The Turbah

The turbah (also written turba or turbat, and sometimes known as muhr) is a small block of dried and congealed mud (clay-mud) that Muslims put their foreheads on when prostrating (doing sujood) during prayers to God. The word turbah comes from the Arabic word turab meaning dust or mud. The turbah is made from a little straw (or seeds [nisha]) and different types of mud (clays) that stick well together when mixed. The mud mixture is made wet and is put into a mould of any shape - sometimes the shape is circular, sometimes cubical, sometimes elliptical and sometimes the shape is custom-made - and then the mud is compressed into the mould to eliminate the excess water. The mud in the mould is then heated in a hot kiln (oven) until it becomes rock-solid and is suitable for use.

Often you will find that the turbah comes with writing on it, usually in Arabic, and this writing is some sort of Islamic slogan, or the place it was made, or the name(s) of God, or Prophet Muhammed (SAW), or any of the Imams (AS). There are ones with Islamic art designs or images and some that are completely plain and have no writing or art inscribed on them. These art or calligraphy designs protrude out from the surface a little. Often, one side of the turbah has the writing on it and the other side is plain, and the side with the writing on is the side that is meant to be in contact with the floor as the raised part stops the turbah from sliding across the floor and the smooth side is comfortable on the forehead. But, of course, people are free to choose which
side to place their foreheads against.

Some turbahs are able to display the number of prostrations (sujood) and bows (rukuu) done in the prayer so the person doesn't loose their place in prayer. There is a mechanical mechanism in the body of the plastic that moves a disc of card with the symbols on it to display the progress of prayer when the head presses down and applies pressure on the turbah. Then the disc can be reset back to zero after the prayer is completed. This is a very convenient and helpful machine.

The reason the turbah is used is because it is compact, sturdy and isn't messy. It is better to carry-round a solid, clean and small turbah and place it on the carpets in a mosque than to carry-round a bag of dust that needs to be opened and placed carefully on the carpets of the mosque. A bag of dust would be prone to breakage or tearing and not opening it correctly could result in a lot of dust falling onto the mosques' carpets and you would be responsible for cleaning it up. Also, when someone has a wet face (after wudhu) and prostates on a turbah they don't get a muddy forehead, but they do when prostrating on free dust.

Why Prostrate on the turbah?

It is said that Prophet Muhammed (SAW) prostrated (did sujood) on the dust floor of the Mosque (since there was no carpet) and even when he was not in the vicinity of a mosque he would prostrate on the dust of the ground. In other instances the Prophet prayed on a small rug-like square made mainly from straw or palm-leaf. Of course the Prophet never had a solid turbah like the ones shown in the pictures above, but
the creation of a solid turbah is a convenient invention. This invention is very good and can be likened to a sibha (rosary bead) or Harakat (diacritics) in the Quran as it makes life easier. It is not a biddah (innovation). Some people think that a turbah is an innovation, but they do not understand what biddah is.

The turbah does not constitute a biddah because it is not promoting a new belief into the religion but rather simplifying the practicing of a recognised Prophetic tradition that the Prophet Muhammed (SAW) and his companions (RA) practised. The Prophet and his companions prostrated on turab (dust), and Muslims copy them by prostrating on the turbah made of dust. The turbah makes copying the Prophet's sunnah easier, just as Harakat make reading the Quran easier. Even though Harakat were added to the text of the Quran a while after the death of the Prophet, the Muslims accepted it because the Prophet used Harakat in his recitation without them being written down because spoken Arabic naturally has diacritics.
Making life easier is not biddah.


The Prophet made a great effort to not pray on anything except dust or a Khumra, but even with all the evidence and the fact that the Prophet prayed on dust, the great majority of Muslims, especially those who call themselves 'Sunni' Muslims don't pray on dust. We hope to promote the prostration on turbahs in this article, especially for Sunni Muslims, some of whom see prostrating on dust as an act of Shirk and Biddah!!

Are you praying to a stone?

