Moreover, Allah has also told us that the prophets practised single, stand-alone prostrations. He says:

“Those are the ones whom Allah has blessed from among the prophets—descendants of Adam, of those We carried with Noah, of the descendants of Abraham and Israel, and of those We guided and chose. Whenever the revelations of the All-Merciful were recited to them, they would fall down in prostration and weeping.” (Maryam 19:58)

They were not commanded to perform wudu (ritual ablution), for wudu is one of the special distinctions granted to the nation of Muhammad. Sound hadiths state that on the Day of Resurrection they will be raised with their faces and limbs gleaming with light from the traces of wudu, and that the Messenger will recognise them by this mark—proof that no other community shares it with them.

As for the report transmitted by Ibn Mājah and others that the Prophet performed wudu once, twice, and three times, then said, “This is my ablution and the ablution of the prophets before me,” the scholars regard it as weak.