How long ayah is considered as non-tiny when reciting after Al-Fatiha?

Question

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family and companions.

In the surah El-Muzammil, Allah SWT. says

فَاقْرَءُوا مَا تَيَسَّرَ مِنْهُ

So recite what is easy from it.

I also read the answer provided here that you could either read a minimum of 3 tiny ayahs or 1 non-tiny ayah. How long is 1 ayah considered as non-tiny? For example, is the Yusuf:101 considered tiny or non-tiny in this very context?

Answer 1

In his tafsir of verse (73:20) imam al-Qurtobi has quoted some fiqh views on the necessary amount to recite (My own translation take it carefully):

... فاقرؤوا ما تيسر من القرآن ،
فاقرؤوا ما تيسر منه محمول على ظاهره من القراءة في الصلاة فاختلف العلماء في قدر ما يلزمه أن يقرأ به في الصلاة ; فقال مالك والشافعي : فاتحة الكتاب لا يجزئ العدول عنها ، ولا الاقتصار على بعضها ، وقدره أبو حنيفة بآية واحدة ، من أي القرآن كانت . وعنه ثلاث آيات ; لأنها أقل سورة . ذكر القول الأول الماوردي والثاني ابن العربي . ولصحيح ما ذهب إليه مالك والشافعي ، على ما بيناه في سورة ( الفاتحة ) أول الكتاب والحمد لله .
... So recite what is easy from it.
(if) so recite what is easy from it was taken -as obvious- as referring to the prayer then scholars held different opinions about the necessary amount to be qualified as a recitation; Malik and a-Shafi'i said: it is not permissible (valid) to refrain from reciting the fathiah of the book nor to limit oneself on reciting a part of it, while has estimated it abu Hanifa on one verse from whatever of the Qur'an it might be, and he also said three verses as this is the minimum amount of a surah. The first (statement of abu Hanifa) was stated by al-Mawardi and the second was stated by ibn al-'Arabi and the correct is what Malik and a-Shafi'i said as we have explained at the (tafsssir) al-Fatihah at the beginning of this book.

Now to make things clear here a short summary of the statemants al-Qutorbi quoted in his tafssir of surat al-Fatihah (too many links you may start here and go further):

• Scholars who consider the recitation of al-Fatihah necessary in each raka'a: Malik (if one left it out in one rak'a this rak'a would be invalid).
• Scholars who consider reciting it once in the prayer as sufficient al-Hassan al-Basri, most scholars from al-Basra and al-Mughira ibn Abdurrhman al-Makhzumi from Medina.
• There's a dispute whether it is necessary to recite it in each raka'a or in most raka'a's.
• Abu Hanifa, al-Awza'i and Sufyan a-Thawri said if one didn't recite al-Fatiha at all in his whole prayer intentionally the prayer is valid as long as he recites something else from the Qur'an. With some deviation from the view of al-Awza'i in this: Abu Yusuf and Muhammad ibn al-Hassan said the minimum are three verses or a long verse as the verse of ad-Dayn (refering to verse on debt 2:282). Muhammad ibn al-Hassan also said that this count applies for verses with a clear meaning like "praise is to Allah", but not for single letters.
• Imam at-Tabari said it is necessary to recite it in every raka'a but if one left it out one must come with an equivalent in the amount of verses and letters. Imam ibn 'Abd al-Barr said this is rather impossible!
• Imam al-Qurtobi concluded that -the strongest view is that- reciting al-Fatihah in each raka'a is necessary for each person in prayer no matter if it is an imam, a single person or somebody following an imam in congregation.

From this we may conclude that the statement tiny verses was not known at the time of imam al-Qurtobi and that recitation beyond al-Fatihah is not considered as ordered by all madhhabs based on the sahih hadith saying:

and he who adds to it (recites some other verses of the Holy Qur'an along with Surat al-Fatiha), it is preferable for him. (See in sahih Muslim and another version in sahih al-Bukhari)

Only al-Qadi 'Iyad pretended that it is necessary.

When it comes the minimum amount to be recited beyond al-Fatihah then it is at least one verse, only imam Ahmad followed the example stated above and declared it more preferable to be long like the verse of debt or ayat al-Kurs, however all scholars agree on the necessity that this verse may make a clear sense (as stated above in the explanation of Muhammad ibn al-Hassan a-Shaybani). Al-Bahuti in his kashf al-Qina' كشاف القناع عن متن الإقناع explains a bit more saying:

It seems obvious that a verse which doesn't make a clear (complete) sense or give a clear ruling is invalid like (74:21 ثم نظر) or (55:64 مدهامتان)

Therefore one could clearly say that reciting verse (14:101) is perfectly valid and suitable.