سجدto become lowly/self-abasing, per Ibn Fāris (root sjd)

'Women sujud (نساء سجد)': languid-eyed women. He [a poet] said: "And he inclined toward dark-eyed women with lowered, languid eyes (sujud)." A woman described as sājida (ساجدة) is sājiya (ساجية) [calm, still-eyed]. And His saying, Exalted is He: "And that the mosques (al-masājid) are for God" (Quran 72:18). Al-masjid is a comprehensive noun encompassing al-masjid, used wherever prostration continues [to occur] once a place has been designated for that purpose; as for al-masjid meaning a tract of ground, it is the very spot of prostration itself. Al-isjād (الإسجاد) is the maintaining of a steady gaze together with stillness.

Sajada (سجد): to submit/be humbled. He [the poet] said: "In a throng where the piebald [horses] go astray amid its enclosures, you see the hillocks there bowed down (sujjad) before the hooves." From this comes the prostration (sujūd) of the prayer, which is the placing of the forehead on the ground. The noun is al-sajda (السِّجْدة), with kasra, and [hence] Sūrat al-Sajda. Abū 'Amr: asjada (أسجد) the man: he lowered his head and bent down. Ḥumayd ibn Thawr said, describing women: "The excess parts of their nose-reins bowed down (asjadat) — like the bowing (sujūd) of Christians to their lords." He means: when they departed and twisted the excess of their camels' nose-reins around their wrists, [the reins] bowed down toward them. A Bedouin of Banū Asad recited: "They said to it, 'Bow (asjid) for Laylā,' so it bowed (asjada)" — meaning the camel, i.e., it lowered [its neck] for her so she could mount it. Al-sajjāda (السجادة): the prayer-mat (khumra), and also the mark of prostration on the forehead. Al-isjād (الإسجاد): maintaining a steady gaze and making the eyelids languid/half-closed. Kuthayyir said: "Did it deceive you about us, that this is [so] with us, and the languid gaze (isjād) of your hunting eyes is profitable?" As for the poet's saying: "He brought it, like the dirhams of al-isjād" — these were dirhams bearing images to which they used to bow. Al-masjid and al-masjid [both vocalizations]: singular of al-masājid. Al-Farrā' said: everything of the pattern fa'ala–yaf'ulu, like dakhala–yadkhulu, has its maf'al form with fatḥa, whether as a place-noun or a verbal noun, with no distinction made between them — e.g., 'dakhala madkhalan' and 'hādhā madkhaluhu' — except for certain words which they fixed with kasra on the middle radical. Among these: al-masjid, al-maṭli' (place of sunrise), al-maghrib, al-mashriq, al-masqaṭ, al-mafriq, al-majzar, al-maskin, al-marfiq (from rafuqa–yarfuqu), and al-manbit and al-mansik (from nasaka–yansuku). Thus they made the kasra a marker of the noun. Some Arabs, however, may pronounce it with fatḥa as a noun; both 'maskin' and 'maskan' have been transmitted, and we have heard both 'al-masjid' and 'al-masjad,' and 'al-maṭli'' and 'al-maṭla'.' He said: fatḥa is permissible throughout, even if we have not heard it [in every case]. Whatever follows the pattern fa'ala–yaf'ilu, like jalasa–yajlisu, has its place-noun with kasra and its verbal noun with fatḥa, to distinguish the two: you say 'nazala manzalan' with fatḥa on the zāy, meaning 'he descended, a descending'; and 'hādhā manziluhu' with kasra, because you mean the dwelling. This is a distinctive feature of this pattern among its counterparts, since place-nouns and verbal nouns in other patterns all revert to fatḥa on the middle radical, with no such distinction — nothing else takes kasra except the words we have mentioned. Al-masjidān (المسجدان): the Mosque of Mecca and the Mosque of Medina. The poet said: "Yours is the Mosque of God, the two visited sites, and the pebbles — yours is a handful of it, from among..." [entry continues]

The letters sīn, jīm, and dāl (س ج د) form one consistent root indicating lowering/bowing down (taṭāmun) and abasement (dhull). One says sajada (سَجَدَ) when someone lowers/humbles himself, and everything that becomes abased has 'sajada.' Abū 'Amr said: asjada (أسجد) the man — when he lowered his head and bent down. Ḥumayd said: "The excess parts of their nose-reins bowed down (asjadat) — like the bowing (sujūd) of Christians to their lords." Abū 'Ubayda said the same. He said a Bedouin of Banū Asad recited to him: "They said to it, 'Bow (asjid) for Laylā,' so it bowed (asjada)" — meaning the camel, when it lowered its head. As for their saying asjada isjādan (أسجد إسجاداً), meaning to fix one's gaze steadily, this is correct, though analogy would require this to describe a lowered [gaze], not a staring or sidelong glance — as indicated by his verse: "Did it deceive you, concerning me, that your coquetry is with us, and the steady gaze (isjād) of your hunting eyes is profitable?" The 'dirhams of al-isjād' (دراهم الإسجاد) were dirhams bearing images — images of their [the Persians'] kings — and when they saw them they would bow (sajadū) to them; this pertains to the Persians. This is what al-Aswad refers to when he says: "From wine with beads [of foam], sung by a nasal, eloquent voice, he brought it for the dirhams of al-isjād."

