What du'a do I say before sleeping?

The Prophet ﷺ said "In Your name, O Allah, I die and I live" when he lay down at night, and this is the shortest and most widely narrated of the bedtime supplications. He would say it with his hand under his cheek, and he answered it on waking with praise to the One who gives life after death. Alongside it, the Sunnah gives a longer du'a that names the soul's return to Allah, and the practice of reciting the three "Quls" into the palms and wiping the body.

The du'a itself

بِاسْمِكَ اللَّهُمَّ أَمُوتُ وَأَحْيَا"In Your name, O Allah, I die and I live."— Sahih al-Bukhari 6324, from Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman

The same wording is narrated from Abu Dharr رضي الله عنه in Sahih al-Bukhari 6325, and from al-Bara' in Sahih Muslim 2711 as "O Allah, in Your name I live and in Your name I die."

What the words are saying

Sleep is described here as a death and waking as a life, because the soul is taken and returned. The Prophet ﷺ placed his hand beneath his cheek as he said it, which is why the du'a is tied to the moment the head meets the pillow rather than to any earlier point in the evening. Saying it is an acknowledgement that the night ahead is not in your hands — you are handing the soul back to the One who holds it.

The longer du'a

A second supplication is narrated for the same moment, and it spells out that surrender:

بِاسْمِكَ رَبِّي وَضَعْتُ جَنْبِي، وَبِكَ أَرْفَعُهُ، فَإِنْ أَمْسَكْتَ نَفْسِي فَارْحَمْهَا، وَإِنْ أَرْسَلْتَهَا فَاحْفَظْهَا، بِمَا تَحْفَظُ بِهِ عِبَادَكَ الصَّالِحِينَ"In Your name, my Lord, I lay down my side, and by You I raise it. If You take my soul, have mercy on it; and if You release it, guard it as You guard Your righteous servants."— Sunan Abu Dawud 5050, from Abu Hurayrah

The narration in Sunan Abu Dawud 5050 places three things in order before this du'a: shake out the bedding with the inside of your garment, since you do not know what has settled on it; lie on your right side; then say these words. The shaking and the right side are part of the same instruction, not separate advice.

Reciting the three surahs

Aisha رضي الله عنها described what the Prophet ﷺ did every night: he would cup his hands together, blow lightly into them, recite Surah al-Ikhlas, Surah al-Falaq and Surah an-Nas, then wipe his hands over as much of his body as he could, beginning with his head and face and the front of his body. He did this three times. The three surahs are the 112th, 113th and 114th of the Qur'an's 114 surahs.

Other things said at the pillow

The Sunnah records further words for the same occasion, and a person may say whichever of them he is able:

"O Allah, in Your name I live and in Your name I die" — Sahih Muslim 2711, from al-Bara'.
"Praise be to Allah who has sufficed me, sheltered me, fed me and given me drink… O Allah, Lord and King of everything, I seek refuge in You from the Fire" — narrated in the chapter on what is said at sleep.
Reciting Surah al-Kafirun before sleeping, which the Prophet ﷺ told Nawfal al-Ashja'i to do, describing it as a release from shirk.

Key takeaways

The du'a to say as you lie down is "In Your name, O Allah, I die and I live" — Sahih al-Bukhari 6324.
Say it at the pillow, with the hand under the cheek, not earlier in the evening.
The longer du'a beginning "In Your name, my Lord, I lay down my side" is also from the Sunnah for this moment — Sunan Abu Dawud 5050.
Shake out the bedding and lie on your right side before saying it, as the same narration instructs.
Reciting Surah al-Ikhlas, al-Falaq and an-Nas into cupped hands and wiping the body three times is an established nightly practice of the Prophet ﷺ.

What du'a do I say before sleeping?

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