Is Prostration of Recital (sajda al-tilawa) Needed for Listening to or Reading the Translation?

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Question: 

1)Does listening/reading translation necessitates Sajdah At-Tilawah.

2) What if someone knows or realizes that a particular ayat is a verse of prostration, and the person stops reciting it or stops reading its translation.

Answer:

Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

I hope you’re doing well, insha’Allah.

The prostration of recital (sajda al-tilawa) is necessary if one either (a) recites (with one’s tongue) or (b) hears a live recital of a verse of prostration. This is true whether the verse was recited in Arabic or in a translation; if one understood or was reliably told, it was one of the verses of prostration. [Ala’ al-Din Abidin, al-Hadiyya al-`Ala’iyya]

If one listens to a recording of the recitation, the prostration of the recital is not due—as the conscription of it being “recited” live isn’t present. [Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, others] If one wishes to prostrate, one can repeat the verse oneself and then recite.

It is blameworthy to skip or avoid a verse of prostration. These verses command believers to prostrate to the Lord they believe in; or rebuke disbelievers for their refusal to be humble and to prostrate. [Ibn al-Humam/Marghinani, Fath al-Qadir Sharh al-Hidaya; Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

Rather, one should recite the verse. Then, if difficult to prostrate immediately, it is not disliked to delay performing the prostration of recital when there is an excuse. [ibid.]

And Allah is the giver of success and facilitation.

[Shaykh] Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani spent ten years studying with some of the leading scholars of recent times, first in Damascus and then in Amman, Jordan. His teachers include the foremost theologian of recent times in Damascus, the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas (may Allah have mercy on him), as well as his student Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, one of the leading Hanafi fuqaha of the present age. He returned to Canada in 2007, where he founded SeekersGuidance in order to meet the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner. He is the author of Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center