Short answer
Yes, as the Hebrew Bible shows. Moses bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped. Daniel knelt to pray three times a day. The Mishnah is the rabbis' earliest law book. It describes the Temple on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The priests and people knelt, prostrated and fell on their faces. After the Temple fell, the Talmud forbade prostrating on stone floors outside it. The 12th-century rabbi Maimonides still had worshippers fall on their faces after the Amidah, the standing prayer. His son Abraham added prostrations and called them the way of Israel's prophets. Later custom reduced this to leaning on the arm. Jews still bow in the Amidah, and many kneel face down on Yom Kippur. Karaite Jews, who reject rabbinic tradition, touch their heads to the ground. The Qur'an says Israel's prophets fell down prostrate in tears. Muslims pray that way five times a day.
Full explanation
The Hebrew Bible: faces to the ground
Our page on how Jesus prayed already shows Abraham, Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Elijah falling on their faces. Here are more examples from the Tanakh. That is the Jewish name for the Hebrew Bible, and the verses follow the Jewish translation and numbering. At Sinai Moses bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped. The Hebrew words are vayikod, "bowed his head", and vayishtachu, "worshipped". The Talmud, the rabbis' great record of law and debate, later defines both words. Moses fell down before the LORD for forty days. King Solomon prayed on his knees with his hands spread toward heaven. Ezra the scribe opened the book of the Law in the square and blessed the LORD. All the people fell down with their faces to the ground. In Babylon Daniel knelt three times a day. A psalm prays evening, morning and noon.
“And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.”
“And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water; because of all your sin which ye sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him.”
“And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven.”
“And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered: ‘Amen, Amen’, with the lifting up of their hands; and they bowed their heads, and fell down before the LORD with their faces to the ground.”
“And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house—now his windows were open in his upper chamber toward Jerusalem—and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.”
“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I complain, and moan; And He hath heard my voice.”
| Who | What the Tanakh records |
|---|---|
| Moses at Sinai | He bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped |
| Moses | He fell down before the LORD for forty days |
| Solomon | He prayed on his knees, with his hands spread toward heaven |
| Ezra's people | They fell down with their faces to the ground |
| Daniel | He knelt to pray three times a day |
The Temple: thirteen prostrations
Prostration was also part of worship in the Temple in Jerusalem. When Solomon's Temple was dedicated, the Tanakh says, Israel bowed with their faces to the ground upon the pavement. The Mishnah was put together about 200 CE. It records the later Temple service, and prostration runs through it. On Yom Kippur the high priest spoke the divine name aloud. Then the priests and people knelt, prostrated and fell on their faces. At the daily offering, every trumpet blast brought a prostration. There were thirteen fixed prostrations in the Temple courts, facing its gates. These passages are halakha, that is, Jewish law, describing the Temple. The Mishnah also prays for the Temple to be rebuilt.
“And all the children of Israel looked on, when the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD was upon the house; and they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and prostrated themselves, and gave thanks unto the LORD; ‘for He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever.’”
The Mishnah describes the Temple service on Yom Kippur. The high priest laid his hands on the goat that was sent away and confessed the sins of Israel. When the priests and the people standing in the Temple court heard the divine name, spoken as it is written (shem ha-meforash), come from the high priest's mouth, they knelt, prostrated themselves and fell on their faces. Then they said: "Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever."
The Mishnah describes the daily offering (tamid) in the Temple. When the wine offering was poured, the Levites sang the psalm of the day. At each break in the psalm the priests blew the trumpet, and the people prostrated themselves (ve-hishtachavu ha-am). "For every section a blast, and for every blast a prostration." The mishnah closes with a prayer that the Temple be rebuilt soon.
The Mishnah records that there were thirteen prostrations (hishtachavayot) in the Temple. The households of Rabban Gamliel and of Rabbi Chananya, the deputy high priest, made fourteen. They added one toward the wood store, by a family tradition that the Ark was hidden there. In 6:3 the Mishnah says the prostrations faced the thirteen gates of the Temple court: four north, four south, three east and two west.
