The Prophet ﷺ used to recite in the noon prayer, during the first two units, the equivalent of thirty verses in each unit, and in the last two units the equivalent of fifteen verses, or he said, half of that. In the afternoon prayer, he would recite in each of the first two units the equivalent of fifteen verses, and in the last two units about half of that.In another narration, the narrator said, "We estimated his standing in the first two units of the noon prayer to be about the length of reciting Alif Lam Mim, the Sending Down (Surah as-Sajdah), and we estimated his standing in the last two units to be about half of that. We estimated his standing in the first two units of the afternoon prayer to be equal to his standing in the last two units of the noon prayer, and his standing in the last two units of the afternoon prayer to be about half of that."
إن النبي ﷺ كان يقرأ في صلاة الظهر في الركعتين الأولين في كل ركعة قدر ثلاثين آية، وفي الأخريين قدر خمس عشرة آية، أو قال: نصف ذلك. وفي العصر في الركعتين الأوليين في كل ركعة قدر قراءة خمس عشرة آية، وفي الأخريين قدر نصف ذلك. وفي رواية: فحزرنا قيامه في الركعتين الأوليين من الظهر قدر قراءة {الم تنزيل} السجدة، وحزرنا قيامه في الأخريين قدر النصف من ذلك، وحرزنا قيامه في الركعتين الأوليين من العصر على قدر قيامه في الأخريين من الظهر، وفي الأخريين من العصر على النصف من ذلك.
Muslim narrated it in the Book of Prayer (452) via Mansur, from Walid bin Abu Bishr, from Abu Siddiq Naji, from Abu Saeed, as mentioned above. In another narration (454), he said, "The Dhuhr prayer would be called, and a man would go to Baqi, relieve himself, then perform wudu, then come back and find the Messenger of Allah ﷺ still in the first rakat, because he prolonged it."