Among the bedtime adhkar authenticated in the two most rigorously verified hadith collections, Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, is the dua recited at the moment of lying down for sleep — placing the entire act of resting, and the possibility of not waking again, in Allah's ﷻ Hands.
Arabic:
بِاسْمِكَ رَبِّي وَضَعْتُ جَنْبِي وَبِكَ أَرْفَعُهُ فَإِنْ أَمْسَكْتَ نَفْسِي فَارْحَمْهَا وَإِنْ أَرْسَلْتَهَا فَاحْفَظْهَا بِمَا تَحْفَظُ بِهِ عِبَادَكَ الصَّالِحِينَ
Transliteration: Bismika Rabbī waḍa'tu janbī, wa bika arfa'uh, fa in amsakta nafsī farḥamhā, wa in arsaltahā faḥfaẓhā bimā taḥfaẓu bihi 'ibādakaṣ-ṣāliḥīn.
Translation: "With Your Name my Lord, I lay myself down; and with Your Name I rise. And if You take my soul, have mercy on it, and if You send it back then protect it as You protect Your righteous slaves."
Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari 11/126; Sahih Muslim 4/2084; Hisn al-Muslim 102.
Classical commentators on this hadith note that sleep is described in the Qur'an itself as a minor death (Az-Zumar 39:42), which is why this dua directly addresses both possible outcomes of lying down: waking up again, or the soul being taken permanently. Rather than avoiding the thought, the Prophet ﷺ taught his Companions to lie down each night having explicitly entrusted their fate — either way — to Allah's ﷻ mercy.
This is distinct from the dua recited afterward, once fully settled for sleep ("Allāhumma innaka khalaqta nafsī…"); this one is specifically tied to the physical act of lying down (waḍa'a janbahu), making it the first of the bedtime adhkar rather than the last. Reciting it consistently is recommended as part of a complete Sunnah bedtime routine, alongside ablution before sleep and reciting the last two verses of Al-Baqarah.
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