Sajdah Tilawah

(From Saudi Gazette - Fatwa)

Q – If I come across a verse in which there is a prostration when I am reciting the Qur’an at my desk, or when I am teaching the students, or at any other place, should I perform Sajdah Tilawah, or not? And is the prostration for the reciter and the listener both?

A – Sajdah Tilawah is a Sunnah for the reciter and for the listener and it is not an obligation, nor is it prescribed for the listener except while following the reciter. So if you recite a verse in which there is a prostration in your office or at the place of instruction, it is lawful for you to make prostration and it is prescribed for the students to prostrate with you, because they are the listeners. And if you do not observe the prostration, there is no objection.

– Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Baz; Fatawa Islamiyah, vol. 2, pg. 282

Sajdah at-Tilawah (Arabic: سجدة التلاوة) is a prostration (sujud) that is performed when certain verses of the Qur`an are recited or read. According to Ibn Hazm, performing this protstration is not obligatory (wajib), but is surplus.

For example Zaid bin Thabit related in a hadith that the Prophet did not prostrate when the former read surat an-Najm to him.

Generally, there are fourteen sajdahs in the Qur'an. According to Imam ash-Shafi' the fifteenth verse is in surat al-Hajj 22:77. The ayat of sajdah are marked with the following symbol in the Qur'an: ۩. The fifteen verses of prostration are:

1. al-'Araf 7:206

2. ar-Ra’d 13:15

3. an-Nahl 16:49

4. al-Isra' 17:107

5. Maryam 19:58

6. al-Hajj 22:18

7. al-Hajj 22:77

8. al-Furqan 25:60

9. an-Naml 27:25

10. as-Sajdah 32:15

11. Saad 38:24

12. Fussilat 41:37

13. an-Najm 53:62

14. al-Inshiqaq 84:21

15. al-‘Alaq 96:19