Sujud al-Tilawah, The Prostration of Recitation

Certain verses of the Qur’an are verses of prostration (آيات السَّجْدَة). When you recite one, or hear one recited, it is from the Sunnah to make a single prostration, called sujud al-tilawah . It is a small act of humility: at the very moment the verse mentions the creation prostrating to its Lord, you join them.

There are fifteen well-known verses of prostration across the Qur’an; in most printed mushafs they are marked in the margin with the word سَجْدَة or a small symbol, so you can recognise them as you read.

Its ruling

Sujud al-tilawah is a sunnah, not an obligation — this is the position of the Hanbali madhhab and the majority. Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) once recited a verse of prostration on the minbar, came down and prostrated, and the next Friday said:

“O people, we pass by verses of prostration. Whoever prostrates has done right, and whoever does not, there is no sin upon him, for Allah did not make it obligatory unless we wish.”

Bukhari

So if you prostrate, you have followed the Sunnah; if you are unable (you are driving, or in a place you cannot prostrate), you may leave it without sin.

How to do it

The prostration itself is a single sujud, just like a sujud of the prayer.

Inside the prayer

If you are reciting in your prayer and reach a verse of prostration:

1. Say “Allahu Akbar” and go down into a single sujud.
2. Say the tasbih of sujud, Subhana rabbiya l-a’la, or the specific du’a below.
3. Say “Allahu Akbar” and rise back to standing.
4. Continue your recitation (or go into ruku if you had finished the surah), and complete the prayer normally.

This adds one prostration; it does not add a rak’ah and does not require sujud al-sahw.

Outside the prayer

If you are reading on your own (or listening to a reciter) and reach a verse of prostration:

1. Face the qibla, say “Allahu Akbar,” and make a single sujud.
2. Say the du’a below.
3. Rise. There is no tashahhud and no tasleem for this prostration on the stronger view, you simply come up.

What to say in the prostration

You may say the ordinary sujud tasbih (Subhana rabbiya l-a’la), or the specific du’a the Prophet ﷺ taught for the prostration of recitation:

A few points

• The listener follows the reciter. You make the prostration when you hear a verse of prostration from someone reciting it; if a person merely reciting near you does not himself prostrate, the listener is not asked to.
• Purity and qibla: the safer and recommended practice is to make sujud al-tilawah as you would any prostration, with wudu, facing the qibla, and the awrah covered. There is also a lenient scholarly view that, since it is a single prostration and not a full prayer, it does not strictly require wudu, but having wudu and facing the qibla is better and frees you from the difference.
• Sajdah of Sad (38:24) is, in the Hanbali view, a prostration of gratitude ( shukr ) rather than one of the recitation prostrations, but prostrating at it is still good.
• This is different from sujud al-sahw, the prostration of forgetfulness, which corrects mistakes in the prayer. Sujud al-tilawah is tied to the verses of prostration in recitation.