# Is a prayer mark on the forehead a sign of piety in Islam?

*Why do some Muslims burn a prayer mark into their forehead?*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7najzrtcnz0/s/1/
- Date: 2019-10-11 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Sajdah Mark on Forehead | Mufti Abu Layth (0:01–4:10)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NAjZrtcNZ0&t=1s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7najzrtcnz0/

**Topics:** Prayer; Tafsir and verse study

**Question as asked:** Why do some Muslims rub or burn their forehead in prayer?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** A burn mark on the forehead from prostration has nothing to do with Islam and is not a sign of piety. The verse about the believers' mark on their faces refers to a glow of commitment, and an early report rebukes a man who bore such a mark.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says that a burn mark on the forehead from prostration has nothing to do with Islam and is not a sign of piety, and that the verse about the believers' mark on their faces refers to a radiance and visible commitment rather than a burnt forehead.

**Evidence, his words at 0:37:** “now this is this is nothing to do with Islam okay this is ridiculous it's a misunderstanding it's a misconception” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NAjZrtcNZ0&t=37s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth reads the question of why some Muslims rub or burn their forehead in prayer, and jokes about the marks some people carry. He explains that the marks come from rubbing the forehead across the ground in sujud, and says this has nothing to do with Islam: it is a misconception. He says al-Qurtubi discusses it in his tafsir under the verse that the believers' mark is on their faces, which he says meant a radiance, a glow and a visible sense of commitment, not a burnt forehead, though some people understood it as the latter and began doing it in the time of the salaf. He recounts a report, which he attributes tentatively to a figure whose name is unclear in the recording [?], in which a man who had met the companions saw someone with a mark he compared to a camel's knee and told him that he had reached eighty years of age and met many great people, none of whom had this on their forehead, asking whether foreheads had become heavier or the earth harsher. Mufti concludes that people should avoid burning their foreheads and that it is not a sign of piety.

## Sources and names cited

- Quran 48:29 (their mark is on their faces from the trace of prostration) [?] (reference uncertain; possibly https://quran.com/48/29)
- al-Qurtubi
- report: i have reached eighty years and met the companions none of them had this mark on the forehead have the foreheads become heavier or has the earth become harsher
- sujud

## Transcript (machine tier, 0:01–4:10)

[0:01] right now why do some Muslims rug why do some Muslims rug burn their forehead in prayer you know you see some people and they've got like a hole like a camouflage they've got like a hole I don't know like a special a SWAT team operation going on on their forehead and you're like what the hell has happened to your forehead did you not even sandpaper did you get one of those

[0:37] grinding machines in just new right so now they so people get these kind of burn marks because when they do such that they will like let's say they'll instead of doing they'll go like they'll start over here and then the stop like rubbing across burning their forehead now this is this is nothing to do with Islam okay this is ridiculous it's a misunderstanding it's a misconception this is in fact let me tell you something you know the seller

[1:17] people like a man ought to be they speak about this he brings this in his stuff seed under things like the verse was Seema whom fee would you him so Allah speaks about there will be people who believe in online is messenger and you will see in their faces see man that they they that they kind of sign is in their faces but what this meant was are like a kind of rate of radians a glow it meant a sense of commitment you will see the passion in their eyes this is what it meant so what some people understood

[1:56] this to mean is oak it meant the the burnt forehead now so in the time of the seller they started to do this so if I'm hood to be brings a narration from some of the terrain right and some of the Sahaba so I some of this sold the seller and I believe there's a particular one I think it may have been at a berry so this is somebody who met the Companions he sees someone and they've got this big burnt-out mark over there so they used to refer to as a rocket bottle by the

[2:34] the me cap of a camel so he says to him now what's this nikka camels knee cap doing lucky they never camel but this camel knee cap they said what's this camel knee cap doing on your forehead and right so the person said oh this is because of my such does my prostration so this guy says to him well ye I've

[3:12] reached 80 years of age that this is the turban saying to him I've become 80 years old yeah like I've met many great people before you like as in you know from the Sahaba none of them had this in their foreheads he says and he say and he says to this person he says follow a dream a sock all at Emeril's I'm Russian until he says the Lord knows have the foreheads of the heads just got heavier or has the earth become harsher because those who went before you were so much

[3:50] more powerful so much more you know so much more achieving in this theme and they never had anything like this so yeah so these things people avoid kind of burning your foreheads and it's not a sign of piety cool

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 7NAjZrtcNZ0/s/1. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7najzrtcnz0/s/1/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.