237 – Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “I have been commanded to prostrate on seven bones: upon the forehead”—and he pointed with his hand to his nose—“the two hands, the two knees, and the tips of the two feet.” Agreed upon.⦗1⦘
Lexical notes
• “I have been commanded”: passive construction; the One who commands is Allah. In some sound narrations it appears as “We were commanded,” indicating that the ruling applies to all.
• “The two hands”: that is, the palms, which is what the word denotes when used without qualification. This avoids any conflict with the prohibition against sprawling on one’s forearms like a beast of prey.
• “He pointed with his hand to his nose”: an explanatory parenthetical clause inserted between the item “forehead” and the item “hands,” showing that the forehead and the nose together form a single limb for the purpose of prostration.
Points derived from the ḥadith
- The phrase appears in three forms: “I was commanded,” “We were commanded,” and “The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was commanded.” All three are recorded by al-Bukhārī. The legal principle is that whatever the Prophet is commanded to do is a general command for him and for his ummah, as Allah the Exalted says: “Indeed, in the Messenger of Allah you have a beautiful example” ⦗al-Ahzāb 33:21⦘, and: “O Prophet, when you (plural) divorce women, divorce them for the completion of their prescribed periods” ⦗at-Talāq 65:1⦘. Only when a specific text singles him out is a ruling restricted to him alone, such as Allah’s words: “And any believing woman who offers herself to the Prophet—if the Prophet wishes to marry her—that privilege is exclusively for you and not for the believers” ⦗al-Ahzāb 33:50⦘.
- The ḥadith establishes that it is obligatory in prayer to place these seven body parts on the ground during prostration: namely, the forehead