The two Sahīh collections also record that Imrān ibn Husayn said:

“He prayed one rak‘ah, then said the salām, then performed two prostrations, then said the salām.”

Muhammad ibn Sīrīn likewise mentioned this when narrating the hadith of Abū Hurayrah. He said: “I was informed that Imrān ibn Husayn said: ‘Then he said the salām.’” Ibn Sīrīn would narrate only from trustworthy narrators.

The difference between these two prostrations and the prostration of recitation is that these two constitute a prayer. They are two prostrations that have been made to stand in place of one rak‘ah and to compensate for a deficiency in the prayer. They therefore have a prescribed means of leaving the state of prayer, just as they have a prescribed means of entering it. This is what constitutes prayer, as he said:

“The key to prayer is purification; one enters its sacred state through the takbīr and leaves it through the salām.”

As for the prostration of recitation, it is an act of humble submission to Allah. Ibn Umar and others would perform it without ablution. It is reported that Uthmān ibn Affān said concerning a menstruating woman who hears a verse of prostration: “She should bow her head.” Sa‘īd ibn al-Musayyib held the same view. He added: “One should say: ‘O Allah, to You I have prostrated.’”

Al-Sha‘bī said: “Whoever hears a verse of prostration while without ablution should prostrate in whatever direction he is facing.” The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prostrated, and the Muslims and polytheists, jinn and humans, prostrated with him. Thus, both disbelievers and Muslims performed it. Pharaoh’s sorcerers also prostrated. On this basis, it does not fall within the definition of prayer.

The two prostrations, however, resemble the funeral prayer: although it consists solely of standing, it is nevertheless a prayer with a prescribed entry into and exit from its sacred state. For this reason, the Companions would purify themselves for it.