Sujūd (السجود) originally means lowering oneself and self-abasement, and this was made an expression for humbling oneself before God and worshipping Him. It applies generally to humans, animals, and inanimate things, and is of two kinds: voluntary prostration, which belongs only to humans, and by which one merits reward — as in His saying: "So prostrate to God and worship" (Quran 53:62), meaning: humble yourselves before Him; and prostration of compulsion (taskhīr), which belongs to humans, animals, and plants, as in His saying: "And to God prostrates whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, and their shadows [too], in the mornings and the afternoons" (Quran 13:15), and His saying: "Its shadows turn from the right and the left, prostrating to God" (Quran 16:48). This is prostration of compulsion — the silent yet eloquent indication alerting [one] that these things are created, the creation of a wise, active Maker. His saying: "And to God prostrates whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth of moving creatures, and the angels [too], and they are not arrogant" (Quran 16:49), encompasses both types of prostration — compulsion and choice. His saying: "And the stars and the trees both prostrate" (Quran 55:6) is by way of compulsion. His saying: "Prostrate to Adam" (Quran 2:34) — it was said they were commanded to take him as a qibla [direction to face]; and it was said they were commanded to humble themselves before him and to look after his interests and those of his offspring — and they obeyed, except Iblīs. His saying: "Enter the gate prostrating" (Quran 4:154), meaning: humbled, submissive. In the Sacred Law, sujūd was made specific to the well-known pillar of the prayer, and to what runs along the same course, such as the prostration of Quranic recitation and the prostration of thanksgiving. It is sometimes used to express the prayer [as a whole], as in His saying: "and after the prostrations" (Quran 50:40), meaning: after the prayers — and they call the mid-morning prayer 'subḥat al-ḍuḥā' and 'sujūd al-ḍuḥā.' [Regarding] "and glorify with praise of your Lord" (Quran 20:130), it was said that prayer is meant by it. Al-masjid: the place of prayer, [so named] with respect to prostration. His saying: "And that the mosques (al-masājid) are for God" (Quran 72:18) — it was said this refers to the earth, since the whole earth has been made a place of prostration and a means of purification, as reported in the ḥadīth; and it was said: al-masājid [here] are the places of prostration [on the body]: the forehead, the nose, the two hands, the two knees, and the two feet. His saying: "that they not prostrate to God" (Quran 27:25), meaning: 'O people, prostrate!' His saying: "and they fell down to him in prostration" (Quran 12:100), meaning: humbled; and it was said that prostration by way of [showing] service/honor was permissible at that time. And the poet's saying: [entry continues]

Al-sājid (الساجد): the upright/standing one, in the dialect of Ṭayyi'. Al-Azharī said: this is not attested except from al-Layth. Ibn Sīda: sajada–yasjudu–sujūdan means he placed his forehead on the ground; and one says 'a people sujjad (سجد)' and 'sujūd (سجود)' [both plurals used]. Concerning His saying, Mighty and Majestic: "and they fell down to him in prostration" — this is a prostration of veneration, not a prostration of worship, since the sons of Ya'qūb did not prostrate to any but God, Mighty and Majestic. Al-Zajjāj said: it was customary at that time, as an act of honoring, to prostrate to the one being honored. He said: it was also said that "they fell down to him in prostration" means "they fell down to God in prostration" [i.e., the pronoun refers to God]. Al-Azharī said: this is the view of al-Ḥasan [al-Baṣrī], but the interpretation more fitting to the apparent sense of the Book is that they prostrated to Yūsuf — as indicated by his earlier dream, when he said: "Indeed, I saw eleven stars, and the sun and the moon; I saw them prostrating to me" (Quran 12:4). The apparent sense of the recitation is thus that they prostrated to Yūsuf in veneration of him, without associating anything with God — as though they had not yet been forbidden from prostrating to other than God, whereas now it is not permissible for anyone to prostrate to other than God. There is another interpretation among the grammarians: that the lām in His saying "and they fell down to him in prostration" and in "I saw them prostrating to me" is a lām of causation. The meaning would then be: "they fell down, because of him, in prostration to God," in thanks for what God had bestowed upon them — reuniting them, accepting their repentance, forgiving their sin, honoring their standing, and granting them relief through Yūsuf, peace be upon him. This is like saying 'I did that li-'uyūn al-nās [for the eyes of the people],' meaning: because of them. Al-'Ajjāj said: "You hear, because of the sandy hollows, when it pools, for the water within them, a gurgling sound." He meant: 'you hear the gurgling of water within them because of the sandy hollows' [i.e., the lām means 'because of']. Concerning His saying, Exalted is He: "And [mention] when We said to the angels, 'Prostrate to Adam'" (Quran 2:34) — Abū Isḥāq said: the prostration is worship directed to God, not worship of Adam, for God, Mighty and Majestic, created only that which possesses reason in order that it worship Him. Al-masjid and al-masjad [both vocalizations]: that in which one prostrates; and in al-Ṣiḥāḥ: the singular of al-masājid. Al-Zajjāj said: every place in which one worships is a masjid — do you not see that the Prophet, God bless him and grant him peace, said: "The earth has been made for me a place of prostration and a means of purification"? Regarding His saying, Mighty and Majestic: "And who is more unjust than one who bars the mosques of God" (Quran 2:114) — the meaning, on this view, is: 'who is more unjust than one who opposes the religion of Islam?' He said: by rule it should not have come on the pattern maf'al, but it is one of the irregular words that came instead on the pattern maf'il [with kasra]. Sībawayh said: as for al-masjid, they made it a proper name for the building, and it did not follow the [regular] fa'ala–yaf'ulu pattern — just as he said of al-midaqq that it is a name for the [stone] pounder, meaning it does not follow the [regular] verbal pattern; for if it did, it would be 'midaqq' [on the tool-pattern], since it is an instrument, and instrument-nouns follow the pattern mif'al, like mikhraz (awl), miknasa (broom), and miksaḥ (sweeper/scraper). Ibn al-A'rābī: 'masjad' (مسجد), with fatḥa on the jīm, [means] the prayer-niche (miḥrāb) of houses; and a place of prayer [entry continues]