A man from Banu Bajila named Nahik bin Sinan came to Abdullah and said, "Abu Abdul-Rahman, how do you recite this verse, with a ya or with an alif, 'min main ghayri asin' or 'ghayri yasin'?"Abdullah replied, "Have you memorized the entire Quran except for this verse?"The man said, "I recite the Mufassal portion in a single rakah."Abdullah said, "That is reciting as hastily as one recites poetry. Among the best parts of prayer are the bowing and prostration. Indeed, there are people who recite the Quran but it does not pass beyond their throats. When it is recited and settles deeply in the heart, it benefits. I know the paired surahs that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to recite, two surahs in a single rakah."Then he stood up and went inside. Alqama came and entered upon him.We said to Alqama, "Ask him for us about the paired surahs that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to recite, two surahs in a single rakah."He went in and asked him, then came out to us and said, "Twenty surahs from the beginning of the Mufassal, according to the arrangement of Abdullah."
حدثنا أبو معاوية حدثنا الأعمش
جاء رجل إلى عبد الله من بني بجيلة يقال له نهيك بن سنان فقال يا أبا عبد الرحمن كيف تقرأ هذه الآية أياء تجدها أو ألفا {من ماء غير آسن} أو {غير ياسن} فقال له عبد الله أوكل القرآن أحصيت غير هذه الآية قال إنني لأقرأ المفصل في ركعة فقال عبد الله هذا كهذ الشعر إن من أحسن الصلاة الركوع والسجود وليقرأن القرآن أقوام لا يجاوز تراقيهم ولكنه إذا قرأه فرسخ في القلب نفع إني لأعرف النظائر التي كان رسول الله ﷺ يقرأ سورتين في ركعة قال ثم قام فدخل فجاء علقمة فدخل عليه قال فقلنا له سله لنا عن النظائر التي كان رسول الله ﷺ يقرأ سورتين في ركعة قال فدخل فسأله ثم خرج إلينا فقال عشرون سورة من أول المفصل في تأليف عبد الله
Its isnad is sahih. Muslim related it, 1:276, through the route of Waki, then he related it through the route of Abu Muawiya, then through the route of Isa bin Yunus, all of them from Amash. Bukhari related it in abridged form, 91:37-38, through the route of Abu Hamza, from Amash, with the same wording. He also related it in abridged form, 2:214-215, through the route of Shuba, from Amr bin Mura, from Abu Waail. Abu Dawud related it, 1:528, through the route of Abu Ishaq, from Alqama and Aswad, from Ibn Masud, in abridged form, adding at the end the naming of the corresponding surahs. Tayalisi related it, 259, from Shuba, from Amash, from Abu Waail. Tirmidhi related it, 1:412, through the route of Tayalisi, and said, hasan sahih.The addition [not stale] and [the verse] we have added from k. All the reciters read [not stale] with the hamza, and I did not find any reading of it with the ya, neither in the standard readings nor in the irregular ones.Regarding "like the hadhth of poetry," Ibn Athir said, he means, did he love the Quran so much that he rushed through it the way one rushes through the recitation of poetry? Al-hadhth means rapid cutting off, and its accusative form functions as a verbal noun. In j it reads "like the ravings of poetry," which is an error, the correct reading being from k.See the detailed explanation of the hadith in Fath al-Bari, 2:214-215, and see also 1379, 2312, 3910, 3958.