One of the most silly and foolish questions asked is this type of question but people don't realize how stupid the question actually is if only they thought about it for a few seconds. Often the question is asked in a very insulting manner by a person who has already formed a bad preconception of the individual they are accusing. The most common accusations include: You are worshipping the stone. You are committing shirk (adding partners in worship with God; i.e. worshipping more than one God). You believe God lives in that stone. You believe that stone is holy.

• May I remind such accusers that by definition, a person who calls himself a Muslim worships ONLY Allah alone.
• May I remind such accusers that the definition of Shirk is worshipping something considered a 'god' along with Allah, and not just prostration to something inanimate and not considered a god.
• May I remind the accuser that when a person is praying he reads surat al-fatiha and surat al-ikhlas
  and various other things that declare that Allah is one, that he has no partners, etc.
• May I remind the accuser that the turbah is just a block of dried mud, mud taken from the ground, and cannot be anything else and it is not holy or special.
• May I remind the accuser that when he/she prostrates on the carpet I do not accuse him/her of worshipping the carpet made of 'holy' synthetic fibers.
• May I remind the accuser that Allah is supreme and all powerful and cannot be contained in a block of mud! What is this mediocre, small, unimportant bit of dried mud in comparison to the Might, Power and towering Majesty of Allah?!!

What is the evidence for praying on turab?

In this section I will quote a number of hadiths & narrations and sometimes make a few comments so you get a basic idea of the evidences that exist that show praying on a turbah is permissible and recommended. In effect, these evidences should be sufficient for any Muslim to change their practice from praying on a carpet to praying on the turbah or at least a khumra; and if a Muslim refuses to change themselves then only God can guide them after that.

The Prophet (SAW) said: The earth (dust) is made for me a place for prostration (masjid) and a purifier (in tayammum). [Sahih Bukhari, v1, p86, kitab al tayamum; Sahih Muslim, v2, p64, kitab al masjid wa mawadi al salat]

Narrates 'Abdullah bin Shaddad: Maimuna said, "Allah's Apostle was praying while I was in my menses, sitting beside him and sometimes his clothes would touch me during his prostration." Maimuna (his wife) added, "He prayed on a Khumra (a small mat sufficient just for the face and the hands while prostrating during prayers).[Sahih Bukhari 1.376]

Qutaybah informed us and said, 'Abbas reported from Muhammed ibn `Amr, from Sa'id ibn al-Harith, from Jabir ibn Abdullah, who said: When we were performing the dhuhur prayers with the Messenger of Allah (SAW), I picked up a handful of stones (gravely dust) in the palm of my hand, cooling them and shifting them to the other palm, and when prostrating I would place them to put my forehead on. [Sunan Al-Nisa'i (sahih), v2, p204, bab tabrid al-hasa li al sujood 'alayha]

Narrated Mu'aiqib: The Prophet talked about a man leveling the earth on prostrating, and said, "If you have to do so, then do it once." [Sahih Bukhari 2.298]

Narrated Anas bin Sirin: I heard Anas saying, "A man from Ansar said to the Prophet, 'I cannot pray with you (in congregation).' He was a very fat man and he prepared a meal for the Prophet and invited him to his house. He spread out a mat (like a khumra) for the Prophet, and washed one of its sides with water, and the Prophet prayed two Rakat on it." A man from the family of
Al-Jaruid asked, "Did the Prophet used to pray the Duha (forenoon) prayer?" Anas said, "I did not see him praying the Duha prayer except on that day." [Sahih Bukhari 1.639]

The Prophet (SAW) made extra effort to pray on turab where we assume he had the choice to pray on something else and it would have been so much easier for him to pray on something else, but yet he continued to pray on turab:

