Four statements that leave nothing outside
Said lying down, after naming who is being addressed.
أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ كُلِّ ذِي شَرٍّ أَنْتَ آخِذٌ بِنَاصِيَتِهِ أَنْتَ الأَوَّلُ فَلَيْسَ قَبْلَكَ شَىْءٌ وَأَنْتَ الآخِرُ فَلَيْسَ بَعْدَكَ شَىْءٌ وَأَنْتَ الظَّاهِرُ فَلَيْسَ فَوْقَكَ شَىْءٌ
Aʿūdhu bika min sharri kulli dhī sharrin anta ākhidhun bi-nāṣiyatih. Anta-l-awwalu fa-laysa qablaka shayʾ, wa anta-l-ākhiru fa-laysa baʿdaka shayʾ, wa anta-ẓ-ẓāhiru fa-laysa fawqaka shayʾ
“I seek refuge in You from the evil of every evil thing whose forelock You hold. You are the First, so there is nothing before You. You are the Last, so there is nothing after You. You are the Outermost, so there is nothing above You.”
It closes: and You are the Innermost, so there is nothing beneath You.
Where this comes from
It opens by addressing the Lord of the heavens and the earth and everything, the splitter of the seed and the stone, the One who sent down the Torah and the Gospel and the Qurʾān. The refuge clause has a condition built into it: every evil thing is already being held by the forelock.
The full narration
Abu Hurairah said:when the prophet (May peace be upon him) went to his bed, he used to say : O Allah! Lord of the heavens, Lord of the earth, Lord of everything, who splittest the grain and the kernel, who hast sent down the Torah, forelock Thou seizes. Thou art the first and there is nothing before thee; Thou art the Last and there is nothing after Thee; Thou art the Outward and there is nothing above Thee; Thou art the Inward and there is nothing below Thee. Wahb added in his version : pay the debt for me and grant me riches instead of poverty
Source
Sunan Abī Dāwūd · 5051
- Al-Albani: Sahih
- Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul Hamid: Sahih
- Shuaib Al Arnaut: Sahih
- Zubair Ali Zai: Sahih Muslim (2713)