Hadithcore
Sahih Muslim, 452 a
sahih

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported:

We used to estimate how long Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) stood in the noon and afternoon prayers, and we estimated hat he stood in the first two rak'ahs of the noon prayer as long as it takes to recite Alif Lam Mim, Tanzil, i. e. as-Sajda. We estimated that he stood half that time in the last two rak'ahs; that he stood in the first two of the afternoon as long as he did in the last two at noon; and in the last two of the afternoon prayer about half that time. Abu Bakr in his narration has made no mention of Alif Lam Mim, Tanzil, but said: As long as it takes to recite thirty verses.

حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ يَحْيَى، وَأَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ جَمِيعًا عَنْ هُشَيْمٍ، - قَالَ يَحْيَى أَخْبَرَنَا هُشَيْمٌ، - عَنْ مَنْصُورٍ، عَنِ الْوَلِيدِ بْنِ مُسْلِمٍ، عَنْ أَبِي الصِّدِّيقِ، عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيِّ، قَالَ كُنَّا نَحْزِرُ قِيَامَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فِي الظُّهْرِ وَالْعَصْرِ فَحَزَرْنَا قِيَامَهُ فِي الرَّكْعَتَيْنِ الأُولَيَيْنِ مِنَ الظُّهْرِ قَدْرَ قِرَاءَةِ الم تَنْزِيلُ السَّجْدَةِ وَحَزَرْنَا قِيَامَهُ فِي الأُخْرَيَيْنِ قَدْرَ النِّصْفِ مِنْ ذَلِكَ وَحَزَرْنَا قِيَامَهُ فِي الرَّكْعَتَيْنِ الأُولَيَيْنِ مِنَ الْعَصْرِ عَلَى قَدْرِ قِيَامِهِ فِي الأُخْرَيَيْنِ مِنَ الظُّهْرِ وَفِي الأُخْرَيَيْنِ مِنَ الْعَصْرِ عَلَى النِّصْفِ مِنْ ذَلِكَ ‏.‏ وَلَمْ يَذْكُرْ أَبُو بَكْرٍ فِي رِوَايَتِهِ الم تَنْزِيلُ وَقَالَ قَدْرَ ثَلاَثِينَ آيَةً ‏.‏

References2 variants
In-Book Reference
Book 4, Hadith 176
USC-MSA web (English) reference
Book 4, Hadith 910 (deprecated numbering scheme)
Sharh · explanationclick to expand
Prayer is the pillar of Islam. The Prophet (ﷺ) taught it to his companions verbally and practically. His Companions used to closely observe his deeds to follow and convey his guidance to people, especially regarding the acts of worship. In this hadith, Abu Saeed Al-Khudry showed that they used to estimate how long he stood at the noon and the afternoon prayers. As for the noon prayer, he stood in the first two rak'as as if he recited Surat As-Sajda (thirty verses) and stood half of that time in the last two ones, i.e. fifteen verses. As for the afternoon prayer, they estimated that he stood in the first two rak'as as he did in the last two rak'as of the noon prayer (fifteen verses) and stood half of that time in the last two ones (seven or eight verses). Some scholars conclude that the wisdom in lengthening the noon prayer is that it is the time to take a nap, so it is suitable to lengthen it to enable people to get it. Finally, this hadith recommends lengthening the first and second rak'as and shortening the third and fourth ones in both noon and afternoon prayers..
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