اَللّٰهُمَّ بِكَ أَصْبَحْنَا وَبِكَ أَمْسَيْنَا وَبِكَ نَحْيَا وَبِكَ نَمُوْتُ وَإِلَيْكَ النُّشُوْرُ
O Allah, by You we have entered the morning and by You we enter upon the evening. By You, we live and we die, and to You is the resurrection.
Allāhumma bika aṣbaḥnā wa bika amsaynā wa bika naḥyā wa bika namūtu wa ilayka-n-nushūr.
Abū Hurayrah (raḍiy Allāhu ʿanhu) narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to say [the above] when he would enter the morning.” (Al-Adab al-Mufrad 1199)
Brief Commentary
• “We have entered the morning”, covered in Your protection, enveloped in Your blessings, occupied with Your remembrance, seeking help with Your Name, and only breathing and living through Your will and power.
• The phrase “by You we live” is the crux of this duʿā’: here we are testifying that everything, small or large, is by and through the One. All matters belong to Him, and Him alone. We cannot do without Him for even the blink of an eye. Everything we have is from His generosity upon us.
• “By You we die”: When we acknowledge that we will only die when Allah wills, we become more reliant and dependent upon Him. We feel less scared of oppressors and of death itself, as we know that He alone decides when, how, and where we will die.
• In the morning, we finish off the duʿā’ by saying that our “resurrection” will be to Allah. This is particularly relevant in the morning, as we have just woken up from a minor death (sleep), so we remind ourselves that when we wake up from the major death, it will be to stand before Allah.
• In the evening, we finish off the duʿā’ by saying that our “return” will be to Allah. This is pertinent to be said in the evening, as we are about to finish and complete our day, so we remind ourselves that when we finish and complete our life, we will return to Allah. Through this duʿā’, we remind ourselves to remain focused on our eternal destination.
Action Points
• This duʿā’ reminds us to always be connected to Allah and remember His blessings over us, as we acknowledge that we only entered the morning and evening through His blessings, and we are only living due to His blessings over us, and we will only die when He decrees it.
• Make sure you always acknowledge Allah’s blessings over you, no matter how small the blessing may seem.
• Going to sleep and waking up seem like ordinary daily actions. For the believer, however, they are reminders of their ultimate journey to Allah. Similarly, we should see reminders of Allah and the hereafter in our everyday actions.
