Hadithcore
Sahih Muslim, 454 a
sahih

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported:

The noon prayer would start and one would go to al-Baqi' and after having relieved himself he would perform ablution and then come, while the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) would be in the first rak'ah, because he would prolong it so much.

حَدَّثَنَا دَاوُدُ بْنُ رُشَيْدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا الْوَلِيدُ، - يَعْنِي ابْنَ مُسْلِمٍ - عَنْ سَعِيدٍ، - وَهُوَ ابْنُ عَبْدِ الْعَزِيزِ - عَنْ عَطِيَّةَ بْنِ قَيْسٍ، عَنْ قَزْعَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيِّ، قَالَ لَقَدْ كَانَتْ صَلاَةُ الظُّهْرِ تُقَامُ فَيَذْهَبُ الذَّاهِبُ إِلَى الْبَقِيعِ فَيَقْضِي حَاجَتَهُ ثُمَّ يَتَوَضَّأُ ثُمَّ يَأْتِي وَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فِي الرَّكْعَةِ الأُولَى مِمَّا يُطَوِّلُهَا ‏.‏

References2 variants
In-Book Reference
Book 4, Hadith 182
USC-MSA web (English) reference
Book 4, Hadith 916 (deprecated numbering scheme)
Sharh · explanationclick to expand
The companions’ students were keen to know everything about the Prophet ﷺ from his companions so they used to ask them about his deeds, especially his prayer. In this hadith, Qaza’a ibn Yahya narrated that he came to Abu Saeed Al-Khudry while the latter was being surrounded by people. When they left him, Qaza’a told him that he wanted to ask him about the Prophet’s prayer. Abu Saeed told him that knowing his prayer would benefit him none due to its length and perfection, for it would be difficult for him to imitate the Prophet’s prayer. Qaza’a repeated his request so Abu Saeed told him that when the Prophet ﷺ began the noon prayer, a person could go to Baqi' - cemeteries in Medina to the east of the Prophet’s Mosque where people used to relieve themselves in nearby places -, came to his home to perform ablution, and found the Prophet ﷺ in the first rak'a. This indicated the Prophet ﷺ used to lengthen the first rak’a of the noon prayer. One may say that there are some hadiths that the Prophet ﷺ used to shorten his prayer. To answer this opinion, it should be clarified that the Prophet ﷺ lengthened and shortened his prayers according to the people’s circumstances behind him. He sometimes wanted to lengthen the prayer then decided to shorten it after having a reasonable issue such as hearing a kid’s crying during the congregational prayer. Some scholars said that he sometimes lengthened it, which is the least, to clarify the permissibility, and sometimes shortened it, which is the most, to confirm its privilege..
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