to the Qur’an; the second is that the reciter himself performs the prostration, and in that case he may serve as the listener’s imam. Ibn al-Qāsim relates from Mālik that the listener must prostrate even if the reciter—while seated with him—is someone not qualified to lead the prayer.

As for the manner of the prostration: the majority of jurists hold that when the reciter prostrates he pronounces the takbīr upon descending and again upon rising. Mālik’s view outside the formal prayer is reported with some variation, but if the prostration occurs within the prayer he prescribes only a single takbīr.