The Nearness of Prostration

The first is that in ṣalāh a person practises one particular sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), one of his glad tidings, in the hadith in which he teaches that a servant draws no nearer to Allah than in prostration, when the heart comes close to Him. This is a singular moment, and because ṣalāh is filled with many prostrations, that nearness of which the Messenger of Allah speaks is experienced again and again within it. It is an honour granted through this one act of worship, sajdah, each time it is performed.