Narrated Abu Salama from Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri: I asked Abu Sa'id, and he was a friend of mine, (about the Night of Qadr) and he said, "We practiced Itikaf (seclusion in the mosque) in the middle third of the month of Ramadan with the Prophet . In the morning of the 20th of Ramadan, the Prophet came and addressed us and said, 'I was informed of (the date of the Night of Qadr) but I was caused to forget it; so search for it in the odd nights of the last ten nights of the month of Ramadan. (In the dream) I saw myself prostrating in mud and water (as a sign). So, whoever was in I'tikaf with me should return to it with me (for another 10-day's period)', and we returned. At that time there was no sign of clouds in the sky but suddenly a cloud came and it rained till rain-water started leaking through the roof of the mosque which was made of date-palm leaf stalks. Then the prayer was established and I saw Allah's Apostle prostrating in mud and water and I saw the traces of mud on his forehead." [Sahih Bukhari 3.233 & 3.235]

Evidence for prostrating on other than turab

Notice that only when some of the Sahabah were unable to prostrate on turab they prostrated on their clothes... Narrated Anas bin Malik: We used to pray with the Prophet in scorching heat, and if someone of us could not put his face on the earth (because of the heat) then he would spread his clothes and prostrate over them. [Sahih Bukhari 2.299]

But the Prophet was not pleased with this and he used to say to his companions:

"Make your forehead dusty with earth!" [Kanz al-Ummal by Al-Hindi,vol.7, p465, hadith#1981]

Sometimes the Sahabah had started praying before the Prophet had seen them and when the Prophet would see someone prostrate on a part of their turban, he would take the material away from underneath their forehead. [Sunan by Al-Bayhaqi, vol2, p105]

Also, it was seen that other sahabah made an extra effort to pray on turab and didn't use their clothes to
prostrate on:

Qutaybah informed us and said, 'Abbas reported from Muhammed ibn `Amr, from Sa'id ibn al-Harith, from Jabir ibn Abdullah, who said: When we were performingthe dhuhur prayers with the Messenger of Allah (SAW), I picked up a handful of stones (gravely dust) in the palm of my hand, cooling them and shifting them to the other palm, and when prostrating I would place them to put my forehead on. [Sunan Al-Nisa'i (sahih), v2, p204, bab tabrid al-hasa li al sujood 'alayha]

From reading the hadiths about the Prophet and his prostration you will find that the Prophet also did sujood on khumra, but yet this is not made from turab. This is because Allah permitted the prostration on other than turab, but not just anything, as explains Imam Jaafar as-Sadiq (AS) -

Imam Sadiq said: 'The prostration is allowed only on earth, or on what grows from the earth, except that which can be eaten or worn.' [Wasa'il al-Shia, vol.3, ch.1, p591, hadith#1]

This means that we should always aim to pray on turab, but we are permitted to place our heads on something that grows from the ground instead; e.g. grass, leaves of trees, bark, etc. And this also means that we can prostrate on things manufactured from these - things like paper, cardboard, straw mats, etc. But it
is not permitted to do sujood on the leaves of something that can be eaten (e.g. lettuce) or something that can be worn (e.g. cotton).

Conclusion

So the evidence is clear and hopefully you have changed your mind about those who do sujood on the little round stone. They are not worshipping the stone but they are in fact worshipping Allah, and trying to do so by copying the actions of the Prophet (SAW) out of reverence to him, they are following the Sunnah of Muhammed, the Messenger of Allah!

Have no fear of confrontation brothers and sisters and do not pray on the carpet like the others do. I pray in a Mosque with people some of whom consider me to be an infidel (!) because I follow this sunnah but they don't know it is a sunnah. These people sit back and watch you with eagle-eyes asking themselves "why is he worshipping a stone at this Mosque?", but they (almost) never come to ask you the reason. Instead these ignorant people pride themselves into thinking that only what they do is the correct Islam and anything else is incorrect but none of their business, but Islam is not like this. If we see something new to us, perhaps we should ask about it and discover a beautiful sunnah of the Prophet which we never knew about... one example is the Qunoot where a person makes dua within prayer before the second rukua; (A future article will be written on this).

So, next time you go to a mosque, take out your turbah, (or piece of paper) without fear or shame and place your head on turab and pray to your Lord Most High the way the Prophet (SAW) did!