We have a mosque in the Islamic centre, and there has arisen a dispute among the worshippers about making the prayers long or short. I hope that you can inform us of what is said in the sharee’ah about this matter.
Praise be to Allah.It was narrated that
Jaabir (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “Mu’aadh led his
companions in praying ‘isha’ and he made it lengthy. The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Do you want to be
a cause of fitnah? When you lead the people in prayer, recite Wa’l-shamsi wa duhaahaa (al-Shams 91), Sabbih
isma rabbik al-A’laa (al-A’laa 87), Iqraa’
bismi Rabbik (al-‘Alaq 96), and Wa’l-layli
idha yaghshaa (al-Layl 92).’” (Agreed upon; this version
narrated by Muslim).
Al-Haafiz
said: Whoever follows the way of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) by being brief and complete,
no one will complain that he is taking too long. The description of
the prayer of the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is well-known. Therefore the briefness
in prayer which is enjoined is something which is relative, and must
be measured against what the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did, persisted in and enjoined
upon others, not the desires of the members of the congregation. It
was narrated in al-Saheehayn
that Anas said: “I never prayed behind anyone who made the prayer more
brief and more perfect than the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).”
He
said in al-Mubdi’: They
evaluated the prayer of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and his sujood lasted the
length of time it takes to say Subhaan
rabbi al-A’laa ten times. His rukoo’ was of a similar length.
And he [the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him)] said: “pray as you have seen me praying.”
Shaykh
al-Islam [Ibn Taymiyah] said: he (the imaam) does not have the right
to make the prayer longer than what is prescribed. He should usually
do what the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) usually did, and make it longer or
shorter according to the circumstances, just as the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did.
Ibn
‘Abd al-Barr said: For imaams to keep the prayer brief is a matter on
which there is scholarly consensus that it is mustahabb, as long as
he meets the condition of making it complete.
The
hadeeth of Jaabir quoted above indicates that reciting the soorahs mentioned
or similar soorahs is what is considered to be moderate in prayer. What
is prescribed is for the rukoo’ and sujood to be of similar length to
the recitation.
And
Allaah knows best.