Ruku (Bowing)
Bowing from the waist during prayer as a sign of humility.
Ruku (Arabic: ركوع) is the act of bowing from the waist with the hands on the knees and the back straight during prayer. Ruku is an obligatory part of each rak'ah and expresses humility and submission to Allah.
During ruku, one says "Subhana Rabbi al-Azim" (Glory be to my Lord, the Almighty) three times. It is important that the back is straight and the head is level with the back — one should neither raise nor lower the head.
After ruku, one rises to the standing position and says "Sami'Allahu liman hamidah" (Allah hears the one who praises Him), followed by "Rabbana wa lakal hamd" (Our Lord, and to You is all praise). This position is called qawmah and is a brief pause before going down into sajdah.
Related terms
Amr bil-Ma'ruf wa Nahy 'an al-Munkar
Enjoining good and forbidding evil — an Islamic duty connected with prayer.
Qasr (Shortened Prayer)
The permission to shorten the four-rak'ah prayers to two rak'ah during travel.
Jam' bayn al-Salatayn (Combining Prayers)
The Shia practice of praying Dhuhr and Asr together, and Maghrib and Isha together.
Ijtihad (Independent Legal Reasoning)
The independent interpretive effort to derive legal rules from the Islamic sources.
Adhan (Call to Prayer)
The Islamic call to prayer, recited by a muezzin.
Madhhab (School of Law)
An Islamic school of law with its own methodology for legal derivation from the sacred sources.