600. A Sajdah Outside Of Salaah Just To Make Duaa Or For ‘Shukr

By Asma bint Shameem 

QUESTION

I see some people, after they're done with Salaah, doing a separate sajdah to make duaa? Is that okay?

ANSWER

Doing this is not correct. 

That’s because there’s NO EVIDENCE of making a separate sajdah outside of Salaah, ‘specifically’ to make duaa in the Sharee’ah. 

The Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam himself NEVER made a sajdah separately outside the salah just so that he could make duaa NOR did he teach his sahaabah to do so. 

If it was something good, he Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam would have done it himself and would definitely have taught us. 

But we see that there's no proof of him doing that. 

Why is that wrong?

1. Dua is an act of worship. And the basic principle as far as acts of worship are concerned is "tawqeef", which means doing NOTHING EXCEPT that which is PROVEN from the Qur’aan and Sunnah. 

 

So we should worship Allaah ONLY in the ways that He has prescribed. 

Anything else is NOT ALLOWED, NOR is it CORRECT. 

2. When we look at the Qur'aan and authentic Sunnah, we see that there's NOTHING  to suggest that the Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam made a separate sajdah outside of salah for ANYTHING, EXCEPT sajdah at-Tilaawah (prostration when reading Qur’aan) or sajdah ash-Shukr (prostration of gratitude). 

Nothing else is proven. 

3. Any act that's not proven from the Qur'aan and authentic Sunnah falls under the category of *bid'ah*, which is a huge sin and is not even accepted by Allaah.  

May Allaah protect us. 

The Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam said: 

“Whoever introduces anything into this matter (Deen) of ours that is not part of it, will have it rejected.” 

(al-Bukhaari and Muslim)

But isn't the slave closest to his Rabb in sajdah?

Yes it's true that the Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam said:

"The closest that a person can be to his Lord is when he is prostrating, so say a lot of du’aa’.”  (Muslim)

But that's WHILE we are *IN* Salaah. 

And NOT as a “separate” sajdah after we say salaam. 

*What do the ulama say?*

Ibn Taymiyah said: 

"Worse than this is what some people do, when they do a single prostration after saying the salaam. 

This is an innovation and it was not narrated from any of the Imams that this is mustahabb.

Acts of worship are based on sharee’ah and following, NOT on whims and desires or innovations. 

Islaam is based on two principles: that we do not worship anyone but Allaah alone, and we worship Him in the way that He prescribed on the lips of His Messenger Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam, and we do not worship Him on the basis of whims and desires or innovations." 

(al-Fataawa al-Kubra 2/242)

Imam al-Haramayn said: 

“My Shaykh – i.e., Abu Muhammad – denounced this prostration sternly, and they quoted as evidence for that the analogy with bowing. If a person were to worship Allaah by bowing only, that is haraam according to scholarly consensus, because it is bid’ah (an innovation), and every innovation is a going astray.” 

(al-Majmoo’ (3/565)

 So what's proven from the Sunnah? 

Go ahead and make Duaa in your sujood DURING SALAH. 

And it doesn’t matter if the prayer is fardh or Sunnah or Nafl. 

We can make Duaa in ALL the prayers and there’s no proof to say that we can not make Duaa in Fardh Salaah. 

We can also make Duaa in other places ‘within’ the Salaah that are proven from the authentic sources. 

Or we can simply raise our hands and ask. 

Any time. 

Any place. 

There's no need for us to go into a *separate* sajdah to ask Him. 

That was NOT the practice of the Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam  nor the Sahaabah. 

And Allaah knows best.