بسم الله الرحمـن الرحيم
وعاقبة للمتقين
وَاسْجُدْ وَاقْتَرِب
Prostrate and draw near to Allah!
(Sura 96: 19)
The act of prostration, or Sajda, when done
with the intention of degrading oneself before Allâh, is an extremely high and
beautiful form of worship that has come to distinguish Islam from virtually all
other religions. The Prophet ﷺ said:
أَقْرَبُ مَا يَكُونُ الْعَبْدُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ وَهُوَ سَاجِدٌ فَأَكْثِرُوا الدُّعَاءَ
“The nearest a servant comes to his Lord is when he in
prostration, so make supplication (in that state)” (Sahih Muslim)
Ma’dan b. Abi Talha reported: I met Thawban, the freed
slave of Allah’s Messenger ﷺ and asked him to tell me about an act for
which, if I do it, Allah will admit me to Paradise, or I asked about the act
which was loved most by Allah. He gave no reply. I again asked and he gave no
reply. I asked him for the third time, and he said: I asked Allah’s Messenger ﷺ about that and
he said:
عَلَيْكَ بِكَثْرَةِ السُّجُودِ لِلَّهِ فَإِنَّكَ لاَ تَسْجُدُ لِلَّهِ سَجْدَةً
إِلاَّ رَفَعَكَ اللَّهُ بِهَا دَرَجَةً وَحَطَّ عَنْكَ بِهَا خَطِيئَةً
“Make frequent prostrations before Allah, for you will
not make one prostration without raising you a degree because of it, and
removing a sin from you, because of it.” (Sahih Muslim)
Rabi’a b. Ka’b said: I was with Allah’s Messenger ﷺ one night and
I brought him water and what he required. He said to me: Ask (anything you
like). I said: I ask your company in Paradise. He (the Holy Prophet) said: Or
anything else besides it. I said: That is all (what I require). He said:
فَأَعِنِّي عَلَى نَفْسِكَ بِكَثْرَةِ السُّجُودِ
“Then help me to achieve this for you by devoting
yourself often to prostration.” (Sahih Muslim)
Salafis and many other Muslims insist that the Sajda whose
virtues have been extolled in the Holy Qur’an and the Hadith, such as those
cited here, refer to the Sajda which is offered during the Salat and not
outside of it. According to them, to offer a single, isolated
prostration outside of the Salat without any reason except for drawing closer
to Allah or as a supplication to Allah, is a dispraised innovation. They
contend that a only a prostration of Tilawa (recitation of the Qur’an) and
the prostration of Shukr (gratitude) are legislated in the Religion, but
apart from these two it is not allowed to offer an isolated prostration outside
of the Salat. To this end, Imam al-Nawawi is cited as saying:
لو خضع إنسان لله تعالى فتقرب بسجدة بغير سبب يقتضي سجود شكر ففيه وجهان حكاهما
إمام الحرمين وغيره ( أحدهما ) : يجوز , قاله صاحب التقريب ( وأصحهما ) : لا يجوز
“If a person humbled himself to Allah, the Exalted,
and sought nearness to Him through an (isolated) prostration (sajdah) without
any reason necessitating that a prostration of gratefulness be made (to Allah),
then it has two positions, Imam al-Haramayn (al-Juwayni) and others have cited
it. The first, that it is permissible, this was said by the author of
al-Taqrib, and [the second] and most sound of them both is that it is not permissible.”
(al-Majmu Sharh al-Muhadhdhab (Maktabah al-Irshad, Jeddah, 3/565))
An example of the prostration of Shukr (gratitude) is
not only that a worshiper prostrates when he is granted some blessing, such as
the birth of a child, but also prostrates when he sees a Sign of Allah:
Narrated ‘Ikrimah: After Salat As-Subh, it was said to
Ibn ‘Abbas that so-and-so - one of the wives of the Prophet ﷺ - has died,
so he prostrated. So it was said to him: Do you prostrate at this hour? So he
said: Has not the Messenger of Allah ﷺ [already]
said:
إِذَا رَأَيْتُمْ آيَةً فَاسْجُدُوا
“If you see a Sign then prostrate?”
Then which sign is grater than the passing of (one of)
the wives of the Prophet (ﷺ)? (Tirmidhi; Hadith Hasan)
As for offering prostration outside of Salat for the
purpose of supplication, it is mentioned that Shaikh-ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyya
(rahimahullah) favored it:
“Seeking to get closer to Allaah by prostrating
outside the prayer for other than the sujood of the recitation of the Quran or
for thanking Allaah for a blessing that he bestowed on a person is an act that
is not permissible according to the view of the majority of scholars. However,
some scholars considered it to be permissible if there is a reason that necessitates
it; such as wishing to supplicate, for example. This is the view favored by
Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah may Allaah
have mercy upon
him. Therefore, if a person wants to do sujood and ask Allaah for a
need, and he did sujood for this and supplicated Allaah, then this act is
permissible according to the view of some scholars.”
Similarly, ‘Islamweb’ admits that: “As for prostrating
for no given reason, it was narrated as lawful in the Shafi’e school.”
*Note: The unnamed author of the Taqrib is in fact Sulaym b. Ayyub al-Razi al-Shafi'i (d. 447 H)
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