"You see them bowing and prostrating [in prayer], seeking bounty
from Allah and [His] pleasure. Their mark is on their faces from the trace of
prostration..." Quran (48:29)
"Prostrate and draw near [to Allah]". (96:19)
The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, will recognise his Ummah on
the day of Qiyamah by their bright faces due to performing Sajdah. (Ahmad, sahih)
“Allah has prohibited the Fire from devouring the marks of sujood. (Bukhari
& Muslim)
Long Ruku and Sajdah of the Prophet:
"I happened to pray one night with the Prophet, peace and blessings
be upon him. The Prophet started reciting al-Baqarah chapter of the Quran and I
thought he would stop after 100 verses. But when he went beyond it I
thought that he may want to recite the whole chapter in one Rakah. When he
finished al-Baqarah I thought he would do Ruku but then he immediately started
reciting al-Imran and when he finished he started reciting an-Nisa.
The Prophet was reciting very slowly with enough pauses and would do
Tasbih (praising God) and Dua (supplication) according to the subject being
discussed in the relevant Ayah.
After that the Prophet did Ruku (bowing). In Ruku he stayed as long as
he did when he was in Qiyam (standing in prayer). After Ruku he stood up for
almost same time and then he performed Sajdah (prostration) and stayed there as
long as he recited Quran while doing Qiyam". (Hudaifa, may God be
pleased with him, narrated this hadith in Sahih Muslim, Nasai)
Aisha RA relates in a hadith that because of the long
Sajdah of the Prophet, she got apprehensive thinking that he had
passed away. (Baihaqi)
One of the Prophet's companion, Abdullah ibn Zubayr RA, would pray with
such concentration that when he was in Sajdah the sparrows would come flying
and sit on his back. In a separate narration, Abdullah ibn Abbas, another
companion, said if you want to see how the Prophet of God used to pray, you
should copy how Abdullah ibn Zubayr used to pray.
Examples from the Sahaba, Tabaeen and the Salaf:
So, it is from the Sunnah to do long Ruku and Sujood in Nafil Salaah.
Below are mentioned some more examples of this from the Sahaba, Tabaeen and the
Salaf:
Muslim Al-Makkee narrated: “Once
I saw Ibn Az-Zubair RA go into Ruku so I read surah al-Baqarah, Aali Imraan,
an-Nisaa’ and al-Maa’idah and he did not raise his head!” [Az-Zuhd of
Abu Dawud, p. 348]
Abu Qatn narrated:
“I never saw Shu’bah making ruku
except that I thought he forgot, nor have I ever seen him sitting between the
two prostrations except that I thought he forgot.” [As-Siyaar, 7/207]
Ibn Wahb narrated:
Once I saw (Sufyan) Ath-Thawri in the
Haram after maghrib prayer offering voluntary prayer. Then he went down into
sujood (prostration) and he didn’t raise his head until the adhaan for ‘isha
was made.” [As-Siyaar, 7/296]
‘Abdaan narrated:
“Hudbah Ibn Hakeen used to make
tasbeeh in ruku and sujood more than thirty times.” [As-Siyaar,11/99]
May Allah
give us the Tawfeeq for following these examples. Ameen.
