I went out looking for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ before I became Muslim, and I found that he had reached the mosque before me. I stood behind him and he started to recite Sooratal-Haqqah, and I was amazed by the way in which the Qur'an was composed. I said: By Allah, this man is a poet as Quraish said. Then he recited: `That this is verily, the word of an honoured Messenger [i.e. Jibreel (Gabriel) or Muhammad which he has brought from Allah]. It is not the word of a poet, little is that you believe!” [al-Haqqah 69:40-41]. I said: (He is a) soothsayer. He said: “Nor is it the word of a soothsayer (or a foreteller), little is that you remember! This is the Revelation sent down from the Lord of the 'Alameen (mankind, jinn and all that exists). And if he (Muhammad ﷺ) had forged a false saying concerning Us (Allah). We surely would have seized him by his right hand (or with power and might), And then We certainly would have cut off his life artery (aorta), And none of you could have withheld Us from (punishing) him...” [al-Haqqah 69:42—47]. lle said: Then I felt an overwhelming attraction to Islam.

Alqamah and al-Aswad said: A man came to Ibn Mas'ud. He said: I recite the mufassal surahs in one rak'ah. You might recite it quickly as one recites verse (poetry) quickly, or as the dried dates fall down (from the tree).

But the Prophet (saws) used to recite two equal surahs in one rak'ah; he would recite (for instance) surahs an-Najm (53) and ar-Rahman (55) in one rak'ah, surahs Iqtarabat (54) and al-Haqqah (69) in one rak'ah, surahs at-Tur (52) and adh-Dhariyat (51) in one rak'ah, surahs al-Waqi'ah (56) and Nun (68) in one rak'ah, surahs al-Ma'arij (70) and an-Nazi'at (79) in one rak'ah, surahs al-Mutaffifin (83) and Abasa (80) in one rak'ah, surahs al-Muddaththir (74) and al-Muzzammil (73) in one rak'ah, surahs al-Insan (76) and al-Qiyamah (75) in one rak'ah, surahs an-Naba' (78) and al-Mursalat (77) in one rak'ah, and surahs ad-Dukhan (44) and at-Takwir (81) in one rak'ah.

Abu Dawud said: This is the arrangement of Ibn Mas'ud himself