وَعَن زيد بن خَالِد الْجُهَنِيّ أَنَّهُ قَالَ: لَأَرْمُقَنَّ صَلَاةَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ اللَّيْلَةَ فَصَلَّى رَكْعَتَيْنِ خَفِيفَتَيْنِ ثُمَّ صَلَّى رَكْعَتَيْنِ طَوِيلَتَيْنِ طَوِيلَتَيْنِ طَوِيلَتَيْنِ ثُمَّ صَلَّى رَكْعَتَيْنِ وَهُمَا دُونَ اللَّتَيْنِ قَبْلَهُمَا ثُمَّ صَلَّى رَكْعَتَيْنِ وَهُمَا دُونَ اللَّتَيْنِ قَبْلَهُمَا ثُمَّ صَلَّى رَكْعَتَيْنِ وَهُمَا دُونَ اللَّتَيْنِ قَبْلَهُمَا ثُمَّ أَوْتَرَ فَذَلِكَ ثَلَاثَ عَشْرَةَ رَكْعَةً. رَوَاهُ مُسْلِمٌ
قَوْله: ثمَّ صلى رَكْعَتَيْنِ وهما دون اللَّتَيْنِ قَبْلَهُمَا أَرْبَعَ مَرَّاتٍ هَكَذَا فِي صَحِيحِ مُسْلِمٍ وأفراده من كتاب الْحميدِي وموطأ مَالك وَسنَن أبي دَاوُد وجامع الْأُصُول
Zaid b. Khalid al-Juhani decided to watch one night what prayers God’s Messenger said. He prayed two short rak'as, then two long, long, long rak'as, then he prayed two rak'as which were less than the two preceding, then he prayed two rak'as which were less then the two preceding, then he prayed two rak'as which were less than the two preceding, then he prayed two rak'as which were less than the two preceding, then he prayed a single one, making a total of thirteen.
Muslim transmitted it. The words “then he prayed two rak'as which were less than the two preceding”, mentioned four times, occur thus in Muslim’s Sahih and among those peculiar or him in Humaidi’s book, also in Malik’s Muwatta’, Abu Dawud’s Sunan, and Jami’ al-Usul.
Narrated Abdallah b. Mas'ud said, “I know the comparable suras which the Prophet used to join together; ” and he mentioned twenty suras at the beginning of al-Mufassal,1 according to Ibn Mas'ud’s arrangement, two in a rak'a, the last of them being H. M. ad-Dukhan,2 and “About what do they ask one another?”3
:
37, 45, 47, 48, 50, 61, 67, 87, and 93. The name is most appropriately explained ay meaning that this is the section of the Qur’an which contains many shorter suras.
2. Al-Qur’an; 94. As this is included as one of the suras in al Mufassal, it suggests that this section begins earlier than the first number mentioned in the note referred to above.
3. Al-Qur'an; 78.
He said that once when he slept in the house of God’s Messenger, he awoke, cleaned his teeth and performed ablution, saying meanwhile, “In the creation of the heavens and the earth," to the end of the sura. He then stood up and prayed two rak'as, standing, bowing and prostrating himself at length in them. Then he finished, went to sleep and snored. He did that three times, six rak'as altogether, each time cleaning his teeth, performing ablution and reciting these verses. Then he performed a witr of three rak'as.