After the Temple: limited, not given up
After the Temple fell, prostration was limited, not given up. The Talmud tells a story about Rav, a leading 3rd-century rabbi. On a public fast day in Babylonia, the whole congregation fell on their faces, but Rav did not. One reason given is Leviticus 26:1. Outside the Temple one may not bow down on a stone floor. Another reason is that an eminent man should not fall on his face in public. Maimonides sets down the rule in his law code. He also records the answer Israel found. Synagogues paved with stone were laid with mats or straw, so the face would not touch the stone. So prostration continued after the Temple. What changed was where it was done, how fully, and by whom.
Halakha. Rav (3rd century) came to Babylonia on a public fast. Everyone fell on their faces, but Rav did not. The Talmud gives three reasons. First, the floor in front of him was stone, and a baraita reads Leviticus 26:1: in your land you may not bow down on stone, but you may bow on the stones of the Temple. Second, Rav used to prostrate fully, with hands and feet spread out (pishut yadayim ve-raglayim). Ulla (3rd-4th century) said the Torah forbade only that, and only on a stone floor. Third, Rabbi Elazar (3rd century) said an eminent man (adam chashuv) may not fall on his face unless he would be answered like Joshua (Joshua 7:10). A baraita then defines the words: kidda is falling on the face, keri'a is kneeling, and hishtachava'ah is lying with hands and feet spread out. Abaye and Rava (4th century) only bent their heads to the side.
“Ye shall make you no idols, neither shall ye rear you up a graven image, or a pillar, neither shall ye place any figured stone in your land, to bow down unto it; for I am the LORD your God.”
Halakha. Maimonides rules that the "figured stone" (even maskit) of Leviticus 26:1 is forbidden even when one bows on it to God, because idolaters set a stone before their idol to bow on. Lashes apply only when a man spreads his hands and feet on the stone. In the Temple it is permitted to bow on stone. "For this reason all Israel have the custom" of spreading mats, straw or hay in synagogues paved with stone, between their faces and the stones. One who finds nothing to put between goes elsewhere to prostrate, or bows leaning on his side.
What Jewish prayer keeps today: bowing and falling on the face
Much of this survives in Jewish prayer today. The Amidah is the standing prayer at the heart of each service. It has fixed bows. The Talmud sets them at the start and end of its first blessing and of its thanksgiving blessing, and Jews bow there today. After the Amidah comes Tachanun, a prayer of pleading, also called "falling on the face". In the 12th century Maimonides ruled that the worshipper sits on the ground and falls on his face to the earth. Some, he says, lie fully outstretched, though never on stone. The Shulchan Aruch is the later standard code of Jewish law, from the 16th century. It has the worshipper lean on his arm. Its glosses by Moses Isserles, known as the Rema, give the practice of Ashkenazi Jews, those of Central and Eastern European descent. They forbid anyone to lie with hands and feet spread out.
Halakha. A baraita lists where a person bows in the Amidah: at the start and end of the first blessing (Avot) and of the thanksgiving blessing (Hoda'ah). One who wants to bow at every blessing is taught not to. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi (3rd century) is reported to rule that the high priest bows at every blessing. The king, once he has bowed, does not rise until the end, as Solomon rose "from kneeling on his knees" (1 Kings 8:54). The Talmud then gives the three words: kidda (face to the ground), keri'a (on the knees) and hishtachava'ah (hands and feet spread out).
Halakha. Maimonides describes falling on the face after the Amidah. After he raises his head from the fifth bow, the worshipper sits on the ground, falls on his face to the earth and makes whatever supplications he wishes. He defines the terms: kneeling (keri'ah) is on the knees, bowing (kidda) is on the face, and prostration (hishtachavayah) is spreading out hands and feet until one lies face down on the ground. In this supplication some bow and some prostrate fully, but full prostration on stone is forbidden outside the Temple. An eminent man may not fall on his face unless he knows he is as righteous as Joshua; he only tilts his face a little and does not press it to the ground.
Halakha on "falling on the face" (nefilat apayim), the Tachanun prayer after the Amidah. Paragraph 1: the custom is to lean on one side, on the left arm or, the Rema adds, on the right when tefillin are on the left. Paragraph 8: an eminent man may not fall on his face when praying for the congregation, unless sure he will be answered like Joshua. The Rema adds that no one may fall on his face with hands and feet spread out, even where there is no figured stone. Leaning a little on one's side is permitted. On Yom Kippur, when they fall on their faces, grass is spread to separate them from the floor.
