Prayer (Kitab Al-Salat): Detailed Injunctions about Witr

Narrated AbuHurayrah:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Three supplications are answered, there being no doubt about them; that of a father, that of a traveller and that of one who has been wronged.

Narrated AbuMusa al-Ash'ari:

When the Prophet (ﷺ) feared a (group of) people, he would say: "O Allah, we make You our shield against them, and take refuge in You from their evils."

Jabir b. 'Abd Allah said:

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to teach us the supplication for isthikharah (seeking what us beneficial from Allah) as he would teach us a surah (chapter) from the Qur'an. He would tell us: When one of you intends to do a work, he should offer two supererogatory rak'ahs of prayer, and then say (at the end of the prayer): "O Allah, I seek Your choice on the better (of the two matters) based upon Your knowledge, and I seek Your decree based upon Your power, and I ask You for Your great bounties. For Indeed, You are the One Who Decrees, and I do not decree, and You know, and I do not know, and You are the Knower of the Unseen. O Allah, if you know this, and You are the Knower of the Unseen. O Allah, if you know this - here he should name exactly what he wishes - is better for me with regard to my religion, and my life, and my afterlife, and the end result of my affairs, then decree it to me, and make it easy for me, and bless me on it. O Allah, and if You know this to be evil for me - and he says just as he said the first time - then avert it for me, and avert me from it. And decree for me good wherever it might be, the make me content with it." A version goes: "If the work is good immediately or subsequently." Ibn Maslamah and Ibn 'Isa reported from Muhammad b. al-Munkadir on the authority of Jabir.

Narrated Umar ibn al-Khattab:

The Prophet (ﷺ) used to seek refuge in Allah from five things; cowardliness, niggardliness, the evils of old age, evil thoughts, and punishment in the grave.

Anas b. Malik said:

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to say: "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from weakness, and laziness, and cowardice, and old age, and I seek refuge in You from the punishment of the grave, and I seek refuge in You from the trails of the life and death."

Anas b. Malik said:

I used to serve the Prophet (ﷺ) and often hear him say: "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from grief and anxiety, from the hardships of debt, and from being overpowered by men."

'Abd Allah b. 'Abbas said:

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to teach us this supplication as he taught us the surah from the Qur'an. He would say: O Allah! I seek refuge in You from the punishment of Hell and I seek refuge in You from the punishment of the grave, and I seek refuge from You from the trails of Al-Masihid-Dajjal, and I seek refuge in You from the trials of life and death.

'Aishah narrated that the Prophet (ﷺ) would supplicate with the following words:

"O Allah! I seek refuge in You from the trials of the Fire, and the punishment of the Fire, and from the evils of richness and poverty."

Narrated AbuHurayrah:

The Prophet (ﷺ) used to say: "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from poverty", lack and abasement, and I seek refuge in You lest I cause or suffer wrong."

'Abd Allah b. 'Umar said that one of the supplications of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was:

"O Allah, I seek refuge in You that Your blessings are lifted, and Your protection (of me) is changed, and in the suddenness of Your punishment, and from all Your anger.

Narrated AbuHurayrah:

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to supplicate by saying: "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from divisiveness, hypocrisy, and evil character."

Narrated AbuHurayrah:

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to say: "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from hunger, for it is an evil bed-fellow; and I seek refuge in You from treachery, for it is an evil hidden trait."

Narrated AbuHurayrah:

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to say: "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from four things: Knowledge which does not profit, a heart which is not submissive, a soul which has an insatiable appetite, and a supplication which is not heard."

Anas bin Malik narrated that the Prophet (ﷺ) would say:

"O Allah, I seek refuge in You from a prayer that is of no benefit."

Farwah b. Nawfal Al-Ashja'i asked 'Aishah the Mother of the Believers, about the supplication of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). She replied:

"He would say: 'O Allah, I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I have done, and from the evil of what I have not done.'"

Narrated Shakl ibn Humayd:

I said: Messenger of Allah, teach me a supplication. He said: Say: "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I hear, from the evil of what I see, from the evil of what I speak, from the evil of what I think, and from the evil of my semen" (i.e. sexual passion).

Narrated AbulYusr:

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to supplicate: "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from my house falling on me, I seek refuge in You from falling into an abyss, I seek refuge in You from drowning burning and decrepitude. I seek refuge in You from the devil harming me at the time of my death, I seek refuge in You from dying in Your path while retreating, and I seek refuge in You from dying of the sting of a poisonous creature."

The aforesaid tradition has also been transmitted by Abu al-Yusr through a different chain of narrators. This version adds:

"and from sorrow".

Narrated Anas ibn Malik:

The Prophet (ﷺ) used to say: "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from leprosy, madness, elephantiasis, and evil diseases."

Narrated AbuSa'id al-Khudri:

One day the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) entered the mosque. He saw there a man from the Ansar called AbuUmamah. He said: What is the matter that I am seeing you sitting in the mosque when there is no time of prayer? He said: I am entangled in cares and debts, Messenger of Allah. He replied: Shall I not teach you words by which, when you say them, Allah will remove your care, and settle your debt? He said: Why not, Messenger of Allah? He said: Say in the morning and evening: "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from care and grief, I seek refuge in You from incapacity and slackness, I seek refuge in You from cowardice and niggardliness, and I seek in You from being overcome by debt and being put in subjection by men." He said: When I did that Allah removed my care and settled my debt.