Ruku'
Encyclopedia
Rukūʿ refers to the bowing down following the recitation of the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

 in the standing position while praying according to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic ritual (salah). There is a consensus on the obligatory nature of the ruku. The position of ruku is established by bending over, putting one's hands on one's knees, and remaining in that position until the individual attains "calmness".

In Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali
Abu Hāmed Mohammad ibn Mohammad al-Ghazzālī , known as Algazel to the western medieval world, born and died in Tus, in the Khorasan province of Persia was a Persian Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic....

's book Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship, he wrote about the ruku' by saying:
Bowing (ruku) and prostration (sujud) are accompanied by a renewed affirmation of the supreme greatness of Allah
God in Islam
In Islamic theology, God is the all-powerful and all-knowing creator, sustainer, ordainer, and judge of the universe. Islam puts a heavy emphasis on the conceptualization of God as strictly singular . God is unique and inherently One , all-merciful and omnipotent. According to the Islamic...

. In bowing you renew your submissiveness and humility, striving to refine your inner feeling through a fresh awareness of your own impotence and insignificance before the might and grandeur of your Lord. To confirm this, you seek the aid of your tongue, glorifying your Lord
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

 and testifying repeatedly to His supreme majesty, both inwardly and outwardly.

Then you rise from bowing, hopeful that He will be merciful towards you. TO emphasise this hope within you, you say sami'a-llahu liman hamidah, meaning 'God hears those who give thanks to Him'. Acknowledging the need to express gratitude, you immediately add, Rabbana laka-lhamd - 'Grateful praise to You, our Lord!' To show the abundance of this gratitude, you may also say mil'u-lsamawati wa-mil'ul'ard - 'as much as the heavens and earth contain.

Qur'anic subdivision

The term ruku — roughly translated to "passage", "pericope
Pericope
A pericope in rhetoric is a set of verses that forms one coherent unit or thought, thus forming a short passage suitable for public reading from a text, now usually of sacred scripture....

" or "stanza
Stanza
In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...

" — is also used to denote a group of thematically related verses
Ayah
Ayah or Aayah is the Arabic word for sign or proof:"These are the Ayat of Allah, which We recite to you with truth...

 in the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

. Longer sura
Sura
A sura is a division of the Qur'an, often referred to as a chapter. The term chapter is sometimes avoided, as the suras are of unequal length; the shortest sura has only three ayat while the longest contains 286 ayat...

s (chapters) in the Qur'an are usually divided into several rukus.
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