قعود
Quʿūd
The act of sitting during the salah.
What it means
Quʿūd is sitting in the salah. It is one of the postures of the prayer, along with standing (qiyām), bowing (rukūʿ) and prostration (sujūd). The worshipper sits after the prostrations, and sits again at the end of the unit of prayer to recite the tashahhud and invoke blessings on the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The sitting takes the place of standing for a person who cannot stand. The Quran praises those who remember God standing, sitting and lying on their sides (3:191). Sitting is a part of the structure that the Prophet taught and that Muslims follow in every prayer.
Often misunderstood as
That any rest during prayer is optional, when sitting is a set part of the prayer.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 55, listed as QU‘ŪD. The definition is restated here.