المعنى الاصطلاحي

Specific verses from the Noble Qur’an that require prostration once they are read or heard.

الشرح المختصر

"Āyāt-us-sajdah" (verses of prostration) refers to the Qur’anic verses which we are commanded to prostrate after reading or hearing them, as an obligation or recommendation, whether inside or outside the prayer. They are also called "‘azā’im" (resolves), and the prostration here is called "sajdat-ut-tilāwah" (prostration of recitation). Their total number is 15 verses. The command to perform prostration sometimes comes in an imperative style and sometimes as a report. The manner of prostration resembles that of the prayer by placing the forehead, the nose, the two hands, and the two knees on the ground, or by lowering the head in case of inability. What is said in regular prostration is said in such a prostration. These verses are found in the Qur’an in the following places: three in the "Mufassal": in Sūrat-un-Najm, Sūrat al-Inshiqāq, and Sūrat al-‘Alaq. There are twelve in the rest of the Qur’an: Sūrat al-A‘rāf, Sūrat-ur-Ra‘d, Sūrat-un-Nahl, Sūrat al-Isrā’, Sūrat Maryam, Sūrat al-Hajj (two verses of prostration), Sūrat al-Furqān, Sūrat-un-Naml, Sūrat Fussilat, Sūrat Sād, and Sūrat-us-Sajdah. The places of these verses of prostration are known and identified in most of the "mus'hafs" (physical copies of the Qur’an)