Respected Shaykhs; assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaah. I just want to ask about making all prostrations of Tilaawah (prostration made after reading certain verses of the Quran) together after completing one's recitation of the Quran.

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The prostration of Tilaawah is prescribed for a specific purpose; the Sunnah in this regard is to perform it when it is required only, and it should not be delayed beyond its place. Rather, some scholars held that if the delay is long, it should not be made up for. An-Nawawi wrote, "He should perform the prostration of Tilaawah immediately after reciting the verse or listening to it; if it is delayed and the delay is short, he performs it, but if the delay is long, should he perform it or not? Scholars held two different views in this regard, the most likely correct of which is that it is not performed because it is done because of a specific occurrence, just like the Kusoof prayer (eclipse prayer)."

Some scholars held that it is obligatory to perform the prostration of Tilaawah, like the Hanafis; they held that this obligation is not immediate. The Hanafi Fiqh book Al-Fataawa Al-Hindiyyah reads, "Performing it does not have to be immediate. If someone performs it at any time, he would be performing it and not making up for it, unless it is read during the prayer. If it is read during the prayer, and he delays it until having recited for a long time, then, in this case, it becomes making up for it, and the person is sinful.” [Abridged]

As for combining all the prostrations of Tilaawah to be performed after reciting the whole Quran, we did not find any scholar who said so. Rather, we found scholars who objected to the person who does something similar to that in Ramadhaan after finishing the recitation of the whole Quran in the Taraaweeh prayers, and he explicitly said that this is a Bida‘h (religious innovation). As-Suyooti wrote, "Some started another innovation, which is to combine the verses of the prostration of Tilaawah after concluding the recitation of the Quran in Taraaweeh prayer in the last unit of prayer, so he prostrates with all those praying behind him." [Al-Amr bil-Ittibaa' wan-Nahi 'an Al-Ibtidaa']

Abu Shaamah wrote, "Some also innovated by combining all the verses of prostrations that they read on the night of concluding the recitation of the Quran and the Taraaweeh prayer, and they prostrate with all those led in prayer in all the prostrations." [Al-Baa'ith 'ala Inkaar Al-Bida' wal-Hawaadith]

There is no doubt that all good lies in following the righteous predecessors and that all evil lies in the innovation of the successors.

Allah knows best.