Before Sleep & On Waking

When Frightened During Sleep

Repetition guidance: 1x

أَعُوْذُ بِكَلِمَاتِ اللّٰهِ التَّامَّاتِ مِنْ غَضَبِهِ وَعِقَابِهِ ، وَشَرِّ عِبَادِهِ ، وَمِنْ هَمَزَاتِ الشَّيَاطِيْنِ وَأَنْ يَّحْضُرُوْنِ.

Transliteration

Aʿūdhu bi kalimāt-i-llāhi-t-tāmmāti min ghaḍabihi wa ʿiqābih, wa sharri ʿibādih, wa min hamazāti-sh-shayaṭīn wa an yaḥḍurūn.

Translation

I seek protection in the perfect words of Allah from His anger and punishment, and from the evil of His servants, and from the evil suggestions of the devils and from them appearing to me.

Virtue and context

Amr ibn Shuʿaib transmitted from his father, from his grandfather Abdullah ibn Amr, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ instructed anyone frightened during sleep to seek refuge in Allah’s perfect words from His anger and punishment, the evil of His servants, and the incitements and presence of devils. He stated that these forces would then not harm the person. Abdullah ibn Amr taught the words orally to children who had reached maturity and wrote them for younger children. The Prophet ﷺ also explained that a pleasant dream is from Allah and should be shared only with someone loved. When a person sees a disturbing dream, the person should seek Allah’s protection from its evil and from Shaytan, lightly spit three times to the left, and avoid relating the dream to others; it will then cause no harm.