remove a burden of sin from me through it, record a reward for me through it, store it up for me with You, and accept it from me as You accepted it (1) from Your servant David” (2). Both supplications were reported (3) by the compilers of the Sunan collections.
It has not been reported that he proclaimed Allah’s greatness when rising from this prostration. Hence, al-Khiraqī and the earlier jurists of his school did not mention doing so. Nor has any recitation of the testimony of faith or concluding salutation whatsoever been reported from him in connection with it. Ahmad and al-Shāfi‘ī rejected the concluding salutation in this prostration. Al-Shāfi‘ī explicitly stated that it involves neither recitation of the testimony of faith nor a concluding salutation (4). Ahmad said: “As for the concluding salutation, I do not know what it is” (5). This is the correct view, and no other should be adopted.
It is authentically reported that he (peace and blessings be upon him) prostrated (6) in (Alif Lām Mīm. The revelation), in (Sād), in (The Star), and in
(1) ص: “taqabbalta” (“You accepted”). This manuscript is also noted in the margin of ع.
(2) Transmitted by al-Tirmidhī (579, 3424), Ibn Mājah (1053), Ibn Khuzayma (562), Ibn Hibbān (2768), al-Tabarānī (11/129), al-Hākim (1/219), and al-Bayhaqī (2/320), from ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Abbās. Its chains all pass through al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ubayd Allāh ibn Abī Yazīd al-Makkī. Al-‘Uqaylī said in al-Du‘afā’ (2/19): “His narration is not corroborated; he is known only through it and is not a well-known transmitter.” He then transmitted this hadith and said: “This hadith has several chains, all of which contain weakness.” Al-Tirmidhī also graded the hadith weak. See al-Albānī’s al-Sahīha (6/473–475) and the editors’ commentary on Sahīh Ibn Hibbān, al-Risāla edition.
(3) ك: “dhakarahu” (“reported it”). This was also the original reading in ع, before it was corrected.
(4) ك, ع: “lā salām wa-lā tashahhud” (“neither a concluding salutation nor a recitation of the testimony of faith”). Al-Shīrāzī transmitted this explicitly stated position in al-Tanbīh (p. 26), and al-Nawawī critiqued it in al-Majmū‘ (6/66).
(5) See Masā’il al-Kawsaj (2/751) and Ibn al-Mundhir’s al-Awsat (2/75). In the reports transmitted by Harb (p. 450) and al-Athram, the latter cited in al-Riwāyatayn wa-l-Wajhayn (1/145), Ahmad is reported to have held that one gives a concluding salutation.
(6) Regarding prostration in Alif Lām Mīm Tanzīl (“Alif Lām Mīm. The revelation”), al-Bukhārī (1068) transmitted a report from Abū Hurayra that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would recite Alif Lām Mīm al-Tanzīl al-Sajda (“Alif Lām Mīm. The revelation”—Sūrat al-Sajda) and Hal atā ‘alā al-insān (“Has there come upon man”) during the dawn prayer on Fridays. He placed it under the chapter heading “Prostration in Tanzīl al-Sajda.” Muslim (880) also transmitted it.
Regarding prostration in Sūrat Sād, al-Bukhārī (1069) transmitted it from Ibn ‘Abbās, may Allah be pleased with him and his father.
Regarding prostration in al-Najm (“The Star”), al-Bukhārī (1067) and Muslim (576) transmitted it from ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mas‘ūd. Al-Bukhārī (1072) and Muslim (577) also transmitted a report from Zayd ibn Thābit that, when he recited it to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, the Prophet did not prostrate.
Regarding prostration in Idhā al-samā’ inshaqqat (“When the sky is split open”) and Iqra’ (“Read”), Muslim (578) transmitted it from Abū Hurayra; al-Bukhārī (766) transmitted it only for Idhā al-samā’ inshaqqat.