Sujūd (, ), or sajdah (, ), also known as sijda, sejda or shejda, in

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

is the act of low bowing or

prostration Prostration is the gesture of placing one's body in a reverentially or submissively prone position. Typically prostration is distinguished from the lesser acts of bowing or kneeling by involving a part of the body above the knee, especially t ...

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

facing the ''qiblah'' (direction of the

Kaaba The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

). It is usually done in standardized prayers (

salah ''Salah'' (, also spelled ''salat'') is the practice of formal worship in Islam, consisting of a series of ritual prayers performed at prescribed times daily. These prayers, which consist of units known as ''rak'ah'', include a specific s ...

). The position involves kneeling and bowing till one touches the ground with seven bones (points): the forehead and nose, two hands, two knees and two sets of toes. In accordance with the

Sunnah is the body of traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time supposedly saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations. Diff ...

(the Way) of

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, one's elbows should be far from one's body, unless it causes discomfort to other worshippers, but not resting on the ground. Some scholars hold the position that this applies only to men, and that women are encouraged to tuck their elbows in out of

modesty Modesty, sometimes known as demureness, is a mode of dress and deportment which intends to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others. The word ''modesty'' comes from the Latin word ''wikt:modestus, modestus'' which means 'keeping with ...

Overview

Sujud (prostration) is one of the main pillars of daily prayer (

) in

. A single act of sujud is called a sajdah (plural ''sajdāt''). Muslims do sujud several times in each prayer, depending on the number of '' raka'at'' of prayer: two sajadat are performed every raka'ah, and prayers vary in obligatory length between two and four raka'at (additional supererogatory raka'at are often performed as ''sunnah muakkadah'', or emulation of the example of Muhammad as represented in the

sahih Hadith terminology () is the body of terminology in Islam which specifies the acceptability of the sayings (''hadith'') attributed to the Prophets in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad by other early Islamic figures of significance such as the compa ...

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

). A raka'ah is a unit of set actions that have to be performed in a prayer. The shortest ''

fard ' () or ' () or fardh in Islam is a religious duty commanded by God in Islam, God. The word is also used in Turkish language, Turkish, Persian language, Persian, Pashto, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali language, Bangla (''spelled farz or faraz''), and Mal ...

'' (obligatory) Muslim prayer is that of '' fajr'', performed immediately before sunrise (two raka'ahs) and the shortest ever possible number of raka'ahs is in the ''witr'' prayer, which is considered Sunnah in the Maaliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali Madhabs (schools of Fiqh) and Wajib (compulsory) in the Hanafi madhab, with one needing an odd number of Rakats to complete the prayer, with 1 being valid in all madhabs but the Hanafi Madhab. The raka'ah can be described as follows: # Standing and saying Allahu akbar, reciting surah al-Fatiha, and reciting a passage of the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

such as

sura A ''surah'' (; ; ) is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. There are 114 ''suwar'' in the Quran, each divided into verses (). The ''suwar'' are of unequal length; the shortest ''surah'' ( al-Kawthar) has only three verses, while the ...

al-Ikhlas. # Performing ruku' (bowing down) without bending the knees and with hands resting on the knees, while reciting additional phrases to glorify Allah. # Standing up from bowing, and reciting further. # Going in prostration (sajdah) once, while reciting additional specific phrases to glorify Allah. # Lifting the face up from prostration but kneeling or sitting on the ground. # Performing a second prostration (sajdah). # Rising for the second, third, or fourth raka'ah. In the last raka'ah, one remains sitting and recites the tashahhud, and then performs the

taslim ''Salah'' (, also spelled ''salat'') is the practice of formal ibadah, worship in Islam, consisting of a series of ritual prayers performed at prescribed times daily. These prayers, which consist of units known as rak'a, ''rak'ah'', include ...

by turning the head to the right and saying, '' as-salamu alaikum wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatuh'' ("may the peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you"), and then turning the head to the left and repeating the blessing to conclude the prayer. Points 1-7 define one raka'ah. Thus, the shortest prayer, that of fajr, contains four sajadat. For

Hanafi The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and largest Madhhab, school of Islamic jurisprudence out of the four schools within Sunni Islam. It developed from the teachings of the Faqīh, jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (), who systemised the ...

s, witr prayer is three raka'ahs, which is for them considered

wajib ' () or ' () or fardh in Islam is a religious duty commanded by God. The word is also used in Turkish, Persian, Pashto, Urdu, Hindi, Bangla (''spelled farz or faraz''), and Malay (''spelled fardu or fardhu'') in the same meaning. Muslims wh ...

, a level of necessity below that of fard but above all else: in practice, this makes witr obligatory. While in sujud, the use of a

turbah A ''turbah'' (), or ''mohr'' (), also known as ''khāk-e shefā'' (, also used in Urdu) and ''sejde gāh'' (, also used in Urdu), is a small piece of soil or clay, often a clay tablet, used during salat () to symbolize earth. The use of a ''tur ...

(a small piece of soil or clay, often a clay tablet), on which a person places their forehead, is compulsory in most Shi'a schools of Islam.

Other types of sujud

Sajdah of thankfulness

Sajdah of recitation / Tilawah

During recitation ( tilawa) of the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

, including individual and congregation prayers, there are fifteen places where Muslims believe, when Muhammad recited a certain verse ('' ayah''), he prostrated to God. The verses are: :۩ Q7:206, al Aʿrāf :۩ Q13:15, ar-Raʻd :۩ Q16:49, an-Nahl :۩ Q17:107, al-Isra :۩ Q19:58, Maryam :۩ Q22:18, al-Hajj :۩ Q22:77, al-Hajj :۩ Q25:60, al-Furqan :۩ Q27:25, an-Naml :۩ Q32:15, as-Sajda :۩ Q38:24, Ṣād :۩ Q41:37, Fussilat :۩ Q53:62, an-Najm :۩ Q84:21, al-Inshiqaq :۩ Q96:19, al-Alaq In most copies of the Qur'an these are indicated by the symbol ۩, with an over-line on the word/s that invoked the prostration. Muslims must prostrate once in order to follow the

(example) of Muhammad and recite any one or more of the following along with Takbeer before and after the sujud,

Sajdah of forgetfulness

Sujud Sahwi or Sajdah of forgetfulness occurs during the ritual ''salat'' prayer. Out of forgetfulness a person can either omit obligatory parts of salat (Qabli) or add to the salat (Ba'adi). In either cases the person corrects their salat by doing the Sujud Sahwi.

Rule of direction of the prostration

Sujud is made only to God. In prayer, Muslims face the

, Saudi Arabia.

References

External links

USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts

{{Authority control Salah Typography Gestures of respect Bowing Kneeling Salah terminology