What Jewish prayer keeps today: Yom Kippur
On Yom Kippur many Ashkenazi congregations kneel with their faces to the floor. They do it at the Avodah, the retelling of the Temple service, and at Aleinu, a prayer of praise. The Rema records this custom, at the Mishnah's words "the priests and the people". In Ashkenazi practice the same is done at Aleinu on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. These, like the bows of the Amidah and Tachanun, are real survivals. For those who keep the custom, the face now touches the floor on at most three days a year. These are the two days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Halakha for the Musaf service of Yom Kippur, when the reader recites the order of the Temple service (the Avodah). The Rema records the custom to fall on their faces at "the priests and the people", the words of Mishnah Yoma 6:2, and also at Aleinu. The reader, however, may not leave his place to do so.
In the notes to his translation of the Yom Kippur laws, Brahms explains that prostration was a Temple practice given up after the Temple fell. In the Ashkenazi rite it survived at Aleinu in the Musaf of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur; at other times worshippers simply bow at "we bend the knee". He adds that this was not done in Sephardi communities.
Washing before prayer
Washing before prayer also goes back to the Torah, the five books of Moses. The Torah commands Aaron and his sons, the priests, to wash their hands and feet before they serve at the altar. It is a rule for the priests, not for every worshipper. The rabbis carried washing into daily prayer. Rabbi Yochanan was a 3rd-century teacher in the Land of Israel. He taught about a man who washes his hands, recites the Shema and prays. The Shema is the daily declaration that God (﷾) is One. Such a man is counted as if he had built an altar. His proof is Psalm 26:6, "I will wash my hands in innocency".
“And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat; when they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to cause an offering made by fire to smoke unto the LORD; so they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not; and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.’”
Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba reports in the name of Rabbi Yochanan (3rd century, Land of Israel): whoever relieves himself, washes his hands, puts on tefillin, recites the Shema and prays is counted as if he built an altar and offered a sacrifice on it. The proof is Psalm 26:6, "I will wash my hands in innocency; so will I compass Thine altar". Ravina then tells Rava (4th century) of a scholar from the Land of Israel. He taught that one who has no water may wipe his hands with earth, a stone or a chip of wood. Rava agreed: the verse says "in innocency", that is, with anything that cleans.
“I will wash my hands in innocency; so will I compass Thine altar, O LORD,”
Two Jewish witnesses: the Karaites and Abraham Maimonides
Two Jewish witnesses point the same way. Karaite Jews follow the Tanakh without the rabbis' oral law, and they pray much as the Tanakh describes. Reporters have visited Karaite synagogues in Israel and California. There, shoes come off at the door and the floor is laid with rugs. Worshippers wash their hands, kneel and touch their heads to the ground. Abraham Maimonides (1186-1237) was the son of Moses Maimonides and head of Egyptian Jewry. He brought prostration, kneeling and washing of the feet back into his circle's prayer. Opponents called them gentile customs and denounced him to the Muslim authorities. His answer was that these were the ways of Israel's prophets. In his view the Sufis, Muslim mystics devoted to prayer, had kept them. Israel, in exile, had let them go.
A report on Congregation B'nai Israel in Daly City, California, the Karaite synagogue near San Francisco. Worshippers take off their shoes before entering, as Moses did at the burning bush. In front of the pews is an open space covered in rugs, where some sit or kneel. When they bow, they touch their heads to the ground.
A report on the Karaite synagogue in Beersheba. Worshippers leave their shoes in an anteroom, wash their hands, and go into a sanctuary laid with carpets, with only a few chairs at the back for the elderly. There they bow toward the ark.
Fenton describes the prayer reforms of Abraham Maimonides (1186-1237), son of Moses Maimonides and head of Egyptian Jewry. They included washing the feet before prayer, standing in rows, kneeling and bowing, and raising the hands in supplication. Opponents called them gentile customs and even denounced him to the Muslim authorities. Abraham held that he had recovered practices of Jewish origin, kept by the Sufis but forgotten by Jews in the hardships of exile.
A study of Abraham Maimonides and his pietist circle. It sets out his prayer reforms, including prostrations and kneeling in the synagogue and care over washing before prayer. His defence rested on biblical precedents, read as the ways of the prophets, which Jews had forgotten and were now to reinstate.
