What seals a gathering
Said three times on standing up, and it works both ways.
سُبْحَانَكَ اللَّهُمَّ وَبِحَمْدِكَ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ أَنْتَ أَسْتَغْفِرُكَ وَأَتُوبُ إِلَيْكَ
Subḥānaka-Llāhumma wa bi-ḥamdika, lā ilāha illā ant, astaghfiruka wa atūbu ilayk
“Glory to You, O Allah, and praise. There is no god but You. I ask Your forgiveness and I turn back to You.”
Where this comes from
If the gathering was a waste, these words cover what was said in it. If the gathering was good, they seal it the way wax is stamped on a document. The same sentence does two different jobs depending on the room you are leaving.
The full narration
Narrated Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As: There are some expressions which a man utters three times when he gets up from an assembly he will be forgiven for what happened in the assembly; and no one utters them in an assembly held for a noble cause or for remembrance of Allah but that is stamped with them just as a document is stamped with a signet-ring. These expressions are: Glory be to Thee, O Allah, and I begin with praise of Thee, there is no god but thou; I ask Thy pardon, and return to Thee in repentance
Source
Sunan Abī Dāwūd · 4857
- Al-Albani: Sahih
- Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul Hamid: Sahih
- Zubair Ali Zai: Isnaad Sahih