Adhkār before sleep

The narrations give the end of the day a shape of its own: wuḍū, a few passages of the Qur’ān, a count of tasbīḥ, lying down on the right side, and a du‘ā as the last words before sleep. This page sets out that routine as the Sabīl library prints it, explains each step and where it comes from, and adds what the library’s cards say about a bad dream. Each entry is shown from the library with its Arabic, its meaning where the card gives one, and the source and grade the library gives; the narrations behind them are listed by number at the end. Under some verses the page also shows the notes of that edition; they are the edition’s words, not this page’s, and this page has not checked them.

Sleep in the Qur’ān

The Qur’ān speaks of sleep as a taking of the soul: Allah takes the souls at their death, and those that have not died during their sleep, withholding the ones on whom He has decreed death and releasing the others until an appointed term.

The short bedtime du‘ā below speaks in the same terms: in it a person says that in Allah’s name they die and they live.

The bedtime card: the routine in order

The Daily Companion set of the Pocket Companion has a card headed “Bedtime & the night”. It opens with a line labelled “Before sleep · in order”, which gives the whole routine:

• wuḍū;
• Āyat al-Kursī, once;
• al-Ikhlāṣ, al-Falaq and an-Nās into cupped palms, wiped over the body, three times;
• the last two verses of al-Baqarah;
• Sūrah al-Mulk;
• the tasbīḥ, counted 33, 33 and 34;
• then lying on the right side.

For this line the library cites al-Bukhārī, Muslim and at-Tirmidhī with the grade ṣaḥīḥ. Narrations in these books speak of its steps. Al-Barā’ ibn ʿĀzib reports that the Prophet ﷺ told him to make wuḍū as for the prayer when going to bed, and to lie on his right side. ʿĀ’ishah reports that every night, on going to bed, the Prophet ﷺ cupped his hands, blew into them reciting al-Ikhlāṣ, al-Falaq and an-Nās, and wiped over as much of his body as he could, three times. In a narration that al-Bukhārī gives without its full chain, Abū Hurayrah reports that he was told that whoever recites Āyat al-Kursī on going to bed will have a guard from Allah with him, and that no devil will come near him until morning, and that the Prophet ﷺ said the one who told him had spoken the truth. Abū Masʿūd reports that the last two verses of al-Baqarah, recited at night, suffice a person. And ʿAlī reports that when Fāṭimah asked for a servant, the Prophet ﷺ taught the two of them instead to say the tasbīḥ, the taḥmīd and the takbīr, 33, 33 and 34, when they went to bed.

The two bedtime du‘ās

Beneath the routine the card has two du‘ās, both cited to al-Bukhārī with the grade ṣaḥīḥ. The short one is the du‘ā Ḥudhayfah reports the Prophet ﷺ saying when he went to bed, with his hand beneath his cheek. The longer one is the du‘ā al-Barā’ was taught, in which a person submits themselves to Allah, turns their face to Him, entrusts their affair to Him and rests their back upon Him. Its source line calls it the last words before sleep, and adds that whoever dies that night dies upon fiṭrah; in the narration, the Prophet ﷺ tells al-Barā’ to make these his last words.

The card prints only the opening of the longer du‘ā. On screen the app shows it whole, taken from a narration in al-Bukhārī, the book the card cites, and a line beneath it says so. The meaning shown with the whole text is the translation of that narration in an open ḥadīth dataset, which, as the app says there, nobody has checked against the Arabic. The card’s own meaning was written for the shorter text and stays beneath it.

After a bad dream

The card closes with a line for a bad dream, cited to Muslim with the grade ṣaḥīḥ: spit lightly to the left three times, seek refuge from Shayṭān and from what you saw, turn onto the other side, and tell no one.

The Sleeping card of Adab & Akhlāq

The library’s cards on manners have one for sleeping, and it adds a few things to the routine above: dust the bedding three times before lying down; lie on the right side with the hand beneath the cheek; and do not lie face down, which the card calls a posture Allah dislikes. It names the same recitations: Āyat al-Kursī, the last two verses of al-Baqarah, and the three quls blown into the palms. For these lines the library cites al-Bukhārī and Muslim, and Abū Dāwūd and at-Tirmidhī, with the grade ṣaḥīḥ.

