As for Mu‘?th’s narration, (1) it was misunderstood by many. Mu‘?th ( - رضي الله عنه -) did ‘Ish?’ Sal?t with the prophet ( - صلى الله عليه وسلم -) , then went to Ban? ‘Amr Ibn ‘Awf at Qub?’ and led its people in Sal?t reciting S?rah Al-Baqarah in it -as narrated in the two Sah?hs through achain of narrators traced back to J?bir who said that “Mu‘?th ( - رضي الله عنه -) recited Surah Al-Baqarah in the first Rak‘ah. One of those behind him moved away and completed his Sal?t alone. Seeing him doing so, other people called him a Mun?fiq [hypocrite]!! He responded: ‘By All?h ( - عز وجل -) , I have not committed hypocrisy. By All?h ( - عز وجل -) I will attend the prophet ( - صلى الله عليه وسلم -) and tell him what happened’. Having heard the whole thing, the prophet ( - صلى الله عليه وسلم -) addressed Mu‘?th saying: ‘Do you want to chase people away from Sal?t? Why don’t you recite [short] S?rahs like: Al-A‘l?, Ash-Shams or Al-Lail’. (2)

We believe that an Im?m is recommended to recite the aforementioned S?rahs and the like in the ‘Ish?’ Sal?t. But, what has this had?th to do with those who do their Sal?t so fast and what proof does it provide for them?? The prophet ( - صلى الله عليه وسلم -) detested that Mu‘?th recite such a long S?rah at such a late time at night; for he ( - صلى الله عليه وسلم -) used to delay doing ‘Ish?’ Sal?t till most of the night passes away. Regarding this, he ( - صلى الله عليه وسلم -) said: ‘O people ! Some of you chase people away from their religion’ for they do not follow the prophet’s ( - صلى الله عليه وسلم -) way of doing Sal?t and exceed the proper limit of its length.

Those who attend Sal?t lazily -as hypocrites do- and perform its articles so fast that they do not taste its sweetness nor enjoy its blessings; they just perform it to get rid of it as if one is standing on a burning stone; their aversion of Sal?t because of its being long is not to be taken into consideration. They hate to stand before the hands of All?h ( - عز وجل -) and All?h ( - عز وجل -) hates their standing. (3)

To conclude, the length of any Sal?t, be it short or long, is not to be decided and set by the desires of some people, or the wish of