we see that both both of these chapters discuss with an amount a significant amount of detail the beginning of the creation of the human being and the world discussing the day of resurrection discussing the creation of adam alaihissalam in general discussing when the human being will enter paradise or the hellfire and also discussing what has happened generally and what is to happen generally on the day of jumu' now what ibn al-qaeda is here he's referring to a narration in a sahih in which the prophet sallallahu alaihi was says the best and most superior of the days meaning of the week in which the sun rises upon is the day of jumu' the day of friday on that day allah created adam on that day he entered him into paradise on that day he was taken out of paradise and the day of resurrection will commence on the day of jumu' well and so the day of jumu' is actually very significant in our religion and so because of these meanings we see that this parallels the choice of chapters in which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would recite customarily on the fajr of jummah in the narration of abdullah bin umar with an acceptable chain of narration the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam he says that the most beloved prayer meaning of the five daily prayers in all of the week and all of the days is the prayer of fajr the dawn prayer on the day of jumu' friday dawn prayer in jamaa and so the scholars of islam derive from this narration that the most superior of all the five prayers in the sense of reward is in the masjid in jamal if a person lives in an area where there is no masjid then jamaa with anyone who is present or around them even if it is your own family members provided there's no mesjet.

[Silence]

He says and likewise it was customary for the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam in big gatherings meaning gatherings which are exceptionally large right such as the prayer for eid and salat the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would often recite surat kaf and surat al-qamr.

[Silence]

Surat khaf in the first sadaqah and surat al-qamr in the second on in other times on jumu' and aid in the first and second rakah he would recite surat al-alah in the first and second respectively right and unfortunately much of this is is simply not possible given the state of people's customs in going to the masjid very rarely are people going to be patient enough to listen to these verses and there are a number of reasons it's not that the muslims somehow dislike hearing the quran our society has timed everything in such a way that you have to be at this time at this moment there's traffic people are in a hurry to get out of the masjid because traffic hits at a very particular time if you live in an urban area and if you leave just 10 or 15 minutes late for work you get stuck in traffic for hours on end we understand there are reasons it's not just that people are impatient or dislike to listen to the quran and also in countries such as america and so forth most people their first language is not islam is not arabic even the arabs many of them who are here who listen to the quran who have not studied classical arabic do not understand a lot i don't want to say the majority but do not understand a lot of what is being recited in the quran and that is a tragedy that is an absolute tragedy however these reasons amongst others cause the impatience and the brevity of recitation that has evolved in these days and massage it and we don't want to speak holistically there are massages where people still are conditioned to recite exactly as the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam did and and that is fine as well he says now we're going to discuss what the prophet sallahu asylum would customarily recite during right the afternoon prayer sometimes he would make the prayer of particularly.

[Silence]

He says and sometimes the prophet salallahu make it especially particularly long right now this is a silent prayer so each person is reciting to him or herself right sometimes this prayer would be very long so it is a essentially a very long silent meditation over the words of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he said narrates to us and this is collected by the imam muslim that sometimes often yannick canada in the would begin i mean in the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would be called he would start leading the companions in prayer and the masjid a person may leave medina to go to al-baqir al-baqir is kind of on the outskirts of medina it's an area where people would often go to relieve themselves of course people didn't have luxuries that we have you know restrooms in your house in every part of your house you know so you don't have to even walk upstairs and walk downstairs also having running water and houses this was not available so a person would go all the way to albakia to secluded area in the outskirts of medina where people would relieve themselves and relieve himself and and then come back to his house in medina and make wudu because that's where the water would be and then come to the masjid and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is still in the first soraka of surat right so we're talking 20 minutes easy the first raka or even longer in salah right this narration has been collected by the imam muslim this is something that would happen often if if somebody did this today in most communities you know if the imam did this i think he would probably finish salah and turn around and find nobody there okay so.

