What do I say after the obligatory prayer?

The order the scholars set out

Shaykh Abd al-Muhsin al-Abbad describes the sequence as it comes in the narrations: the dhikr begins immediately after the salam with the three istighfar, then the takbir, tasbih and tahmid thirty-three times each, then Ayat al-Kursi, then Surah al-Ikhlas and the two mu'awwidhat. The last two are recited three times after Fajr and Maghrib specifically.

So the order is:

1. Three istighfar — "Astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah."
2. The salam supplication — "Allahumma anta al-salam wa minka al-salam, tabarakta ya dha al-jalali wa al-ikram."
3. The tahlil — "La ilaha illa Allah wahdahu la sharika lah, lahu al-mulk wa lahu al-hamd wa huwa 'ala kulli shay'in qadir."
4. The additional supplications — "Allahumma la mani'a lima a'tayt, wa la mu'tiya lima mana't, wa la yanfa'u dha al-jaddi minka al-jadd," and "La ilaha illa Allah, wa la na'budu illa iyyah, lahu al-ni'mah wa lahu al-fadl wa lahu al-thana' al-hasan…"
5. The tasbih, tahmid and takbir — thirty-three each.
6. The completion of the hundred — "La ilaha illa Allah wahdahu la sharika lah, lahu al-mulk wa lahu al-hamd wa huwa 'ala kulli shay'in qadir."
7. Ayat al-Kursi, then al-Ikhlas and the two mu'awwidhat — the latter three times after Fajr and Maghrib.

The Prophet ﷺ said of the tasbih, tahmid and takbir:

"Whoever glorifies Allah thirty-three times after every prayer, praises Allah thirty-three times, and magnifies Allah thirty-three times — that is ninety-nine — and says to complete the hundred: 'There is no god but Allah alone, He has no partner, His is the dominion and His is the praise, and He is capable of all things' — his sins will be forgiven, even if they are like the foam of the sea."— Sahih Muslim 597, from Abu Hurayrah

What is obligatory and what is recommended

None of this is obligatory. IslamWeb (fatwa 80295) states plainly that the one who leaves these adhkar does not sin, because they are recommended and not obligatory — but he loses a great reward and the following of the Sunnah.

The wording of the tasbih has several forms

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen explains that the adhkar after the prayers came in varied forms, and that if a person does one of them, that is sufficient — because acts of worship that come in several forms are performed in each of those ways at different times. The forms include:

• Thirty-three each, then the tahlil to complete a hundred.
• Thirty-three tasbih, thirty-three tahmid, thirty-four takbir — from the hadith of Ka'b ibn Ujrah.
• Ten each of tasbih, tahmid and takbir.
• Twenty-five repetitions of "Subhan Allah, wa al-hamdulillah, wa la ilaha illa Allah, wa Allahu akbar," making a hundred.

He notes the benefit of alternating between these forms: a person who repeats one dhikr constantly begins to say it by rote, without his heart present, whereas deliberately varying them brings the heart to attention.

Two additions for Fajr and Maghrib

After Fajr and Maghrib specifically, the tahlil — "La ilaha illa Allah wahdahu la sharika lah, lahu al-mulk wa lahu al-hamd, yuhyi wa yumit, wa huwa 'ala kulli shay'in qadir" — is said ten times rather than three. Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen also mentions saying "Rabbi ajirni min al-nar" seven times after these two prayers.

There is also a supplication narrated from al-Bara' ibn Azib, that the Prophet ﷺ used to say: "Rabbi qini 'adhabaka yawma tab'athu — or tajma'u — 'ibadak." IslamWeb (fatwa 324154) notes that saying it three times after the obligatory prayer is not established, though there is no blame in doing so occasionally without believing it to be a Sunnah in that specific form.

Say them aloud, unless someone is praying nearby

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen was asked about raising the voice with these adhkar and answered that it is a Sunnah, because the Prophet ﷺ did so and the Companions did so. Al-Shafi'i and many others held that it is said quietly, and that the Prophet ﷺ raised his voice for a time only to teach it. Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه said:

"The raising of the voice with dhikr when people finished the obligatory prayer was heard at the time of the Prophet ﷺ."— Sahih al-Bukhari 841, from Ibn Abbas

But he added an important condition: if a man is next to you making up a prayer he missed, do not raise your voice, because you would disturb him and spoil his prayer.

Say them before the sunnah, not after

IslamWeb (fatwa 245479) and (fatwa 230878) both state that the adhkar are to be said directly after the obligatory prayer, before the regular sunnah — whether or not that prayer has a sunnah following it. Al-Albani, quoted in the same fatwa, notes that whoever places them after the sunnah has no text for that and contradicts the explicit hadith. One exception is the sunnah of Fajr, which is performed before Fajr if possible.

If you forget them or are distracted, and you say them after a short gap, you still get their full reward. After a long gap, you lose the specific reward but still have the reward of general dhikr. The scholars refer the definition of "long" to what people customarily regard as such.

They belong to the obligatory prayers

Shaykh Ibn Baz was asked whether these adhkar are said after voluntary prayers too, and answered that they are specific to the obligatory prayers. The Companions mentioned these adhkar after the obligatory prayers and did not mention them after the voluntary ones, and acts of worship are tawqifiyyah — determined only by the texts. He added that if a person simply says istighfar, makes du'a, or remembers Allah without restricting himself to these specific adhkar, there is no harm in that after a voluntary prayer.

Key takeaways

• Begin with three istighfar, then "Allahumma anta al-salam wa minka al-salam, tabarakta ya dha al-jalali wa al-ikram."
• Follow with the tahlil, the additional supplications, then thirty-three tasbih, thirty-three tahmid and thirty-three takbir, completed to a hundred with the tahlil.
• Say them directly after the obligatory prayer, before the regular sunnah — not after it.
• After Fajr and Maghrib, say the tahlil ten times, and al-Ikhlas and the two mu'awwidhat three times.
• Raising the voice is a Sunnah, unless someone praying nearby would be disturbed.
• All of this is recommended, not obligatory — leaving it is not a sin, but it forfeits a great reward.

Further reading

• Sahih Muslim, the chapter on the desirability of dhikr after the prayer
• Sunan Abi Dawud
• Kashshaf al-Qina' by al-Buhuti

And Allah knows best.