Thanksgiving Prostration (Sajdah al-Shukr)
Once you finish the post-prayer utterances, you may do the thanksgiving prostration. As is unanimously agreed by all Shi’ite scholars, thanksgiving prostra
Open Thanksgiving Prostration (Sajdah al-Shukr) in Shia Companion
Merits
Once you finish the post-prayer utterances, you may do the thanksgiving prostration. As is unanimously agreed by all Shi’ite scholars, thanksgiving prostration may be done whenever a new bliss is obtained or a misfortune is fended off. It is most favorable to do it after the prayers as expression of thanks to Almighty Allah for performing the prayer.
Through a valid chain of authority, Imam al-Baqir (a.s.) is reported to have said, “Whenever (Imam) Ali ibn al-Husayn (a.s.) remembered a grace of Allah the Almighty and Majestic, he would prostrate. Whenever he recited a verse from the Book of Allah in which prostration is mentioned, he would prostrate. Whenever Almighty Allah warded off from him an evil that he feared, he would prostrate. Whenever he accomplished an obligatory prayer, he would prostrate. Whenever he was granted success to conciliate between two persons, he would prostrate.”
The traces of prostration were seen in all organs of prostration in his body; therefore, he was called the Prostrating (al-Sajjad).
Through an authentic chain of authority, Imam al-Sadiq (a.s.) is reported to have said, “Whenever a faithful believer prostrates himself before Almighty Allah as expression of thanks for a grace in other than a prayer, Almighty Allah will certainly record for him ten rewards, erase from him ten sins, and raise him ten ranks in Paradise.”
Through a valid chain of authority too, Imam al-Sadiq (a.s.) is also reported to have said, “The nearest position a servant may be to Almighty Allah is when he prostrates himself and weeps.”
Through another authentic chain of authority, Imam al-Sadiq (a.s.) is also reported to have said: The thanksgiving prostration is obligatory upon all Muslims. Through it, you make your prayers perfect and attain your Lord’s pleasure and the angels’ admiration. When a servant does a thanksgiving prostration after a prayer, the Exalted Lord removes the screen between the angels and that servant, saying to them, “O my angels look at this servant of Mine. He has carried out his duty towards Me, perfected his pledge to Me, and then prostrated himself before Me as expression of thanking Me for what I have given him of my graces. O my angels! What will I grant him?”
The angels will answer, “O our Lord! Grant him Your mercy.”
Then the Blessed and Exalted Lord will say, “What more will I grant him?”
Text and Translation
The angels will answer, “O our Lord! Grant him Your Paradise.”
The angels will answer, “O our Lord! Grant him settlement of what concerns him.”
The Blessed and Exalted Lord will keep on asking them and the angels will answer with similar answers, leaving no single item of goodness. Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, will then say, “What more will I grant him?”
The angels will then answer, “O our Lord! We do not know.”
Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, will say, “I will thank him just as he has thanked Me, attend him with My graces, and show him My great mercy on the Resurrection Day.”
Through an authentic chain of authority, Imam al-Sadiq (a.s.) is also reported to have said, “Almighty Allah has taken (Prophet) Abraham as His friend just because he used to prostrate himself on the ground very frequently.”
According to another validly reported tradition, Imam al-Sadiq (a.s.) is reported to have said, “Whenever you remember any of Almighty Allah’s favors to you and you are in a place where no dissident can see you, you should place your cheek on the ground (i.e. prostrating yourself before Almighty Allah). When you are in a place where you fear lest a dissident can see you, you may bow yourself in submission to Almighty Allah by putting your hand under your stomach to make the dissident believe that you have been affected by colic.”
According to many traditions, Almighty Allah revealed to Prophet Moses (a.s.), saying, “Do you know why I have chosen you to speak to Me over My other creatures?”
“No, I do not, my Lord,” answered Moses (a.s.).
Almighty Allah said, “O Moses, I had turned over all My servants, but I could not find anyone of them more submissive to Me than you are. O Moses, whenever you prayed, you would place your cheeks on the soil.”
Through an authenticated chain of authority, Imam al-Reza (a.s.) is reported to have said, “A prostration after an obligatory prayer is an expression of thanking Almighty Allah for granting His servant success to carry out his duty towards Him. The least of what can be said while prostrating is to repeat the following words three times:
شُكْرًا لِلّٰهِ.