[Silence]

He says and sometimes and often times the prophet sallallahu alaihi salat would recite roughly the length of surat sajdah or sometimes even the length of which is pretty short right which is kind of about what we pray with now that's kind of the length that we're accustomed to in these times or surat right roughly a little less than a page or surat which is about a page long we're talking about three minutes each raka so sometimes very long but often times this short he says he says and as for salah now we're moving on to al-assad how long would would his prayer be if it was a long prayer for salah it would be half as long as the longest prayer of the and if it is just a regular prayer not particularly long not particularly short it would be the same length as salah he says and as for salat right this is the salah of sunset suns after sunset right dusk fakana had you his custom of what he would recite during the salah of meghrib is different than what people are doing today now claim is saying this when roughly seven or eight hundred years ago right so if nokia is in the eighth century after hijra he was born in the end of the seventh century and passed away in the middle of the eighth century after hijab and so he's saying it's different than people are doing today that was his time so how much more different would it be today i mean you you be the judge is one of those prayers that would be the longest right he mentions once the prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam led people in sighted surat al-araf in both raqqa the first and second raka surat is one of the seven longest chapters of the quran right so it exceeds about 30 pages it's a very long chapter and once he recited which is about two and a half pages it's you know it's part of also el morcellet which is also part of almo fossil which is about roughly two pages collectively a little less right and so would usually be the longest prayer so if we were to put them in order from longest to shortest we would start with salat al-marib it is the shortest he says.

[Silence]

He says and as for always reciting in shortest chapters of the quran from to the end of the quran some scholars say from surah al-hujura to the end of the quran this is this section of the muslif is referred to as it is the shortest usually the shortest chapters and they are particular to this ummah right and so in only reciting from el mufasa in shortest chapters the final chapters this is something which marwan did this is one of the leaders of the muslims that came later on after the four khulafat and a number of things were introduced during this time during this era the companions were still prevalent they were still around they were still in relative abundance and a lot of a lot of disagreement from the companions was expressed towards marwan and some of the things that he started to change right such as bringing a member to such as this and such as he he had switched actually the he had switched the eid prayer and because the companions did not him and so the sunnah is that a person can listen to it can pray salah and then if he wishes to leave he does not have to listen to the khutbah and so the companions would get up and leave after the salah eat well marwan had something to say and he wanted them to hear it so he started giving the khutba before salah to force them to wait for salah eat because many of the companions and the scholars of islam view selected to be obligatory upon each person and so these are some of the things that were introduced at that time and one of the companions of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam who voiced his disagreement with this david zaydev is one of the most knowledgeable of amongst the companions with regards to the quran and he is one of the four scholars of the quran in the time of abu bakr al-sadiq that got together well zaidaban thabet in the time of abu bakr and then the four and the time of uthman to compile the quran into one book is one of the scholars of andalus in the fifth century after hijrah and ibn abdul is one of the great scholars of the maliki method.

[Silence]

