Prostration - The Ultimate Symbol of Submission to Allah

In the Name Of Allah Most Merciful and Most Beneficient

This is a recap of the tafseeer class conducted by Ustazah Dato' Dr. Fatma Az-Zahra held at Yayasan Nuh last Friday, the 15th of January 2015.

Prostration, or sujud is the absolute act of total subservience to Allah swt. When we go down on our knees and bow until the highest part of the human form, the head, goes down to the lowest level which is the ground, or earth (which is what we're made of), we admit to our inferiority, our weaknesses and submit ourselves to Him in totality, in all humility.

There are fifteen surah in the Al-Quran where there is mention of sujud, and when we read these ayahs, it is sunnah to sujud. This sujud is called the sujud tilawah. Acording to Dr. Fatma, three things happen when we do this: 1) ten of our sins are forgiven 2) we get ten extra points and 3) the syaitans will cry.

One of the surah which has this sujud tilawah is the 32nd surah in the Quran, the Surah As-Sajadah. Only this surah is named as such, and the reason for this is because the message in this surah is wholly about submitting ourselves to Allah Azza wa Jalla. And the prostration is the sign that we submit to Him, the One and Only ilah that deserves to be truly worshipped. 

The most effective way to be submissive to our Creator is to always remember how and what we're made of (Ayah 8). This realisation would eliminate the arrogance in us and instead we admit to our complete reliance on Allah Azza wa Jalla. 

The most significant and the gist of this whole surah is in Ayah 14:

"So taste, (the torment of the Fire) for your forgotten the Encounter of this Day of yours. Indeed, We have forgotten you, so taste the chastisement of eternity for that you were doing.

Allah Azza wa Jalla had mentioned of people who ignore and forget the Day of Judgement and the punishment that come after. They come to their senses and plead to be sent back to Earth so they can do what they had been commanded to, but of course it's too late.

Then in the next ayah (15), Allah describes those who have faith and submit themselves to Him:

"Most surely those who believe in our Revelations (proof, evidence, verses, lessons and signs), those who, when they are recited to them, fall down in prostration, and celebrate the praise of their Lord, and they are not proud."

This is where we should do the sujud tilawah when we recite this surah.

Further to this, in the next ayah (16) the true believer who is subservient to his Master will  perform the solat tahajjud each night. This is truly an indication of a person's conviction as getting out of his/her comfortable bed in the middle of the night or very early in the morning is a huge sacrifice.

Ayah 16 & 17 reads:

"They forsake their beds as they call on their Lord in fear and hope, and they expend of that We have bestowed upon them."

"No soul knows what joys of the eye have been kept hidden for them as reward for their deeds."

The solat tahajjud is much loved by Allah Azza wa Jalla. It is the only ibadah of which no one knows what rewards will be given to those who perform it. 

If one desires to wake up to perform the solah tahajjud, read Surah As Sajadah and Surah Mulk before you go to sleep. 

It works like magic. Insyaa Allah.