from among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and they said: Come, let us measure the recitation of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in the prayers where he did not recite aloud; and no two of them disagreed. They measured his recitation in the first rak'ah of the Zhuhr prayer as equivalent to thirty verses, and in the other rak'ah as half of that. They measured that in the Asr prayer to be half of the two other rak'ahs of the Zhuhr prayer. This is the wording of the narration of Ibn Majah. The wording of Abu Dawud is: We estimated his standing in the first two rak'ahs of the Zhuhr prayer as equivalent to thirty verses, the length of {Alif-Lam-Mim, The Revelation} [Al-Sajdah 32], and we estimated his standing in the latter two as half of that, and we estimated his standing in the first two of the Asr prayer as equivalent to the latter two of the Zhuhr prayer, and we estimated his standing in the latter two of the Asr prayer as half [of that. The wording of Muslim is similar], but he did not say "the length of {Alif-Lam-Mim, The Revelation}", and he said: "And in the latter two of the Asr prayer, [it is] equivalent to that." From Jabir ibn Samurah, he said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to recite in the Zhuhr [prayer] {By the night when it covers} [Al-Layl 92], and in the Asr prayer [he would recite] the like of that, and in the dawn prayer [he would recite] longer than that. In another hadith: He used to recite in the Zhuhr prayer {Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High} [Al-A'la 87], and in the dawn prayer [he would recite] longer than that. Both were recorded by Muslim. Abu Dawud narrated from Jabir ibn Samurah, saying: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to recite in the Zhuhr and Asr prayers {By the heaven containing constellations} [Al-Buruj 85], {By the heaven and the night comer} [Al-Tariq 86], and their like. As for the Maghrib and Isha prayers, Ibn Majah narrated,
(15) In the original, there is the addition: "prayer". (16) Omitted from M. (17) In its place in the original: "It was narrated by Abu Dawud, and Muslim narrated it close to the narration of Abu Dawud". (18) In: Chapter on Recitation in the Dawn Prayer, from the Book of Prayer. Sahih Muslim 1/337, 338. The first [hadith] was also recorded by Abu Dawud in: Chapter on the Length of Recitation in the Zhuhr and Asr Prayers, from the Book of Prayer. Sunan Abi Dawud 1/185, 186. [Also by] Al-Tirmidhi in: Chapter on What Has Been Reported Regarding Recitation in the Zhuhr and Asr, from the Chapters of Prayer. Aridat al-Ahwadhi 2/102, 103. [Also by] Imam Ahmad in: Al-Musnad 5/86, 88, 101, 103, 106, 108. (19) From this point until his statement: "agreed upon", it is omitted from the original. In its place came: "Recorded by Ibn Majah". (20) In: Chapter on Recitation in the Maghrib Prayer, from the Book of Establishing Prayer. Sunan Ibn Majah 1/272. It was also recorded by Al-Nasa'i in: Chapter on Recitation in the Two Rak'ahs After Maghrib, from the Book of Opening Prayer. Al-Mujtaba 2/132.