Under the label “The last words of the day” the card has the short du‘ā again, and under “On waking” the words said on getting up, both cited to al-Bukhārī. Its last line is on dreams, cited to al-Bukhārī and Muslim with the grade ṣaḥīḥ: for a troubling dream it gives the steps of the bedtime card, and it adds a sentence about a good dream. In al-Bukhārī, Abū Qatādah reports from the Prophet ﷺ that a good dream is from Allah and is told only to one whom the dreamer loves, and that for a dream one dislikes one seeks refuge in Allah from its evil and from Satan, spits three times and tells no one.

Āyat al-Kursī and the last two verses of al-Baqarah

Both cards name Āyat al-Kursī without printing it. The Pocket Companion prints it on a card of its own in the Pocket Adhkār set, as Qur’ān 2:255. That card’s label reads “once after every farḍ”; its source line cites an-Nasā’ī and aṭ-Ṭabarānī with the grade ṣaḥīḥ, and ends with the words “Also before sleep”.

The card prints the verse without a meaning. Here it is with its meaning:

And the last two verses of al-Baqarah, which both cards name:

Where else the library names the night

The poster of morning and evening adhkār, Adhkār after Prayer, has an entry for al-Ikhlāṣ, al-Falaq and an-Nās, three times each, and adds that they are said again before sleep, blowing into the palms and wiping what can be reached of the body. Its source line names Abū Dāwūd and at-Tirmidhī, with the grade ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.

The Qur’ān Companion of the Pocket Companion has a table headed “What to read, and when”: its row for every night lists Āyat al-Kursī, al-Mulk and the last two verses of al-Baqarah, and its row for before sleep the three sūrahs into the palms, wiped over the body three times. My Little Companion, the children’s set, has a card for sleeping and waking, with the short du‘ā, and tells the child to sleep on the right side and to read Āyat al-Kursī with a grown-up.

References

Verses of the Qur’ān, by sūrah and verse, shown above: 2:255; 2:285–286; 39:42. Named in the prose: sūrahs 112, 113 and 114 (al-Ikhlāṣ, al-Falaq, an-Nās) and sūrah 67 (al-Mulk).

Narrations, by collection and number as sunnah.com numbers them: al-Bukhārī by the numbering of Fatḥ al-Bārī; Muslim by Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī’s numbers, with the letter sunnah.com adds where it divides one. The library names the collection on each card; the numbers are the narrations described above.

• Wuḍū before sleep, lying on the right side, and the du‘ā of submission as the last words: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 247.
• The three sūrahs into the palms, three times: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5017.
• Āyat al-Kursī on going to bed: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 2311, given by al-Bukhārī without its full chain.
• The last two verses of al-Baqarah at night: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5009; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 807a.
• The tasbīḥ 33, 33 and 34 at bedtime: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5361; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2727a.
• The short du‘ā, and the hand beneath the cheek: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6314.
• Dusting the bedding: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6320; three times: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 7393.
• A bad dream: spitting to the left three times, seeking refuge, turning over: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2262.
• The longer du‘ā as the app shows it whole: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 7488.
• A good dream and a bad one, and whom to tell: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 7044.

From the Sabīl library: the Pocket Companion, the cards “Bedtime & the night” and “Āyat al-Kursī”, with the table “What to read, and when” and the card for sleeping and waking in My Little Companion, linked; Adab & Akhlāq, the card “Sleeping”; Adhkār after Prayer, the entry for the three sūrahs, linked. The narrations for lying face down, for Sūrah al-Mulk and for Āyat al-Kursī after the prayer are named on those cards by their collections only, and are not described here.

Where to go next

• The Pocket Companion and Adab & Akhlāq can be printed as cards, to keep beside the bed.
• What is said on waking is also on the Pocket Companion’s card Waking & wuḍū. A question about the meaning of another line on that card has not been settled.
• Sūrah al-Mulk and Sūrah al-Baqarah are in the Qur’ān reader.
• Morning & evening has the morning and evening adhkār of the poster, and the tasbīḥ counter keeps the count of 33, 33 and 34.