Islam Its Belief and Practices - Radical Truth

48 ISLAM ITS BELIEFS AND PRACTICES
iii. Qiyam-i-Tasmf, lit. Standing and declaring
that God hears. The worshipper after Bowing
stands erect. but unlike the former Qiyam
the hands are placed on either side. In the
congregational prayers. while in this posture.
the Imam says aloud: "God hears him who
praises Him." The congregation responds:
"0 our Lord. Thou art praised." When the
prayers are said by a person alone, he himself
recites both these sentences.
iv. Sijda. Prostration. The prostration is made in
such a way that his knees. the toes of his feet.
to the palms of his hands. and the fingers close
each other; the nose and the forehead touch
the ground. The ground should be touched
first with the knees. then with the hands
and next with the nose and the forehead.
The elbows must not touch the ground, nor
the stomach the thigh. nor the thigh the calf
of the leg.
The women. on the contrary. keep all the limbs
of the body together. The order of the
Prostration consists of the fO,llowing:
(a) Takbir-i-Sijda. the Takbir of Prostration.
As the worshipper drops on his knees
in the manner described above he says:
Allah-o-Akbar.
(b) Tasbih-i-Sijda. The Praise of Prostration.
While in the state of prostration he
repeats the following prayer three
times: "Praise be to Thee 0 my Lord
the most High."
v. Qa'da or Jalsa. Sitting Posture. The worshipper
rises from prostration and sinks backward
. THE PRESCRIBED DUTIES 49
upon his heels and places his hands upon his
thighs and he does this in the following
order:
(a) Takbir-i-Jalsa. the Takbir of the Sitting
Posture: As he rises from the prostration
he says Allah-o-Akbar.
(b) Takbir-i-Sijda. the Takbir of Prqstration.
He says Allah-o-Akbar and prostrates
as before.
vi. Sijda, Prostration. The worshipper performs
another prOstration and repeats the TasbQti-Sijda;
"Praise be to Thee. 0 my Lord. the
most High," three or five times.
Here ends the first portion. called Rak'at or
Bow ·of the Namaz. Each Namaz consists of
several such Rak'ats. But no Namaz is of
less than two nor of more than four Rak'ats,
except Witr Namaz which may consist of 3, 5
or 7 Rak'ats. For the second Rak'at the
worhipper continues his Namiiz by rising
after the second prostration of the first
Rak'at and resumes the position of the Qiyam
and uses the following order:
(1) Takbir-i-Qiyam. the Takbir of Standing
Position. He says Allah-o-Akbar as
he rises from the prostration and stands
for his Qiyam.
(2) While in the position of Qiyam he
begins his second Rak'at with Tasmiya
and Sura FatQta (i.e., from i. 3 in the
order of the first Qiyam) and continues
till the second prostration of the second
Rak'at.