بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
The moment a prayer's salam is completed marks not the end of its Sunnah, but the start of another well-documented sequence of adhkar — some recited after every single prayer, others reserved specifically for Fajr and Maghrib. This article closes the prayer-adhkar series covered over the past several posts, and additionally covers the separate two-rak'ah Prayer of Istikhara, whose closing supplication is likewise drawn from Hisn al-Muslim.
Said After Every Prayer
1. Seeking Forgiveness, Then Declaring Allah as Peace
Arabic: أَسْتَغْفِرُ الله (ثَلاثاً)، اللّهُمَّ أَنْتَ السَّلامُ وَمِنْكَ السَّلامُ، تَبارَكْتَ يا ذا الجَلالِ وَالإِكْرام
Translation: "I seek the forgiveness of Allah (three times). O Allah, You are Peace and from You comes peace. Blessed are You, O Owner of majesty and honour."
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 66; Sahih Muslim 1/414.
2. La Ilaha Illallah with Its Extension
Translation: "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah alone, He has no partner. His is the dominion and His is the praise and He is Able to do all things. O Allah, there is none who can withhold what You give, and none may give what You have withheld, and the might of the mighty person cannot benefit him against You."
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 67; Sahih al-Bukhari 1/255; Sahih Muslim 1/414.
3. The Fuller Dhikr
Translation: "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah alone… There is no power and no might except by Allah, none has the right to be worshipped but Allah, and we do not worship any other besides Him. His is grace, and His is bounty, and to Him belongs the most excellent praise. None has the right to be worshipped but Allah — sincere in our devotion to Him even though the disbelievers may dislike it."
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 68; Sahih Muslim 1/415.
4. The Tasbih of Thirty-Three
Translation: "Glory is to Allah (33 times), Praise is to Allah (33 times), Allah is the Most Great (33 times). None has the right to be worshipped but Allah alone…"
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 69; Sahih Muslim 1/418.
The fuller hadith attached to this narration states that a person's sins are forgiven even if they are as abundant as the foam of the sea — one of the more frequently cited promises in all of the post-prayer adhkar, and part of why the 33x tasbih is among the most widely practiced Sunnahs after salah worldwide.
5. The Three Quls
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 70; Sunan Abu Dawud 2/86; Sunan an-Nasa'i 3/68; graded authentic by Al-Albani, Sahih at-Tirmidhi 2/8.
Surah Al-Ikhlas, Al-Falaq, and An-Nas are recited once after each of the five daily prayers, and specifically three times each after Fajr and Maghrib — a distinction worth knowing, since many who practice this Sunnah recite it identically after every prayer without the added repetition at the two ends of the day.
6. Ayatul Kursi
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 71; An-Nasa'i, 'Amalul-Yawm wal-Laylah no.100; graded authentic by Al-Albani, Sahihul-Jami' 5/339.
The hadith attached to this narration states that whoever recites Ayatul Kursi (Al-Baqarah 2:255) after every obligatory prayer, nothing stands between them and entering Paradise except death — placing it, alongside the 33x tasbih, among the most consequential of the post-salah adhkar in terms of the promise attached.
7. La Ilaha Illallah, Ten Times (After Fajr and Maghrib Specifically)
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 72; Jami' at-Tirmidhi 5/515; Musnad Ahmad 4/227; cited by Ibn al-Qayyim in Zad al-Ma'ad 1/300.
Like the three Quls above, this dhikr is reserved specifically for the two prayers bookending the night — Maghrib and Fajr — recited ten times rather than the single or triple repetition used elsewhere.
Specific to Fajr
8. Asking for Beneficial Knowledge, Good Provision, and Accepted Deeds
Arabic: اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ عِلْماً نافِعاً وَرِزْقاً طَيِّباً وَعَمَلاً مُتَقَبَّلاً
Translation: "O Allah, I ask You for knowledge which is beneficial, and sustenance which is good, and deeds which are acceptable."
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 73; Sunan Ibn Majah; Majma' az-Zawa'id 10/111.
Said specifically after the salam of Fajr, this short dua's three requests — knowledge, provision, and accepted deeds — are frequently cited as a model for how to frame a day's intentions before it has properly begun.
The Prayer of Istikhara
Distinct from the above — not a dhikr said after an obligatory prayer, but its own two-rak'ah voluntary prayer performed when facing a decision — istikhara closes with a lengthy, specific supplication.
Arabic (excerpt): اللّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْتَخيرُكَ بِعِلْمِك، وَأَسْتَقْدِرُكَ بِقُدْرَتِك، وَأَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ فَضْلِكَ الْعَظيم…
Translation (excerpt): "O Allah, I seek Your counsel by Your knowledge and by Your power I seek strength and I ask You from Your immense favour, for verily You are able while I am not and verily You know while I do not and You are the Knower of the unseen… then ordain it for me and make it easy for me, then bless me in it."
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 74; Sahih al-Bukhari 7/162; connected in meaning to Aal-'Imran 3:159.
The instruction, as recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari from Jabir ibn 'Abdillah (RA), is to pray two rak'ahs of voluntary prayer outside the obligatory prayers, then recite this dua, naming the specific matter one is deciding upon at the point marked with an ellipsis in the fuller text. A common point of confusion is expecting istikhara to produce a dream or a clear sign — the hadith itself describes no such mechanism; the dua asks Allah ﷻ to make the matter easy if it is good and to turn one away from it if it is not, with that outcome unfolding through ordinary circumstances rather than necessarily through a vision.
Closing the Series
This article completes the full sequence of Sunnah adhkar within salah — from the opening takbir through ruku, sujood, tashahhud, and salam — alongside istikhara as a related, though separate, prayer. Read together across this series, they represent one of the most thoroughly documented areas of Prophetic practice, repeated by practicing Muslims more than any other act of worship.
Reflection: That the Sunnah provides specific, varied words for every transition of prayer — and a dedicated prayer for uncertainty itself — reflects a faith in which no moment, however brief or however unresolved, is left without language to address it to Allah ﷻ.
References cited: Hisn al-Muslim 66-74; Sahih al-Bukhari 1/255, 7/162; Sahih Muslim 1/414, 1/415, 1/418; Sunan Abu Dawud; Sunan Ibn Majah; Jami' at-Tirmidhi 5/515; Musnad Ahmad; An-Nasa'i, 'Amalul-Yawm wal-Laylah; Al-Albani, Sahihul-Jami', Sahih at-Tirmidhi; Ibn al-Qayyim, Zad al-Ma'ad.
Written by Fahmina Jawed (Aafiya).
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