Face to the ground: prostration in three faiths

In a minute

In the Torah, Abraham "fell on his face; and God talked with him" (Genesis 17:3, JPS 1917). In the Gospels, Jesus "fell on his face, and prayed" (Matthew 26:39, WEB British Edition). In the Qur'an, those who were given knowledge "fall down on their faces, weeping, and it increaseth humility in them" (17:109, Pickthall).

Today a Muslim does it at least 34 times a day. A Jew bows in every service, and in many synagogues goes down to the floor in the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services. An Orthodox Christian does it in Great Lent and at set moments of the liturgy.

Abraham, the shared father

The Qur'an also calls believers to the same act: "Bow down and prostrate yourselves, and worship your Lord, and do good, that haply ye may prosper" (22:77, Pickthall).

In Judaism: the Temple and the High Holy Days

In the Temple in Jerusalem, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest pronounced the holy Name once a year in the confession. The Mishnah (Yoma 6:2) says that the priests and people who heard it would kneel, prostrate themselves and fall on their faces, and say a blessing on the name of His glorious kingdom.

Today the synagogue remembers it. In the Musaf service on Yom Kippur, the Avodah ("service") retells the Temple ritual, and in many congregations the people kneel and bow to the floor at the confessions. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur the Aleinu prayer, which says "va-anachnu kor'im", "we bow", is said with a full bow to the floor in many synagogues. Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Yemenite customs differ, and some communities do not go to the floor at all.

Hebrew has more than one word for these gestures. Most people today kneel and touch the forehead to the ground (keri'ah). Often a cloth or paper is laid on the floor. The Torah says "neither shall ye place any figured stone in your land, to bow down unto it" (Leviticus 26:1, JPS 1917), and the rabbis read this as a rule about prostrating on a stone floor outside the Temple. The rabbis give more than one reason for the cloth.

Every weekday morning and afternoon, after the Amidah, many Jews also say Tachanun, a prayer of supplication also called nefilat apayim, "falling on the face", with the head bowed on the arm. It is left out on Shabbat and festivals.

Karaite Jews, who follow the written Bible, are described as kneeling with the forehead to the ground at set points in prayer.

O come, let us bow down and bend the knee; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;

Psalm 95:6 · JPS 1917

In Christianity: Gethsemane and the Church

At Gethsemane Jesus (peace be upon him) "went forward a little, fell on his face, and prayed, saying, 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire'" (Matthew 26:39, WEB British Edition). Mark says he "fell on the ground" (14:35) and Luke that he "knelt down" (22:41). The Gospels agree on the prayer and differ in the detail of the body.

The Church has kept the gesture in different ways.

• Eastern Orthodox. The great metania is a full prostration, and the small one a bow from the waist. In Great Lent, the Prayer of St Ephrem, "O Lord and Master of my life, give me not a spirit of sloth", is said with prostrations. Prostrations are not made on Sundays or in the fifty days after Easter, which are days of joy.
• Roman Catholic. On Good Friday the priest and deacon prostrate themselves or kneel in silence, and everyone else kneels. A man to be ordained priest lies face down while the Litany of the Saints is sung.
• Coptic Orthodox. Coptic teaching names three kinds of prostration: for worship, for repentance, and for honour, as before a bishop or the relics of a saint.
• Church of England and Free churches. Kneeling is common. Full prostration is rare outside ordination.

Scripture too pictures heaven this way: "the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever" (Revelation 4:10, WEB British Edition).

In Islam: every prayer

Sujud is in every unit of every prayer: forehead, nose, hands, knees and toes on the ground. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) said: "I have been ordered to prostrate on seven bones" (Sahih al-Bukhari 812), and "The nearest a servant comes to his Lord is when he is prostrating himself" (Sahih Muslim 482).

The Qur'an calls all creation to the same act: "And unto Allah maketh prostration whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth of living creatures, and the angels (also) and they are not proud" (16:49, Pickthall). It keeps the gesture for Allah alone: "Do not prostrate to the sun or the moon; but prostrate to Allah Who created them" (41:37). The step-by-step is on the Salah page.

Common ground

• The Hebrew Bible, the Gospels and the Qur'an all describe prophets and believers falling on their faces before God (Genesis 17:3; Joshua 5:14; Matthew 26:39; Qur'an 3:43, 38:24).
• In all three it is an act of humility, thanks and repentance. The Catholic Catechism speaks of the need "to humble oneself" (2097). The Muslim hadith speaks of "the nearest a servant comes to his Lord".
• Each tradition keeps days or seasons when it does not prostrate. The Orthodox do not on Sundays and in the fifty days after Easter, and Jews do not kneel to the floor on ordinary days. So the gesture keeps its force.

More on the shared stories of worship: What is worship? and How we pray.

Next: Friday, Saturday, Sunday.