SAJDAH & ITS

IMPORTANCE
By: M A Sheriff
 LEARNING POINTS
FROM THIS
PRESENTATION
•What is Sajdah?
•The two Sajdahs in
Salaat.
•Sajdah – closeness to Allah
(SWT)
•Important points about
Sajdah
•Sajdah to be performed
on earth
 WHAT IS SAJDAH?
It is an action that exhibits
highest degree of humility from
a creature towards his Creator –
Allah, the Almighty.

During the process of Sajdah,

man acknowledges that his
creation, return and coming back
to life is related to dust. Man
therefore is nothing but an
inferior creature infront of Allah,
 THE TWO SAJDAHS
Imam Ali (a.s.) was asked to explain the
meaning of two Sajdahs in Salaat. He (a.s.)
said,
“When a person performs the first Sajdah,
he is actually telling Allah (SWT): ‘You have
created me from it (dust)’.
Then he raises his head from Sajdah, he is
telling: ‘You have removed me from it
(dust)’.
Then again he goes into second Sajdah
implying: ‘You will return me into it’.
Finally when he raises his head again, he is
saying: ‘And You will remove me from it
(dust) again for the second time’”. (Bihar)
 SAJDAH-CLOSENESS TO
ALLAH (SWT)
Sajdah is a physical action, which
gets the soul of a servant closer to
Allah, the Almighty.
“Perform the Sajdah and get closer
to Me”. (96:19)
Imam Al-Ridha (a.s.) has said,
“The closest one can get to Allah is
when he is in Sajdah. Allah Himself
says: ‘Perform the Sajdah and get
closer to Me’. (Bihar)
 IMPORTANT POINTS
ABOUT SAJDAH

Sajdahs must always be

prolonged.

A group of people came to the

Holy Prophet (saww) and said,
“Take guarantee from Allah that
we shall enter Paradise”. He
(saww) said, “With a condition
that you will co-operate with me
by prolonging your Sajdahs”.
 Prolonged Sajdahs
irritate the Satan
Prolonging the Sajdahs reminds the
Satan about his disobedience to Allah,
the Almighty and the reason for his
banishment from Paradise.

Imam Ja’ffar al-Sadiq (a.s.) said:

“Indeed when a servant prolongs his
Sajdah in a manner that no one sees
him, Satan says: ‘Woe unto me! They
are obedient and I disobeyed; They
prostrated and I refused”.
 The mark of Sajdah
The mark of Sajdah will always be on
the foreheads of the believers.
“You will see them bowing and
prostrating, seeking His grace and
pleasure. Their mark is on their faces
(foreheads) from the effect of
Sajdahs”. (48:29)

Imam Ali bin Abi Talib (a.s.) said:

“Indeed I abhor a person whose
forehead is clean and there is no mark
 SAJDAH ON EARTH
A Muslim must perform his Sajdahs during
prayers on earth. According to the Shia’
School of Thought, it is compulsory to
prostrate on earth. Ayatullah Sayyid Ali Al-
Seestani writes:
‘Sajdahs should be performed on earth and on
those things, which are not edible or worn,
and on those things, which grow from earth
(e.g. wood and leaves of trees). It is not
permissible to perform Sajdah on things which
are used as food or dress (e.g. wheat, barley,
cotton etc), or on things which are not
considered to be parts of the earth (e.g. gold,
silver etc)’.
Jabir bin Abdullah al-Ansari reports: The
Messenger of Allah said,
“I have been given five things which no
prophet was given before me:
Allah made me victorious by inspiring awe
(fear in my enemies) for a distance of one
month’s journey.
The earth has been made a place of prostration
for me, and a place to perform Tayammum.
Thus my followers can pray wherever (lawful
place) they like when the prayer time
commences.
War booty has been made lawful for me.
Every Prophet was sent only to his nation, but I
have been sent to all mankind.
I have been given the right of intercession (on
Abu Sa’eed used to relate that he had
seen the Prophet (saww) prostrating
on wet mud, so much so that he could
see mud stains on his forehead. (Sahih
al-Bukhari, Part 1, Page 104)

Hazrat Maimuna said,

“The Messenger of Allah used to pray
on a KHUMRA (a palm leaf mat large
enough to place one’s face, while in
prostration)”.
(Sahih al-Bukhari,
Hadith 1.378)
“O you who have faith!
Bow down and
prostrate yourselves,
and worship your Lord,
and do good, so that
you may be felicitous”.
(22:76)