The Qur'an: the prophets fell down prostrate
The Qur'an tells the same story from its side. It names the prophets of the line of Abraham and Israel. When God's (﷾) signs were recited to them, it says, they fell down prostrate and in tears. It praises some of the People of the Book, the Jews and Christians, who recite God's (﷾) signs through the night and prostrate themselves. It says that those given knowledge before the Qur'an fall on their faces when it is recited. It told Mary to prostrate and bow with those who bow. So the Qur'an does not present the Muslim prayer as new. It presents it as the prayer of the prophets, restored.
“Those were some of the prophets on whom Allah did bestow His Grace,- of the posterity of Adam, and of those who We carried (in the Ark) with Noah, and of the posterity of Abraham and Israel of those whom We guided and chose. Whenever the Signs of (Allah) Most Gracious were rehearsed to them, they would fall down in prostrate adoration and in tears.”
“Not all of them are alike: Of the People of the Book are a portion that stand (For the right): They rehearse the Signs of Allah all night long, and they prostrate themselves in adoration. They believe in Allah and the Last Day; they enjoin what is right, and forbid what is wrong; and they hasten (in emulation) in (all) good works: They are in the ranks of the righteous. Of the good that they do, nothing will be rejected of them; for Allah knoweth well those that do right.”
“Say: "Whether ye believe in it or not, it is true that those who were given knowledge beforehand, when it is recited to them, fall down on their faces in humble prostration, "And they say: 'Glory to our Lord! Truly has the promise of our Lord been fulfilled!'" They fall down on their faces in tears, and it increases their (earnest) humility.”
“"O Mary! worship Thy Lord devoutly: Prostrate thyself, and bow down (in prayer) with those who bow down."”
But didn't Islam change its prayer too?
A Jewish reader may answer that Islam also changed its prayer. At first the Prophet (ﷺ) and his followers in Medina prayed toward Jerusalem, for sixteen or seventeen months. Then the direction was turned to the Kaaba, the sacred house in Mecca. The Qur'an records the turn in 2:144, addressed to the Prophet (ﷺ) in Medina. The Qur'an gives the reason: to show who would follow the Messenger (2:143). It also says east and west belong to God (﷾), and wherever one turns, there is the presence of God (﷾). The difference is where each change comes from. Islam's change is in the Qur'an itself, within the Prophet's (ﷺ) lifetime. It turned the direction. The bowing and prostration stayed as they were. Judaism's reduction came after the Temple. It came through the rabbis' reading of Leviticus 26:1 and, over the centuries, through custom. The prophets' prostration is what the Qur'an kept.
Al-Bara ibn Azib reports that after arriving in Madinah the Prophet (ﷺ) prayed facing Jerusalem for sixteen or seventeen months, until the direction of prayer was turned to the Kaaba.
“We see the turning of thy face (for guidance to the heavens: now Shall We turn thee to a Qibla that shall please thee. Turn then Thy face in the direction of the sacred Mosque: Wherever ye are, turn your faces in that direction. The people of the Book know well that that is the truth from their Lord. Nor is Allah unmindful of what they do.”
“Thus, have We made of you an Ummat justly balanced, that ye might be witnesses over the nations, and the Messenger a witness over yourselves; and We appointed the Qibla to which thou wast used, only to test those who followed the Messenger from those who would turn on their heels (From the Faith). Indeed it was (A change) momentous, except to those guided by Allah. And never would Allah Make your faith of no effect. For Allah is to all people Most surely full of kindness, Most Merciful.”
“To Allah belong the east and the West: Whithersoever ye turn, there is the presence of Allah. For Allah is all-Pervading, all-Knowing.”
Halakha. Rav (3rd century) came to Babylonia on a public fast. Everyone fell on their faces, but Rav did not. The Talmud gives three reasons. First, the floor in front of him was stone, and a baraita reads Leviticus 26:1: in your land you may not bow down on stone, but you may bow on the stones of the Temple. Second, Rav used to prostrate fully, with hands and feet spread out (pishut yadayim ve-raglayim). Ulla (3rd-4th century) said the Torah forbade only that, and only on a stone floor. Third, Rabbi Elazar (3rd century) said an eminent man (adam chashuv) may not fall on his face unless he would be answered like Joshua (Joshua 7:10). A baraita then defines the words: kidda is falling on the face, keri'a is kneeling, and hishtachava'ah is lying with hands and feet spread out. Abaye and Rava (4th century) only bent their heads to the side.