It has been collected and when we look at all the narrations we see that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was narrated to have recited in salat which is pretty long which is fairly long which is very short which is pretty short and that is something which is most of the time and that's something that is well known and that's something that many places do and he would recite in often the short chapters so he would not always recite the longest chapters nor would he always recite the shortest chapters sometimes this and sometimes this and all of these are well-known and authentic narrations narrated from a multitude of sources even abdulbar says so the thing is is that is a very important prayer and it was a kind of a test in the time of the prophet salallahu so we have to understand how the work day worked how people's schedule were schedules were in the time of the prophet sallallahu alaihi oftentimes people would wake up at dawn they would make solatel al-fajr they would start their day with a long-winded prayer with lots of verses of the quran recited by the prophet salallahu and they would pray as the sun was essentially rising so while they are praying they are it is pitch dark because there's no lights in medina there's no electricity there's no candles the masjid did not have lights in it for a very long time right and so when you go to pray it's so dark that you don't know who's next to you you don't know if somebody came or didn't come and this is why the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam says that the most difficult two prayers for the hypocrites is isha and fajr the reason is because if they don't go nobody notices right only allah notices so it's a real test of faith faith that a person would go at night to pray in jannah even though nobody but allah would really would really recognize his presence right and so if you can imagine with me the companions of the elohim are making salah they're listening to the prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam recite these verses and slowly you know the light of the break of dawn is creeping into the masjid and lighting up the masjid and after they conclude their prayer often times the companions a very good majority of them would sit in the masjid until the sun rises completely and so often times the companions of after salat al-fajr would be concluded and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam with them they would sit in the masjid and they would remain in their same places making dhikr and dua until the sun completely rises some of them would stand and make solatul others would leave to their respective responsibilities so some were merchants which people who are merchants they have a little bit different a schedule more of an evening thing and many of them the people of medina were farmers and so farming takes place usually at the break of dawn the early morning all the way till late afternoon and so each would go to 10 to his responsibilities they would gather back at the masjid at right this is right smack in the middle of the time of work the work day right it still is today and so it was particularly important if a person's mind is all over the place because they kind of just left the bustle of whatever they were doing to come and pray we see now why it's it is that a person recites to himself right because it's easy for me to it's easy for my mind to wander and not focus on what the imam is reciting but if i have to recite there has to be a level of concentration it's more likely that i will focus on what i am reciting if i recite to myself is similar same way now when we go to salat al-marib people would usually go home after asur by that time they've gone home they've eaten whatever they come back to make salat right a person now is less less distracted and so the imam now recites now salat and salat are the two closest prayers they're right on the heels of each other right so so when the sun goes down is when the twilight from sunset dissipates the redness in the sky is gone this is when solace starts and so it's brief and it's likely if you go home after maghrib and you get comfortable and the lights are out you may not get up for sallet you may not return to the masjid for solatul and so most or many at least of the companions would sit in the masjid and wait for salah isha right and so we see that sometimes the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam very long almost as if to you're here anyways we might as well read a long portion of the quran that way when we are done there will only be a little bit of time left between mechrib and aisha which would be more likely for people to stay in the masjid as opposed to go home and then fail to return and so is the end now now it's time to go home and go to sleep and so salah is the shortest salah out of all of them out of all of the prayers of the day salah should be customarily the shortest right he says as for sallallahu he said the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was narrated to have recited surah 13 which is a very brief chapter of the quran in salat and he actually gave a time frame for muayath now what is what is this time frame that he had commanded one of the great scholars of the companions of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam as a matter of fact in a narration collected by imam ahmed the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said he said the most knowledgeable amongst my companions with regards to that which is lawful and that which is unlawful in the religion of allah and all of my ummah is and it said that the prophet sallallahu alaihi is will be resurrected on the day of resurrection and brought forth ahead of all of the rest of the scholars of islam of the ummah of the prophet muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam a stone's throw ahead of everyone else what does this mean it's almost like the scholars of islam will be resurrected and will be resurrected this is to emphasize his knowledge and died at the age of 34 years old he died in the plague of amwas which came right after the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam passed away during the time of omar in the few years after and so muhammad was actually sent by the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam in his final years he was sent in his final days and this is all part of what we're talking about i mean we are talking about prayer and so forth but we want to also get to know who these people are you know etc so was sent by the prophet muhammed to yemen to invite the people of yemen to islam they were christian and also there was a large portion that were idolaters in yemen at that time and so he sent muaf and as he was seeing muad off to yemen and giving him some advice on how to give da'wah and how to call the people to islam he was on his writing animal and the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam was walking along beside him and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was sending than saying perhaps when you return to medina i won't be here because the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam knew that he his death was imminent and muad understood this and he said that he was crying on the horse he did not want to go the prophet salallahu wasallam sent he went to yemen the prophet salallahu al-islam passed away while was in yemen when he returned in the time of omar omar requested he return he came back to medina and he found medina to be very empty without the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and so he asked permission that he be dispatched to hashem to syria to dimash to be there rather than be in medina without the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam because it wasn't the same anymore right and so he went and he was given permission by and then the great plague of amwas came through and barreled through that area as prophesied by the prophet.

[Arabic recitation]

And he was fell victim to that plague now is very interesting because the way that he would do things is who would come and pray salat with the prophet sallallahu alaihi all right he would praise allah with the prophet salallahu because he wants to get his prayer you know that barakah that blessing of praying with the prophets all the lawyers and then he would go back to one of the villages of medina where his people are waiting for him in their masjid and he would lead them in isha right so he's praying salat with the prophet salallahu sallam then he's going to lead salatul in his own villages in medina his people so people would wait for him well love the quran a lot and he would pray salah the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and then he would go back to his village and lead them in isha they've already been waiting and he would make a very long salah so much so that often he would recite suratul baqarah which would take two or three hours right and so this is where we have the story of we will get into the details of that inshallah ta'ala in our next episode of this great series we ask allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that he shower us with wisdom and understanding and mercy and forgiveness and patience.

[Silence]

Foreign.