What is the prostration of recitation (sajdat al-tilawah)?

What it is and when it applies

The prostration of recitation is the prostration legislated when a person passes a verse containing a sajdah. Ibn Uthaymeen explains that its cause is simply that you come upon such a verse, and the sajdahs of the Qur'an are known and marked in the margins of the copies of the Qur'an. When you pass one, it is strongly recommended that you prostrate to Allah.

The verses of prostration fall into two kinds, as al-Tuwijri sets out:

• Verses of report: Allah tells of His great creation prostrating to Him, so the reciter and the listener prostrate to resemble them.
• Verses of command: verses that order a person to prostrate to Allah, so he hastens to obey his Lord's command.

The ruling: sunnah, not obligation

The majority of scholars hold that it is a sunnah, and this is the position of Ibn Baz and Ibn Uthaymeen. The evidence is that the Prophet ﷺ did it and also left it, which shows it is not obligatory. Umar رضي الله عنه said on the pulpit:

"Allah has not made prostration obligatory upon us unless we wish."— Sahih al-Bukhari 1077

Ibn Uthaymeen notes that Umar did this in the presence of the Companions and none objected, which shows it is not obligatory. Ibn Baz adds that the Prophet ﷺ recited Surah al-Najm and did not prostrate, and that Zayd ibn Thabit recited it to him without his prostrating — evidence of its not being obligatory.

The Hanafis differ: the Hanafi fiqh holds that sajdat al-tilawah is obligatory — within the prayer it is obligatory immediately, and outside it obligatory but not immediate. This is a real disagreement, and the majority position is the one preferred by Ibn Baz and Ibn Uthaymeen.

How to perform it

Outside the prayer

1. Make the intention in your heart for the prostration of recitation.
2. Say one takbir — Ibn Baz says the best is to say a single takbir at its beginning only.
3. Prostrate on the seven limbs, as in the prostration of the prayer.
4. Say in the prostration what is said in the prayer's prostration: Subhana Rabbi al-A'la (Glory to my Lord, the Most High), and supplicate as you are able.
5. Rise without a second takbir and without a salutation — Ibn Baz states plainly that there is no taslim and no second takbir in it.

Ibn Uthaymeen adds the well-known supplication said in this prostration:

"O Allah, to You I have prostrated, in You I have believed, upon You I have relied. My face has prostrated to the One who created it and shaped it, and split its hearing and sight by His power and strength. O Allah, write for me a reward by it, remove from me a burden by it, and make it a treasure for me with You, and accept it from me as You accepted it from Your servant Dawud."— reported by Abu Dawud 1414 and al-Tirmidhi, who graded it sahih

Within the prayer

If the sajdah occurs while you are praying, the ruling differs in one respect: you say takbir when you prostrate and takbir when you rise. Ibn Uthaymeen explains that the Prophet ﷺ used to say takbir at every lowering and raising, and the describers of his prayer did not exclude the prostration of recitation from this. So it takes the ruling of the prostration within the prayer itself. He adds that what some people do — saying takbir for the prostration but not for the rising — has no basis he knows of in the Sunnah or in the statements of the scholars.

Ibn Baz notes a practical point for the imam: in the audible prayers (Maghrib, Isha, Fajr, Jumu'ah) he may prostrate and the congregation prostrates with him. In the silent prayers, if he is the imam, it is better that he not prostrate, lest he confuse the people — unless he is praying alone, in which case there is no harm.

Conditions and points of difference

On purity, the scholars differ. Some required it, some did not — and Ibn Umar رضي الله عنهما used to prostrate without ablution. Ibn Baz holds that purity is not required for it, even outside the prayer. Ibn Uthaymeen says the difference stems from whether it is regarded as a prayer; his own view is that the more precautionary course is not to prostrate except with ablution.

Al-Tuwijri notes that it is recommended to prostrate with purity, but that the one with a minor impurity, the menstruating woman, the woman in postnatal bleeding and the one in a state of major impurity may prostrate for recitation if they pass a verse of prostration.

The number of prostrations

Ibn Baz and al-Tuwijri state there are fifteen prostrations in the Qur'an, the first at the end of al-A'raf and the last at the end of Surah al-Alaq. Al-Buhuti, in the Hanbali Kashshaf al-Qina', states fourteen, listing them by surah. The difference concerns the prostration in Surah Sad: al-Bayhaqi, in the Shafi'i al-Khilafiyyat, reports that the Shafi'is hold the sajdah of Sad to be a prostration of thanksgiving, not of recitation, while Abu Hanifah held it to be one of the prostrations of recitation.

Key takeaways

• Sajdat al-tilawah is a sunnah, not an obligation, on the position preferred by Ibn Baz and Ibn Uthaymeen; the Hanafis hold it obligatory.
• Outside the prayer: one takbir, one prostration, then rise without takbir or salutation.
• Inside the prayer: say takbir when you prostrate and when you rise, following the Prophet's ﷺ practice of takbir at every lowering and raising.
• Purity is not required on the stronger view, though prostrating with ablution is better and more precautionary.
• The verses are marked in the margin of the mushaf, so you can identify them as you recite.

Further reading

• Ibn Uthaymeen, Fatawa Nur 'ala al-Darb
• Ibn Baz, Majmu' Fatawa wa Maqalat
• al-Buhuti, Kashshaf al-Qina'

And Allah knows best.