Tafsir of Al-Hajj 22:77

(O you who believe, bow down and prostrate), meaning: perform the prayer. The prayer is expressed by these two acts because they are its greatest and most excellent pillars. The intent is that their totality is such, which does not negate the superiority of one over the other, nor the superiority of standing, or prostration, over each individual pillar. It is said: the meaning is to be humble before Allah the Exalted and fall down in prostration to Him. It is also said: the intent is the command to bow and prostrate in their legal sense within the prayer; for in the beginning of their Islam, they would sometimes bow in their prayer without prostration, and at other times prostrate without bowing, so they were commanded to perform both acts together within it. This was narrated in al-Bahr, but we have not seen it in any report that can be relied upon; the author of al-Mawahib hesitated regarding it, and al-Farra’ mentioned it without a chain of narration.

(And worship your Lord) with all that He has prescribed for you to worship Him with, as is indicated by the omission of the object. It is said: the meaning is the command to perform the obligatory duties.

His saying, the Exalted: (And do good) is a generalization after specification, or it is specifically about supererogatory acts (nawafil). It is narrated from Ibn Abbas—may Allah be pleased with both of them—that it is a command to maintain ties of kinship and to practice noble character traits.

(That you may succeed): in the position of a state (hal) from the pronoun of the addressees; meaning: perform all of that while you are seeking success through it, not being certain of it or relying upon your deeds.

The verse is a verse of prostration according to al-Shafi’i, Ahmad, Ibn al-Mubarak, and Ishaq—may Allah be pleased with them all—due to the manifest command to prostrate contained within it. This is based on what was narrated from Uqbah ibn Amir—may Allah be pleased with him—who said: I said, "O Messenger of Allah, has the Surah of Al-Hajj been preferred over the rest of the Quran by two prostrations?" He said, "Yes, so whoever does not perform them, let him not recite them." This was also the view of Ali—may Allah ennoble his countenance—Umar, his son Abdullah, Uthman, Abu al-Darda’, Abu Musa, and Ibn Abbas in one of the two narrations from him—may Allah be pleased with them all.

Abu Hanifa, Malik, al-Hasan, Ibn al-Musayyib, Ibn Jubayr, and Sufyan al-Thawri—may Allah be pleased with them all—held the view that it is not a verse of prostration. Ibn al-Humam said: because it is linked with the command to bow, and the convention for such phrasing in the Quran—by induction—is that it is a command regarding what is a pillar of the prayer, such as: "Prostrate and bow" (3:43). When the possibility [of interpretation] arises, the deduction becomes void. As for the hadith narrated from Uqbah, al-Tirmidhi said: "Its chain of narration is not strong," and Abu Dawud and others said the same.

[Al-Alusi] then supported his Imam, al-Shafi’i—may Allah be pleased with him—stating: Bowing is a metaphor for prayer because of its exclusivity to it. As for prostration, since it is not exclusive [to the prayer], it is carried upon its literal meaning due to the generality of the benefit, and because shifting to a metaphorical meaning without a compelling reason or point of subtlety is not permissible, and juxtaposition does not necessitate such a shift. The author of al-Kashf countered this by saying that an objector may say: juxtaposition makes that [metaphorical interpretation] appropriate, and the agreement of both acts in being mandatory—or obligatory according to the two schools—are also among the requirements.

He then returned to the defense, saying: The truth is that the prostration, where it is established, is not among the requirements of that specific verse alone, because the indication of the verse is not restricted to the state of recitation; rather, that is [established] by the action of the Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—or his speech. Thus, there is no impediment to the verse indicating the obligatoriness of the prostration of prayer, while at the same time, prostration is prescribed upon its recitation due to what has been established in the authentic report. In this, if he intended that what is established is an independent evidence for its prescription without the verse having any role, that is a matter regarding which there is what there is, and neither al-Shafi’i nor anyone else has said it. If he intended that the verse points to that just as it points to the obligatoriness of the prostration of prayer, and that what has been established serves to uncover that indication, then that is a claim that the indication is hidden, and a commitment to the view that the command to prostrate is for an absolute request that includes both what is by way of obligation—as in the request for the prostration of prayer—and what is by way of recommendation—as in the request for the prostration of recitation; for it is a Sunnah according to al-Shafi’i—may Allah be pleased with him. Perhaps that is what is certain for him, and there is no harm in it; indeed, there is no escaping it if the hadith is authentic. But you have heard just now what was said regarding it. You may say: it has indeed been strengthened by what Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, Ibn Marduyah, and al-Bayhaqi narrated from Amr ibn al-Aas that the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—recited to him fifteen prostrations in the Quran, three of which are in the Mufassal section, and in Surah Al-Hajj there are two prostrations; and by the practice of many of the Companions—may Allah be pleased with them—which is apparent in being based on hearing it from him—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—or witnessing him perform it.