Sajdat al-Tilāwah: Fiqh Perspective

Verses of sajdat al-tilāwah

There are fifteen possible verses of sujūd in the Qurʾān. The scholars are unanimous on ten of them (Fatḥ al-Bārī, Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī). Imām Abū Ḥanīfah and Imām al-Shāfiʿī count fourteen verses that necessitate sujūd; they are:

The Aḥnāf do not hold sujūd to be wājib after this verse; Imām al-Shāfiʿī does.

The Aḥnāf and Imām Mālik hold this verse to require sajdah. The Shawāfiʿ regard it as a sajdah of shukr, mustaḥabb outside ṣalāh and prohibited within it.

Rulings on sajdat al-tilāwah in Ḥanafī fiqh

The bulk of the rulings below are taken from al-Lubāb fī Sharḥ al-Kitāb, with additional points from al-Jawharah al-Nayyirah.

How to perform sajdat al-tilāwah

A person who intends to perform sajdat al-tilāwah says takbīr (Allāhu Akbar) without raising his hands, and goes straight into sujūd; he then says takbīr again and raises his head. Neither tashahhud nor salām is required.

It is mustaḥabb to sit before going down into sajdah. The sounder view is that the same tasbīḥ recited in the sujūd of ṣalāh (سبحان ربي الأعلى) is recited here.

Prerequisites of sajdat al-tilāwah

The prerequisites are the same as those of ṣalāh (al-Jawharah al-Nayyirah):

1. Freedom from ḥadath and from najis on the body or clothing.
2. The ʿawrah must be covered.
3. One must face the qiblah.
4. Tayammum for it is not used unless water is unavailable or the person is sick.

When sajdat al-tilāwah is required

1. Reciting an āyah of sujūd makes sajdat al-tilāwah wājib on the reciter.
2. Writing or spelling out an āyah of sujūd does not make sajdat al-tilāwah necessary (al-Jawharah al-Nayyirah).
3. Sajdat al-tilāwah is wājib only on those for whom ṣalāh is wājib, that is, the bāligh and ʿāqil.
4. It is wājib on anyone who hears the āyah of sujūd recited live, whether or not he set out to listen to the Qurʾān.
5. It is wājib on the listener even if he is in janābah, and even if he is lying down.
6. A woman in her menses or nifās is not required to perform it (see Radd al-Muḥtār 2/581).
7. If a person was occupied with another matter and is later told that an āyah of sujūd was recited in his presence, the sounder view is that sajdat al-tilāwah is not wājib upon him.
8. If the āyah of sujūd is recited by a bird or heard from an echo, sajdat al-tilāwah is not wājib.

There is ikhtilāf on whether sajdat al-tilāwah is wājib on a person who hears an āyah of sujūd recorded rather than live, for example through an audio device.

Sajdat al-tilāwah within ṣalāh

1. If the imām recites an āyah of sujūd, he performs sajdat al-tilāwah, and those behind him follow.
2. If the maʾmūm recites an āyah of sujūd, the imām is not required to perform sajdat al-tilāwah, either within the ṣalāh or after it.
3. The maʾmūm in this case likewise does not perform sajdat al-tilāwah.
4. If someone outside the ṣalāh recites an āyah of sujūd, neither the imām nor the maʾmūm is to perform sajdat al-tilāwah within the ṣalāh; it is performed afterwards.
5. If they do nevertheless perform sajdat al-tilāwah within the ṣalāh on hearing it from someone outside the prayer, the sajdah is not accepted, but the ṣalāh is not broken; they must repeat the sajdat al-tilāwah afterwards.
6. If a man recites an āyah of sujūd outside ṣalāh without performing sajdat al-tilāwah, then begins ṣalāh and recites the same āyah within it and performs sajdat al-tilāwah, that single sajdah suffices for both recitations, provided the two are in the same majlis (the ṣalāh began immediately after the recitation outside it).
7. If he recites an āyah of sujūd outside ṣalāh, performs sajdat al-tilāwah, then begins ṣalāh and recites a different āyah, the first sajdat al-tilāwah does not suffice for the second.
8. If a person repeats the same āyah of sujūd several times in one sitting, a single sajdat al-tilāwah suffices.