Muslims keep it five times a day
Muslims keep that prayer today. The Qur'an commands the believers to bow and prostrate, and to wash face, arms and feet before prayer. It asks of every worshipper the washing of hands and feet that the Torah asked of the priests. The Prophet (ﷺ) taught five prayers a day and told his followers to pray as they saw him pray. So every Muslim, several times a day, does what the Tanakh records of Moses and Ezra's people. The heart comes first: the Qur'an praises those who are humble in their prayers. But the body bows with it, as it did in the Temple courts.
“O ye who believe! bow down, prostrate yourselves, and adore your Lord; and do good; that ye may prosper.”
“O ye who believe! when ye prepare for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands (and arms) to the elbows; Rub your heads (with water); and (wash) your feet to the ankles. If ye are in a state of ceremonial impurity, bathe your whole body. But if ye are ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from offices of nature, or ye have been in contact with women, and ye find no water, then take for yourselves clean sand or earth, and rub therewith your faces and hands, Allah doth not wish to place you in a difficulty, but to make you clean, and to complete his favour to you, that ye may be grateful.”
Talha ibn Ubaydullah reports that a man from Najd asked the Prophet (ﷺ) about Islam. He was told: five prayers in a day and a night, the fast of Ramadan, and zakah, with anything more being voluntary. The man left saying he would do no more and no less, and the Prophet said he would succeed if he was telling the truth.
Malik ibn al-Huwayrith reports that he and other young men stayed with the Prophet (ﷺ) for twenty days. When he sent them home to teach their families, he told them: pray as you have seen me praying.
“The believers must (eventually) win through,- Those who humble themselves in their prayers;”
Reply by reply
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 621:4 — Joseph Karo, with the glosses of Moses Isserles (the Rema), section 621, paragraph 4
Halakha for the Musaf service of Yom Kippur, when the reader recites the order of the Temple service (the Avodah). The Rema records the custom to fall on their faces at "the priests and the people", the words of Mishnah Yoma 6:2, and also at Aleinu. The reader, however, may not leave his place to do so.
Cited for
Nothing was lost. Jews bow in every Amidah, fall on the face in Tachanun, and kneel with the face to the floor on Yom Kippur.
The response
That is why this page says "reduced", not "lost". The Temple's thirteen prostrations belonged to the Temple, and Jews pray for its return. But prayer outside the Temple changed too. Why did Rav not fall on his face? One answer in the Talmud is that his custom was to lie fully outstretched, while his congregation only fell on their faces. Maimonides still had worshippers sit on the ground and fall on their faces to the earth after the Amidah. The Shulchan Aruch now has them lean on the arm. Where communities keep this custom today, the face touches the floor on at most three days a year. These are Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Muslims do not lie outstretched: the Prophet (ﷺ) taught prostration on the forehead, hands, knees and toes. In Islam the forehead goes to the ground in every prayer, every day.
Where it lands — Judaism kept the bow. On at most three days a year, it also kept the face to the floor. Islam puts the forehead to the ground in every prayer.
Leviticus 26:1 — Torah, Vayikra, chapter 26, verse 1
“Ye shall make you no idols, neither shall ye rear you up a graven image, or a pillar, neither shall ye place any figured stone in your land, to bow down unto it; for I am the LORD your God.”
Cited for
The Torah itself restricts bowing down outside the Temple. When Jews do not prostrate on a synagogue floor, they are obeying Leviticus 26:1, not losing anything.
The response
The verse forbids a figured stone set up to bow on, which Maimonides explains as an idolaters' custom. The Talmud permits the Temple's stones. Maimonides records that Israel laid mats on stone floors so that they could still prostrate. One answer in the Talmud is that Rav used to prostrate fully. Daniel knelt in Babylon, and Ezra's people fell on their faces in a city square. Like Jews, Muslims bow to no image or stone, and they pray on mats or clean ground, as Maimonides records Israel did.
Where it lands — Leviticus 26:1 governs what one bows on. It does not forbid putting the face to the ground before God (﷾).
Genesis 23:7 — Torah, Bereshit, chapter 23, verse 7
“And Abraham rose up, and bowed down to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth.”
Cited for
Bowing to the ground was the ancient courtesy, shown to kings and elders as well as to God. Posture is custom, not command, and a shared gesture proves nothing about Islam.
