then he (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) would recite a sūrah other than al-Fātiḥah, and he would sometimes lengthen it and sometimes shorten it due to travel, coughing, illness, or the crying of a child, as Anas ibn Mālik (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhu) said: (One day, he (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) shortened the prayer at dawn). (In another ḥadīth: he prayed the morning prayer and recited the two shortest sūrahs in the Quran) so it was said: O Messenger of Allāh, why did you shorten it? He said: (Aḥmad with a sound isnād) (I heard the crying of a child, and I thought his mother was with us praying, so I wanted to free her for him)