I've always been intrigued with the daily rituals and obligations of faith such as the Muslims have. There is something interesting to me ... and I can't quite put my finger on it.
Our tour group walked into a small area to have a quiet place to talk ... and when we walked in, I saw this off to the side.
Sajdah is the act of prostration to God - in the direction of the Kaaba (the cube shaped building in Mecca) - which is usually done during daily prayers (salah). While in sujud, a Muslim is to praise Allah and glorify him. The position involves having the forehead, nose, both hands, knees and all toes touching the ground together.
Sujud is one of the main pillars of daily prayer in Islam. A single act of sujud is called a sajdah (plural sajadāt). Muslims do sujud in each prayer many times depending upon the Raka'ah of prayer. A raka'ah is a unit of set actions that have to be performed in a prayer. The shortest (obligatory) Muslim prayer consists of two raka'ah. The raka'ah can be described as follows:
- Standing
- Bowing down with hands resting on knees
- Standing up from bowing
- Going in prostration (sajdah) once
- Lifting the face up from prostration but sitting on the ground
- Doing a second prostration (sajdah) and then getting up for the second, third, or fourth raka'ah
