بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
After the tashahhud and salat upon the Prophet ﷺ, and before turning to give salam, the Sunnah preserves a remarkable ten distinct supplications the Prophet ﷺ is reported to have made in this window — more than for any other single point in the prayer. This is also the position in which the Prophet ﷺ explicitly instructed worshippers to ask for whatever they wish, making it, alongside sujood, one of the two positions in salah most associated with personal, wide-ranging dua.
1. Refuge from Four Trials
Arabic: اللّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعوذُ بِكَ مِنْ عَذابِ القَبْر، وَمِنْ عَذابِ جَهَنَّم، وَمِنْ فِتْنَةِ المَحْيا وَالمَمات، وَمِنْ شَرِّ فِتْنَةِ المَسيحِ الدَّجَّال
Translation: "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from the punishment of the grave, and from the punishment of Hell-fire, and from the trials of life and death, and from the evil of the trial of the False Messiah."
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 55; Sahih al-Bukhari 2/102; Sahih Muslim 1/412.
The Prophet ﷺ instructed his companions to seek refuge from these four specific trials every time they completed the tashahhud, before adding whatever additional du'a they wished — making this the most consistently emphasized of the ten.
2. Abu Bakr's Personal Request
Arabic: اللّهُمَّ إِنِّي ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسي ظُلْماً كَثيراً وَلا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنوبَ إِلاّ أَنْت، فَاغْفِرْ لي مَغْفِرَةً مِنْ عِنْدِكَ وَارْحَمْني، إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الغَفورُ الرَّحيم
Translation: "O Allah, I have greatly wronged myself, and no one forgives sins but You. So, grant me forgiveness and have mercy on me. Surely, You are Forgiving, Merciful."
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 57; Sahih al-Bukhari 8/168; Sahih Muslim 4/2078.
Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (RA) personally asked the Prophet ﷺ to teach him a du'a to say in his prayer, and this is what he was given — a narration many hadith scholars single out for its emotional weight, coming from the closest of the Companions.
3. Comprehensive Forgiveness for Every Kind of Sin
Arabic: اللّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لي ما قَدَّمْتُ وَما أَخَّرْت، وَما أَسْرَرْتُ وَما أَعْلَنْت…
Translation: "O Allah, forgive me what I have sent before me and what I have left behind me, what I have concealed and what I have done openly, what I have done in excess, and what You are better aware of than I. You are the One Who sends forth and You are the One Who delays. There is none worthy of worship but You."
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 58; Sahih Muslim 1/534.
4. Help in Remembrance, Gratitude and Worship
Arabic: اللّهُمَّ أَعِنِّي عَلى ذِكْرِكَ وَشُكْرِك، وَحُسْنِ عِبادَتِك
Translation: "O Allah, help me to remember You, to give You thanks, and to perform Your worship in the best manner."
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 59; Sunan Abu Dawud 2/86; Sunan an-Nasa'i 3/53.
Taught by the Prophet ﷺ to Mu'adh ibn Jabal (RA), who was told never to abandon reciting it after every prayer — a specific personal instruction that has made this one of the more well-known of the ten among students of hadith.
5. Refuge from Five Spiritual Weaknesses
Arabic: اللّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعوذُ بِكَ مِنَ البُخْل، وَأَعوذُ بِكَ مِنَ الجُبْن…
Translation: "O Allah, I seek Your protection from miserliness, I seek Your protection from cowardice, and I seek Your protection from being returned to feeble old age. I seek Your protection from the trials of this world and from the torment of the grave."
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 60; Sahih al-Bukhari 6/35.
6. A Direct Request for Paradise
Arabic: اللّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ الجَنَّةَ وَأَعوذُ بِكَ مِنَ النَّار
Translation: "O Allah, I ask You for Paradise, and I seek Your protection from the Fire."
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 61; Sunan Abu Dawud; graded authentic by Al-Albani, Sahih Ibn Majah 2/328.
Some newer students of fiqh hesitate to ask so directly and specifically for Paradise, worrying it may seem presumptuous — this narration, along with number 9 below, establishes clearly that direct requests of this kind are not only permitted but explicitly modelled by the Prophet ﷺ.
