About First Sajdah

Who it is for

Anyone who has just become Muslim, or is thinking about it, or is coming back after a hard time. And the people beside them: husbands and wives, friends, families, mentors, imams and masjid volunteers.

It is written in plain English for readers in the United States first. Where we give phone numbers or legal information, we say which country they are for.

Who writes it

First Sajdah is written by Hamza Abdul-Tawwaab, a Ḥāfiẓ of the Qurʾān and an Imam, and published by Inheriting Islam LLC. It is a sister site of First Adhān (firstadhan.com), for families welcoming a baby, and Life Is Temporary (lifeistemporary.com), for when someone dies and for planning ahead.

We use AI tools to help with research and drafting. Nothing goes public on an AI’s word: every source is opened and checked, and every page is read and signed off by Hamza before it is published.

How a page goes public

Each page is released on its own, only when it is ready. A page is drafted with its sources, then put through a separate review that looks for wrong attributions, misquoted sources, tone and safety gaps. Every finding is checked against the original source and either fixed or answered. Then Hamza reads the page in full and signs it off or sends it back. Any change after sign-off needs signing off again.

Some subjects need more than an imam’s eye. Some subjects need a specialist as well: safeguarding, mental health, women’s questions and the law. Our masjid welcome pack and mentor kit have been reviewed by Hamza, and a specialist safeguarding review of them is in progress; their safeguarding sections say so, and ask you to follow your masjid’s own policy and local law. Pages that need a specialist and have not had any review are not published. We name those reviewers, and the scope of what each one checked, once they have agreed to be named.

Pages that are not yet signed off are not on the public site at all. Where a part of the site is still being reviewed, we say so and point you to what you can use today.

Every page shows the date it was last checked and its edition.

How we source

Every religious point on a page has a source you can open. Qurʾān references give the sūrah and āyah. Ḥadīth come from sunnah.com; any ḥadīth outside Bukhārī and Muslim carries its grading and the name of the scholar who graded it, and we do not use a weak ḥadīth as proof.

Where a page explains a ruling and the four Sunni schools differ, we give each school from its own books, with volume and page, and we never claim agreement we have not read. If we could not find and read a source ourselves, we leave the point out.

Arabic is copied from its source, never retyped, and the Qurʾān text is the Tanzil text. The English is our own plain rendering of the meaning.

Phone numbers and organisations are checked on their own websites, and dated. We do not endorse the organisations we list.

Not a fatwa

This is a sourced guide, not a fatwa. Where the schools differ, we show each. Follow your masjid, or ask a qualified teacher who knows you.

Nor is it legal, medical or financial advice. Where something needs a professional, we say so.

What we don’t do

No ads and no paid listings, ever. No account. No tracking of you. Any counting of visits is in total only, without cookies, and the privacy page lists every way data moves through this site.

Launch news is sent by email, only if you opt in, with no tracking, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

We never connect people. There is no matching, no introductions, no messages and no comments. We do not receive notes about anyone a masjid or mentor is helping.

This is not an emergency service, and we cannot answer personal messages. If you are in danger, call 911. For crisis support in the US, call or text 988.

We take no donations or zakāh.

What it covers, honestly

First Sajdah is new and deliberately small. It covers the things a new Muslim meets first, and it grows one reviewed page at a time. It will not answer every question, and it does not replace a teacher, a masjid or a friend.

If you find a mistake, have a question about the site, or know a source we should read, write to hello@firstsajdah.com. Every correction is listed on the corrections page by edition. We cannot give personal religious rulings or emergency help by email.

Read next

• Helping someone who has just become MuslimHow to stand beside a new Muslim without pressure: listen first, go one thing at a time, protect their family ties, connect them to a masjid and a mentor, look after yourself, and know when to worry.
• Welcoming a new Muslim: a pack for masajidHow a masjid can welcome someone on the day they take their shahādah and in the weeks after: a checklist for the imam and volunteers, what to put in the printed pack, and the safeguarding basics.