What The Prophet did in Sajdah

by Abdul Malik Mujahid

"I happened to pray one night with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. The Prophet started reciting al-Baqarah chapter of the Quran and I thought he would stop after 100 verses.

But when he went beyond it I thought that he may want to recite the whole chapter in one Rakah.

When he finished al-Baqarah I thought he would do Ruku but then he immediately started reciting al-Imran and when he finished he started reciting an-Nisa.

The Prophet was reciting very slowly with enough pauses and would do Tasbih (praising God) and Dua (supplication) according to the subject being discussed in the relevant Ayah.

After that the Prophet did Ruku (bowomg). In Ruku he stayed as long as he did when he was in Qiyam (standing in prayer). After Ruku he stood up for almost same time and then he performed Sajdah (prostration) and stayed there as long as he recited Quran while doing Qiyam". (Hudaifa, may God be pleased with him, narrated this hadith as in Sahih al Muslim, Nasai)

Of course, not all the Prayers of the Prophet were this long. In public he would pray for a shorter period of time and ask other imams to do the same. The Prophet use to make dua in Sajdah not just tasbeeh as we do in obligatory prayers. He used to cry in Sajdah. He would spend an extended amount of his time in Sajdah whenever he was praying on his own. Many times, however, Muslims would join him when they found him praying alone.