7. Living and Dying by What Is Best
Arabic: اللّهُمَّ بِعِلْمِكَ الغَيْبِ وَقُدْرَتِكَ عَلى الْخَلقِ أَحْيِني ما عَلِمْتَ الحياةَ خَيْراً لي…
Translation: "O Allah, by Your Knowledge of the unseen and by Your Power over creation, let me live if You know that life is good for me, and let me die if You know that death is good for me… O Allah, dress us with the beauty of Faith and make us guides who are upon correct guidance."
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 62; Sunan an-Nasa'i 3/54-55; Musnad Ahmad 4/364.
8 & 9. Two Duas Using the Greatest Name of Allah (Ism al-A'zam)
Arabic (8): اللّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ يا اللهُ بِأَنَّكَ الواحِدُ الأَحَدُ الصَّمَدُ الَّذي لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يولَدْ، وَلَمْ يَكنْ لَهُ كُفُواً أَحَد، أَنْ تَغْفِرْ لي ذُنوبي…
Translation: "O Allah, I ask You. O Allah, You are the One, the Only, Self-Sufficient Master, Who was not begotten and begets not, and none is equal to Him. Forgive me my sins, surely You are Forgiving, Merciful."
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 63; Sunan an-Nasa'i 3/52; Musnad Ahmad 4/338.
Arabic (9): اللّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ بِأَنَّ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ لا إِلهَ إِلاّ أَنْتَ وَحْدَكَ لا شَريكَ لَك، المَنَّانُ يا بَديعَ السَّمواتِ وَالأَرْضِ يا ذا الجَلالِ وَالإِكْرامِ يا حَيُّ يا قَيُّومُ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ الجَنَّةَ وَأَعوذُ بِكَ مِنَ النَّار
Translation: "O Allah, I ask You, as You are the Owner of praise, there is none worthy of worship but You alone, You have no partner. You are the Giver of all good. O Creator of the heavens and the earth, Owner of majesty and honour. O Living and Everlasting One, I ask You for Paradise, and I seek refuge in You from the Fire."
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 64; Sunan Abu Dawud; Sunan an-Nasa'i; Sunan Ibn Majah; Jami' at-Tirmidhi; graded authentic by Al-Albani, Sahih Ibn Majah 2/329.
Both narrations are reported with a hadith stating that when a person supplicates using Allah's Greatest Name (the Ism al-A'zam) — by which He answers when called and gives when asked — He does so; scholars differ on which precise names within these formulas constitute the Ism al-A'zam itself, but agree both narrations were singled out for this description.
10. Bearing Witness by One's Own Testimony
Arabic: اللّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ بِأَنِّي أَشْهَدُ أَنَّكَ أَنْتَ اللهُ لا إِلهَ إِلاّ أَنْتَ الأَحَدُ الصَّمَدُ الَّذي لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يولَدْ وَلَمْ يَكنْ لَهُ كُفُواً أَحَد
Translation: "O Allah, I ask You, by the fact that I bear witness that You are Allah. There is none worthy of worship but You, the Only God, Independent of creation, Who was not begotten and begets not, and none is equal to Him."
Reference: Hisn al-Muslim 65; Sunan Abu Dawud 2/62; Sunan Ibn Majah 2/1267; Jami' at-Tirmidhi 5/515.
A Practical Note
No single worshipper is expected to recite all ten in every prayer — the fuller hadith texts make clear the Prophet ﷺ used different ones on different occasions. A practical approach many students of hadith adopt is rotating between a handful of these across the five daily prayers, treating this window as the primary place in salah, alongside sujood, for extended personal supplication, rather than rushing straight to salam once the tashahhud and salawat are complete.
Reflection: Ten distinct, authentically preserved supplications for a few seconds of prayer is a striking density — a clear signal that this closing moment, easy to treat as a formality, was treated by the Prophet ﷺ as prime territory for asking Allah ﷻ for everything that matters.
References cited: Hisn al-Muslim 55, 57-65; Sahih al-Bukhari 2/102, 6/35, 8/168; Sahih Muslim 1/412, 1/534, 4/2078; Sunan Abu Dawud; Sunan Ibn Majah; Sunan an-Nasa'i; Jami' at-Tirmidhi; Musnad Ahmad; Al-Albani, Sahih Ibn Majah.
Written by Fahmina Jawed (Aafiya).
📌 You might also like:
– The Tashahhud and Salat upon the Prophet
– After Salam: Nine Duas to Close Every Prayer
– Duas in Prostration (Sujood)