أَصْبَحْنَا وَأَصْبَحَ الْمُلْكُ للهِ وَالْحَمْدُ للهِ، لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَحَدْهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، لَهُ الْمُلْكُ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ، ربِّ أَسْأَلُكَ خَيْرَ مَا فِي هَذَا الْيَومِ وَخَيْرَ مَا بَعْدَهُ، وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا فِي هَذَا الْيَومِ وَشَرِّ مَا بَعْدَهُ، رَبِّ أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ الْكَسَلِ، وَسُوءِ الكِبَرِ، رَبِّ أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ عَذَابٍ فِي النَّارِ وَعَذَابٍ فِي الْقَبْرِ
We have entered a new day and with it all dominion is Allah’s. Praise is to Allah. None has the right to be worshipped but Allah alone, Who has no partner. To Allah belongs the dominion, and to Him is the praise and He is Able to do all things. My Lord, I ask You for the goodness of this day and of the days that come after it, and I seek refuge in You from the evil of this day and of the days that come after it. My Lord, I seek refuge in You from laziness and helpless old age. My Lord, I seek refuge in You from the punishment of Hell-fire, and from the punishment of the grave.
To be recited once
Brief Commentary
- In the evening, we change the word أصبحنا to أمسينا, so we say أمسينا وأمسى الملك لله. We also swap day with night, so we say رب إني أسألك خير ما في هذه الليلة وخير ما بعدها وأعوذ بك من شر هذه الليلة وشر ما بعدها
- This doesn’t change the meaning much, but it makes it more appropriate that we say the supplication by mentioning our current period of the day, which is the evening
- The Prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) is reported to have said this supplication in the morning and evening [1]
- We begin the supplication by affirming that the kingdom belongs to Allah, therefore He is the true King who has ownership over everything. The knowledge of this increases the veneration we have for Allah
- After affirming the kingdom belonging to Allah, we praise Him. This a deserving praise as we are happy and pleased that everything belongs to Him whilst He is the Just and Merciful creator, so we are living in a kingdom ruled by the King with these qualities, and this is something deserving of praise
- After praising Allah for being our King, we negate any partners for Him, as this is the most complete form of Kingship, in that He is the one true Creator and King, who has no partners, and needs no partners
- In the first part of the supplication, we affirm the Kingdom and praise for Allah, but it is worded in a way which doesn’t stipulate exclusivity, however, after reminding ourselves that He is Allah who has no partners, we again affirm Kingship and praise to Him, but this time we affirm it exclusively to him. This is done in the Arabic language when we say له الملك وله الحمد (To Him belongs to the dominion, and To Him is the praise)
- Since the dominion and the praise belongs exclusively to Him, we remind ourselves of a great reason for this, which is that He is able to do all things
- The first half of this supplication consists wholly of the praise of Allah so that we increase our veneration of Him, and come closer to Him with good deeds before asking Him our need, which is what the second part of the supplication consists of
- In the second part of the supplication, we ask Allah for the good of this day/night, and the good of what comes after it. We don’t specify what good we want; therefore we are asking Allah for all the good that there is. This includes the good with regards to this life e.g. peace, security, safety etc. and more importantly, the good with regards to the hereafter e.g. praying the night prayer, reciting the Qur’an etc.
- Similarly, we seek refuge in Allah from all the evil of this day/night and the evil of what comes after it, which includes the evils and harm related to this life and the hereafter
- We seek refuge in Allah from laziness, and helpless old age, as both are preventions from doing good, so we want to save ourselves from anything that stands in the way between us and coming closer to Allah. Laziness is something that we have control over that prevents us from doing good, and old age is something that we have no control over that prevents us from doing good, so we seek refuge in Allah from the things that are within our control, as well as those outside our own control
- Finally, we seek refuge in Allah from the punishment of Hellfire, as it is the most severe form of punishment, and from the punishment of the grave, as it is the first type of punishment we could face after we leave this world.
Action Points
- True kingdom belongs to Allah alone. All the leaders and kings in this life all fall within the kingdom and dominion of Allah, so always realise you have the greatest King by your side
- Learn from this supplication the best way to ask Allah something, which is to begin by praising Him before you immediately ask from Him what you want
- Whenever we are taught to seek refuge in Allah from something, then we should realise this is a very bad thing that we should avoid. In this supplication, we seek refuge in Allah from laziness, so we must avoid this destructive trait, and not be from those who seek refuge in Allah from it with their tongue only, but they are always lazy
- Laziness is just an example of something that prevents us from doing good. As we seek refuge in Allah from it, and we try to avoid it, we must ensure we seek refuge in Allah and try to avoid all things that prevent us from doing good e.g. greed, arrogance, ignorance, etc.
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- Hadith, reported in Sahih Muslim, hadith number 2723
Hadith Commentary 