The response
Islam does not argue from the gesture alone. In the Tanakh people also bowed to others: Abraham bowed down to the people of the land. The Qur'an commands prostration to God (﷾) alone, not to anything He created. This page's point is narrower. The Qur'an says its prayer is the prophets' prayer. The Tanakh and the Mishnah show what that prayer was: washing, bowing, kneeling, the face on the ground before God (﷾), at set times. The Prophet (ﷺ) in Arabia taught that prayer, and Muslims have kept it every day since.
Where it lands — The claim is not that a posture proves Islam, but that the Qur'an kept the prophets' prayer to God (﷾) alone.
Qur'an 96:19 — Surat al-Alaq (The Clot), verse 19
“Nay, heed him not: But bow down in adoration, and bring thyself the closer (to Allah)!”
Cited for
Muhammad (ﷺ) copied Jewish prayer from the Jews he met in Arabia, in Medina or before. The likeness proves borrowing, not a return to the prophets.
The response
Prostration was commanded in Mecca, before the Prophet (ﷺ) moved to Medina. It came in one of the Qur'an's earliest chapters: "bow down in adoration, and bring thyself the closer". So the Muslim prostration did not begin in Medina. Nor does the Muslim prayer follow the synagogue's order. It has no Amidah blessings and no Torah reading, and it needs no quorum of ten. What it shares is older: the priests' washing of the feet, kneeling, and the face on the ground. That is the Qur'an's claim: the prophets' prayer restored, not a neighbour's copied. Abraham Maimonides, a learned Jew, saw the same likeness and traced it to Israel's prophets.
Where it lands — The Muslim prayer matches the prophets and the Temple, not the synagogue of its day.
Hosea 14:2-3 — Nevi'im, Hoshea, chapter 14, verses 2-3
“Return, O Israel, unto the LORD thy God; For thou hast stumbled in thine iniquity. Take with you words, And return unto the LORD; Say unto Him: ‘Forgive all iniquity, And accept that which is good; So will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips.”
Cited for
Prayer is the service of the heart. Hosea puts words in place of offerings, so the posture is secondary.
The response
Islam agrees that the heart comes first: the Qur'an praises those humble in their prayers. But the rabbis did not treat the body as indifferent. They ruled where to bow in the Amidah. They also counted washing, tefillin, the Shema and prayer together like building an altar. (Tefillin are small leather boxes holding Torah verses, worn at prayer.) Moses bowed his head to the earth at Sinai. Heart and body together is the prophets' way.
Where it lands — The rabbis' own rulings join the body to the prayer, as the prophets did.
J. The Jewish News of Northern California (2017)
A report on Congregation B'nai Israel in Daly City, California, the Karaite synagogue near San Francisco. Worshippers take off their shoes before entering, as Moses did at the burning bush. In front of the pews is an open space covered in rugs, where some sit or kneel. When they bow, they touch their heads to the ground.
Cited for
The Karaites and Abraham Maimonides both lived under Islam. Their prostrations show Islamic influence on Jews, not a survival of the prophets' prayer.
The response
The Karaite movement took shape in the 8th and 9th centuries, under Islamic rule. Abraham Maimonides drew openly on the Sufis' example. So this page does not rest on their antiquity. Their witness is simpler. Reading the Tanakh without the rabbis' rulings, Karaites pray kneeling, with the head on the ground. Abraham Maimonides defended the same from the Tanakh. The source of that prayer is Moses, Ezra's people and the Temple, and the Tanakh shows it directly.
Where it lands — Whoever kept it, the form is the prophets', and the Tanakh itself shows it.
Encyclopedia of Religion (2005), "Maimonides, Abraham"
Fenton describes the prayer reforms of Abraham Maimonides (1186-1237), son of Moses Maimonides and head of Egyptian Jewry. They included washing the feet before prayer, standing in rows, kneeling and bowing, and raising the hands in supplication. Opponents called them gentile customs and even denounced him to the Muslim authorities. Abraham held that he had recovered practices of Jewish origin, kept by the Sufis but forgotten by Jews in the hardships of exile.
Cited for
Abraham Maimonides was copying the Sufis, as his opponents said, and most of Egyptian Jewry rejected his reforms.
The response
His opponents said so, and most of the community did not follow him. But he was the head of Egyptian Jewry and Maimonides' son, and he defended them from the Tanakh. He read them as the practices of Israel's prophets. So a leading rabbi saw in the Sufis' prostration the prayer of Israel's prophets, which he wanted Israel to take back.
