Prostration
Prostration is the gesture of placing one's body in a reverentially or submissively prone position. Typically prostration is distinguished from the lesser acts of bowing or kneeling by involving a part of the body above the knee, especially the hands, touching the ground.
Major world religions employ prostration as an act of submissiveness or worship to an entity or to the Supreme Being, as in the metanoia in Christian prayer used in the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, and in the sujud of the Islamic prayer, salat. In various cultures and traditions, prostrations are similarly used to show respect to rulers, civil authorities and social elders or superiors, as in the Yoruba Idobale, Chinese kowtow or Ancient Greek proskynesis. The act has often traditionally been an important part of religious, civil and traditional rituals and ceremonies, and remains in use in many cultures.
Traditional religious practices
Many religious institutions use prostrations to embody the lowering, submitting or relinquishing of the individual ego before a greater spiritual power or presence.Baháʼí Faith
In the Baháʼí Faith, prostrations are performed as a part of one of the alternatives of obligatory prayer and in the case of traveling, a prostration is performed in place of each missed obligatory prayer in addition to saying "Glorified be God, the Lord of Might and Majesty, of Grace and Bounty". However, if unable to do so, saying "Glorified be God" is sufficient. There are specifics about where the prostration can take place including, "God hath granted you leave to prostrate yourselves on any surface that is clean ..." and "He also condemns such practices as prostrating oneself before another person and other forms of behaviour that abase one individual in relation to another".Buddhism
In Buddhism, prostrations are commonly used and the various stages of the physical movement are traditionally counted in threes and related to the Triple Gem, consisting of:- the Awakened One
- his teaching
- his community of noble disciples.
Christianity
In Oriental Orthodox Christianity and Western Orthodox Christianity, believers prostrate during the seven fixed prayer times; prayer rugs are used by some adherents to provide a clean space for believers to offer their Christian prayers to God, e.g. the canonical hours. Oriental Orthodox Christians, such as Copts, incorporate prostrations in their prayers that are performed facing eastward in anticipation of the Second Coming of Jesus, "prostrating three times in the name of the Trinity; at the end of each Psalm … while saying the ‘Alleluia’; and multiple times" during the forty-one Kyrie eleisons". Syriac Orthodox and Indian Orthodox Christians, as well as Christians belonging to the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, make multiple prostrations at the seven fixed prayer times during which the canonical hours are prayed, thrice during the Qauma prayer, at the words "Crucified for us, Have mercy on us!", thrice during the recitation of the Nicene Creed at the words "And was incarnate of the Holy Spirit...", "And was crucified for us...", & "And on the third day rose again...", as well as thrice during the Prayer of the Cherubim while praying the words "Blessed is the glory of the Lord, from His place forever!". Oriental Catholic and Oriental Protestant rites also use prostrations in a similar way as the Oriental Orthodox Churches.Among Old Ritualists, a prayer rug known as the Podruchnik is used to keep one's face and hands clean during prostrations, as these parts of the body are used to make the sign of the cross.
The Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican Churches use full prostrations, lying flat on the floor face down, during the imposition of Holy Orders, Religious Profession and the Consecration of Virgins. Additionally, in the Roman Catholic Church and United Methodist Church, at the beginning of the Good Friday Liturgy, the celebrating priest and the deacon prostrate themselves in front of the altar. Dominican practice on Good Friday services in priory churches includes prostration by all friars in the aisle of the church. In the Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican churches, partial prostrations can be used in place of genuflections for those who are unable to genuflect. The prostration is always performed before God, and in the case of holy orders, profession or consecration the candidates prostrate themselves in front of the altar which is a symbol of Christ.
File:Greek Altar of Calvary.jpg|thumb|left|260px|Eastern Orthodox pilgrims making prostrations at Golgotha in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem.
In Eastern Orthodox Church, prostrations are preceded by making the sign of the cross and consist of kneeling and touching the head to the floor. They are commonly performed both at specific moments during the services and when venerating relics or icons. However, prostrations are forbidden on the Lord's Day and during Paschaltide in honour of the Resurrection and are traditionally discouraged on Great Feasts of the Lord. During Great Lent, and Holy Week, frequent prostrations are prescribed. Orthodox Christian may also make prostrations in front of people, such as the bishop, one's spiritual father or one another when asking forgiveness Those who are physically unable to make full prostrations may instead substitute metanias.
Hinduism
In Hinduism, eight-limbed and five-limbed prostrations are included in the religious ritual of puja.Islam
In Islam, prostrations are used to praise, glorify and humble oneself in front of Allah and are a vital part of the five obligatory prayers performed daily; this is deemed obligatory for every Muslim whether the prayers are being performed individually or in the congregation. Additionally, the thirty-second chapter of the Qur'an is titled As-Sajdah, while the Arabic word sujud appears about 90 times in the Qur'an, a fact which many Muslim scholars claim to be another example of its significance in Islam.According to a narration of the words and deeds of Muhammad as contained in the collection of hadith of Ibn Majah, Muhammad is reported to have said that "he prayer is a cure for many diseases" and have advised people to perform prostration gracefully.
It is also important to note that in Islam, the prostration to anyone but Allah is absolutely forbidden as it constitutes shirk. Muhammad strictly prohibited Muslims from prostrating before him. Regardless of the circumstances, no Muslim should request or accept prostration from others, as prostration of anyone but Allah is strictly prohibited in Islam.There is an exception to this that is when the individual is forced or coerced
Jainism
In Jainism, there is a great importance placed on prostration, especially when a devotee is in the temples or in front of high souls. It represents the surrendering of ego.Judaism
In Judaism, the Tanakh and Talmudic texts as well as writings of Gaonim and Rishonim indicate that prostration was very common among Jewish communities until some point during the Middle Ages. In Mishneh Torah, Maimonides states full prostration should be practiced at the end of the Amidah, recited thrice daily. Members of the Karaite denomination practice full prostrations during prayers. Traditionally, Orthodox Ashkenazi Jews prostrated during Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, as did Yemenite Jews during the Tachanun part of daily Jewish prayer. Ethiopian Jews traditionally prostrated during a holiday specific to their community known as Sigd. Sigd comes from a root word meaning prostration in Ge'ez, Aramaic, and Arabic. There is a movement among Talmide haRambam to revive prostration as a regular part of daily Jewish worship.Rabbinical Judaism teaches that when the High Priest spoke the Tetragrammaton in the Holy of Holies of the Temple in Jerusalem on Yom Kippur, the people in the courtyard were to prostrate themselves completely as they heard the name spoken aloud.
Judaism forbids prostration directly on a stone surface in order to prevent conflation with similar practices of Canaanite polytheists.