“if it is Him you worship.’ If the congregational imam prostrates at the words “…they never grow weary,” the follower should join him.

The prostration of recitation is a confirmed sunnah for both the one who is reciting and the one who is listening while seated with him. It is not an obligatory fard for either of them, though it remains a recommended practice as we have mentioned. Its observance is more emphatically urged upon the reciter than upon the listener—unless the reciter is leading the prayer, in which case they share the same ruling.

No one should perform a prostration of recitation unless he is in a state of ritual purity and facing the qiblah. He may pronounce the takbīr for it if he wishes. There is no tashahhud or salām attached to it, and it is not to be performed during the times when prayer itself is forbidden. This is Malik’s position in his al-Muwaṭṭaʾ; it is also the distilled ruling of his school according to most of his pupils.

One ought not to recite a verse of prostration during a time in which prayer is impermissible; if he does recite it, he should not prostrate. There is no objection to reciting a sūrah containing a prostration verse in either a voluntary or an obligatory prayer, provided he is not afraid of confusing the worshippers behind him.

It has been related from Malik that he disliked this out of concern that it might put people off, but that report carries little weight, for there is no real fear that prostrating would confuse others.

Ibn Wahb transmitted from Malik that there is no harm if the imam, in an obligatory prayer, recites a sūrah that contains a prostration and then performs the prostration.

Yahya ibn ʿUmar said: This is what I prefer, and among the people