Where it lands — A leading medieval rabbi traced the prayer Muslims keep to Israel's prophets.
Sahih al-Bukhari 40 — Kitab al-Iman (Book of Belief), hadith 40
Al-Bara ibn Azib reports that after arriving in Madinah the Prophet (ﷺ) prayed facing Jerusalem for sixteen or seventeen months, until the direction of prayer was turned to the Kaaba.
Cited for
Islam changed its own prayer too. Muhammad (ﷺ) prayed toward Jerusalem and then turned to Mecca.
The response
The change is in the Qur'an itself, made within the Prophet's (ﷺ) lifetime. The Qur'an says east and west belong to God (﷾), and wherever one turns, there is the presence of God (﷾). It turned the direction, and the bowing and prostration did not change. Judaism's reduction came later, through the rabbis' reading and, over the centuries, custom.
Where it lands — Islam's change came by revelation and altered the direction, not the prostration.
Perspectives
Rabbinic Judaism
Prayer is the service of the heart, and since the Temple fell it stands in place of the offerings. The Temple's prostrations will return with the Temple, for which Jews pray every day. The body still takes part. Jews bow in the Amidah, fall on the face in Tachanun, and many kneel with the face to the floor on Yom Kippur. Full prostration on stone outside the Temple is restricted by Leviticus 26:1, as the Talmud and the codes rule. Nothing of the prophets' faith has been lost.
The Talmud reads Leviticus 26:1 as forbidding full prostration on a stone floor outside the Temple. Maimonides makes it law.
Rebuttal
Granted: the verse governs what one bows on, not whether the face goes to the ground. Maimonides records that Israel laid mats on stone floors so that they could still prostrate. Muslims likewise pray on mats or clean ground. They bow to no image or stone.
The Talmud fixes bowing in the Amidah, and the codes keep falling on the face in Tachanun.
Rebuttal
Granted, and this page counts them as real survivals. But Maimonides had the worshipper fall on his face to the earth. The Shulchan Aruch has him lean on his arm. In Islam the forehead goes to the ground in every prayer.
Ashkenazi Jews still fall to the ground on Yom Kippur at the Avodah and at Aleinu.
Rebuttal
True, and that is why this page says "reduced", not "lost". For those who keep the custom, the face touches the floor on at most three days a year. In Islam the forehead touches the ground in every prayer, five times a day.
The prophet Hosea calls words of prayer the offering of the lips. So, they say, prayer of the heart takes the place of the offerings.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that the heart comes first: the Qur'an praises those humble in their prayers. But Hosea puts words in place of bullocks, not in place of bowing. Daniel knelt to pray in Babylon, far from the Temple. The rabbis still fixed the bows of the Amidah.
Karaite Judaism
Karaites follow the Tanakh without the rabbis' oral law. They pray much as the Tanakh describes, with shoes off, on rugs, kneeling and bowing to the ground.
Karaite synagogues in Israel and California still pray this way. Worshippers remove their shoes, wash their hands, kneel and bow with their heads to the ground.
Rebuttal
True, and it supports this page. Reading the Tanakh without the rabbis' rulings, Karaites pray kneeling with the head on the ground. The Qur'an says the prophets fell down prostrate, and Muslims do so in every prayer.
The Islamic perspective
The prayer taught by the Prophet (ﷺ) is the prayer of Moses and the prophets. It begins with washing, then bows, kneels and puts the face on the ground before God (﷾). Rabbinic custom reduced it over the centuries; Islam keeps it every day.
The Tanakh records Moses bowing to the earth and falling down before the LORD. It records all Israel with their faces to the ground.
The Mishnah records prostration as part of the Temple service, on Yom Kippur and at the daily offering.
After the Temple, the Talmud forbade lying outstretched on stone outside it. Maimonides still ruled that worshippers fall on their faces to the ground. Later custom reduced this to leaning on the arm, with the face to the floor on at most three days a year.
Abraham Maimonides called prostration and washing the ways of Israel's prophets, kept by the Sufis.
The Qur'an says the prophets of the line of Abraham and Israel fell down prostrate in tears.
The Qur'an commands washing, bowing and prostration, and the Prophet (ﷺ) taught five daily prayers.