SHUKRAN LILLAAH.
Thanks be to Allah.
“What is the meaning of Thanks to Allah?” the reporter asked, and the Imam (a.s.) answered, “It means that this prostration is a thanksgiving from me to Almighty Allah for the success that He has granted me to serve Him and carry out my duty towards Him. Verily, thanking Almighty Allah increases graces and grants more success to obey Him. If it happens that a prayer is still imperfect and the supererogatory (mustahab / nafelah) prayer has not covered that imperfection, then this thanksgiving prostration will perfect it.”
Prostration of Imam Mosa Al Kazim (a.s.) and some of his Companions
The validity of thanksgiving prostration is not conditional upon any thing; it is therefore acceptable to do it any way one chooses. However, it is precautionary to prostrate on the ground, to use the seven organs of prostration that are used in the prostrations of prayers, to put the forehead on a thing acceptable to prostrate on, and to more preferably stick your arms and abdomen to the ground on the contrary of what is done in the prostrations of prayers. One of the traditions of thanksgiving prostrations is to put the forehead on the ground, the right and then the left cheeks, and then return to the normal position of prostration; that is putting the forehead on the ground again. Therefore, this prostration is sometimes called the two thanksgiving prostrations. Apparently, it is unobjectionable to prostrate oneself on the ground without uttering any supplication or doxology (zikr) although it is a tradition to say any statement while prostrating oneself.
It is therefore more preferable to choose any statement from the following utterances of thanksgiving prostration.
It is also recommended to prolong the prostration. Imam al-Kazim (a.s.) is reported to have kept himself in the position of prostration from post-dawn (fajr) up to midday (zohr) and from post-afternoon up to sunset.
According to another tradition, for more than ten years, Imam al-Kazim (a.s.) used to prostrate himself every day for the space of time between the first light up to midday (zohr).
Through an authentic chain of authority, Imam al-Reza (a.s.) is reported to have prostrated himself for such a long time that the pebbles of the mosque would be wet by his sweat and he used to stick his two cheeks to the ground of the mosque.
The following is quoted from al-Kashshi’s famous book of biographies of narrators (i.e. Kitab al-Rijal): Al-Fazl ibn Shazan said that he, once, visited Muhammad ibn Abi-Umayr and found him in the state of a very long prostration. When he raised his head, al-Fazl asked him about such a long prostration. Muhammad answered, “What will you say if you see the prostration of Jameel ibn Darraaj? One day, I visited him and found him in a state of prostration, which took very long time. When he raised his head, I asked him about that very long prostration. Jamil said, ‘What will you say if you see the prostration of Ma’ruf ibn Kharrabuz?’”
In another narration, al-Fazl ibn Shazan related that Hasan ibn Ali ibn Fazzaal used to go out for serving Almighty Allah. He used to prostrate himself for such a long time that even birds would fall down on him, thinking that he was a piece of cloth or a rotten material. When beasts grazed around him, they would not run away, because they would not feel any thing strange.
In another narration, it is reported that Ali ibn Mahziyar would fall in prostration at sunrise and would not raise his head before he supplicated for the good of one thousand persons of his brethren-in-faith as same as he would supplicate for himself. Because of such very long prostrations, there was a mark on his forehead similar to the marks found on camels’ knees.
In another narration, it is reported that Ibn Abi-Umayr used to prostrate himself after the dawn (fajr) Prayer and raise it at the Noon (Zohr) Prayer.
It is better to do the thanksgiving prostrations immediately after the post-prayer utterances and before the supererogatory (mustahab / nafelah) prayers except for the Sunset (Maghrib) Prayers, because the majority of scholars believe that the thanksgiving prostration after this prayer should be done after the supererogatory (mustahab / nafelah) prayer, while others see the opposite. Hence, to do it according to any party’s notion is good enough although it may be more preferable to precede it to the supererogatory (mustahab / nafelah) prayers, according to the report of al-Himyari from the Awaited Imam, may Allah hasten his reappearance. To solve the question, it must be more preferable to do it before and after the supererogatory (mustahab / nafelah) prayers.
