أَصْبَحْنَا وَأَصْبَحَ الْمُلْكُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ , اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ خَيْرَ هَذَا الْيَوْمِ فَتَحَهُ ، وَنَصْرَهُ ، وَنُورَهُ ، وَبَرَكَتَهُ ، وَهُدَاهُ , وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا فِيهِ ، وَشَرِّ مَا بَعْدَهُ
We have entered a new day, along with all the dominion which belongs to Allah, Lord of all that exists. O Allah, I ask You for the goodness of this day, its opening, its victory, its light, its blessings, and its guidance. I seek refuge in You from the evil that is in it and from the evil that follows it.
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 اللهم إني أسألك خير هذه الليلة فتحها ونصرها ونورها وبركتها وهداها وأعوذ بك من شر ما فيها 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 mention what He does with it, and this is that He looks after it. We describe Allah as being Lord of all that exists. When we say Allah is the Lord, we mean He is the one who looks after, nurtures and provides, therefore we should be grateful for Allah as He is the Lord of all that exists
- Once we realise that Allah is the one who provides for us and looks after us in the general sense, we begin to ask Him for specific things that we want from this morning or evening
- The first thing we ask Allah, is that we ask Him for the goodness of this day/night. 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.
- We begin by clarifying exactly what good we want from this day or night. The first type of good we ask Allah is the good in terms of the opening that we want to achieve. This means we want Allah to open for us the doors of knowledge, to make things clearer in our heads, and to open all doors of goodness before us
- We also ask Allah for victory. The victory here is both a physical and spiritual one, so we are asking Him for His help to allow us to be victorious against our enemies, as well as against our own soul, so that we do not allow it to lead us to our destruction by following our desires and not being able to suppress them
- Beneficial knowledge and righteous actions are a light for a believer in this life and the hereafter, so when we are asking Allah for the light of this day, we are asking Him to allow us to increase in beneficial knowledge, and in performing righteous actions
- When Allah places His blessings on a matter, it will bear much more fruit than a matter which has no blessings from Allah. Therefore, when we ask Allah for the blessings of this day, we are asking Him to bless everything we have / do on this day, such as: the time we spend, the food we eat, the sleep we get, as well as any physical action we do, or item in our possession
- The last specific thing we ask Allah in this supplication, is to grant us the goodness of this day in terms of the guidance we receive. We ask Allah to allow us to receive more guidance, and to allow us to maintain the guidance we currently have, as well as to act upon it
- We finish off the supplication by seeking refuge in Allah from all the evil that exists on this day, as well as all the evil that exists after it. This includes evil in terms of maters that may affect us in the dunya e.g. harm / injury, as well as those that affect us in the hereafter e.g. sins and transgression against Allah.
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
- When we say this supplication, we should realise that clarifications of complicated matters comes from Allah, hence we ask Him for the opening of this day / night. Shaykh ul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah used to prostrate to Allah and sincerely ask Him to clarify the situation for him whenever he is presented with a matter that he struggles to resolve
- When asking Allah for victory, don’t just think about victory against the enemies you see before you, but also focus on your hidden enemies that could cause a greater destruction to your hereafter, such as your own soul, and following your desires
- Always ask Allah to bless all your matters. Someone may sleep for 4 hours and feel very refreshed and energetic for the remainder of the day, whereas someone may sleep for over 8 hours, yet does not have much energy during the day. This is due to the blessings Allah had placed on the former, and the lack of it in the latter
- Guidance is a very important matter that we ask Allah to grant to us every time we recite Surah Al-Fatiha, therefore at least 17 times in a day. Ensure you appreciate the importance of guidance, and that when you ask Allah for it, you ask Him from the bottom of your heart.
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- Hadith, reported Aby Dawud, hadith number 3453
Hadith Commentary 