I have never prayed behind anyone whose prayer more closely resembles that of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) than so-and-so. We prayed behind him and he would lengthen the first two Rak‘ahs of the Zhuhr and shorten the last two
Authentic hadithعن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه قال: «ما صليت وراء أحد أشبه صلاة برسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم من فلان - فصلينا وراء ذلك الإنسان وكان يطيل الأوليين من الظهر، ويخفف في الأخريين، ويخفف في العصر، ويقرأ في المغرب بقصار المفصل، ويقرأ في العشاء بالشمس وضحاها وأشباهها، ويقرأ في الصبح بسورتين طويلتين».
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: I have never prayed behind anyone whose prayer more closely resembles that of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) than so-and-so. We prayed behind him and he would lengthen the first two Rak‘ahs (units of prayer) of the Zhuhr and shorten the last two, and he would make the ‘Asr shorter; in the Maghrib, he would recite the short Mufassal Sūrahs; and he would recite Sūrat Ash-Shams and similar-sized Sūrahs in the ‘Ishā' and recite two long Sūrahs in the Fajr prayer.
Explanation
This Hadīth points out that there was an Imām in the Prophet’s mosque whose prayer resembled that of the Messenger (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him). He would imitate the Messenger in terms of the length of each Rak‘ah. He would lengthen the first two Rak‘as of the Zhuhr prayer and shorten the last two. He would do so in the ‘Asr also. He would recite the short chapters of the Mufassal Sūrahs (from Sūrat Qāf till the end of the Qur’an) in the Maghrib prayer. In the ‘Ishā' prayer, he would recite Sūrat al-Layl and similar-sized Sūrahs. He would lengthen the Fajr prayer.
Source · An-Nasaa’i - Narrated by Ahmad
From the Hadith Encyclopedia (hadeethenc.com).