What du'a should I say when I am anxious or sad?

What the words mean

The scholars explain that the two opening words are a pair, and each covers a different direction of pain. Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله explains that hamm (worry) is the ache that comes from fearing something ahead of you, while hazan (grief) is the ache over something already past. So the du'a covers both the future you are dreading and the past you cannot change.

Ibn al-Qayyim also notes something worth holding on to: grief is not a station of faith to be cultivated, but a trial to be asked away. He points out that Allah never commanded it, never praised it, and never promised reward for seeking it — rather He forbade it in more than one place, and the people of Paradise will praise Him for removing it from them.

"Praise be to Allah, who has removed from us sorrow."— Qur'an 35:34

Why the Prophet ﷺ sought refuge from it

The scholars give a reason that speaks directly to what you are carrying. Ibn al-Qayyim says grief weakens the heart, frays resolve and unsettles the will — and that nothing is dearer to Shaytan than a believer's grief. The Qur'an says:

"Private conversation is only from Shaytan, that he may grieve those who have believed."— Qur'an 58:10

So the du'a is not a formality. It is asking Allah to protect the heart itself from something that erodes it.

Saying it morning and evening

A narration from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri رضي الله عنه describes a man of the Ansar sitting in the mosque weighed down by worry and debt. The Prophet ﷺ taught him words to say when he rose in the morning and when he reached the evening, and the man said Allah removed his worry and settled his debt.

One point of honesty about that narration: Shaykh Abd al-Muhsin al-Abbad notes that its chain contains a narrator who is weak, and al-Albani graded it weak — most likely the story itself. But he adds that every phrase in it is established in other authentic narrations from the Prophet ﷺ. So the wording is sound and well-attested; the specific story is the weak part.

If you want a shorter form

Anas رضي الله عنه also heard him say a briefer version, and it is authentic:

"O Allah, I seek refuge in You from worry and grief, from the burden of debt and from being overpowered by men."— Sunan Abu Dawud 1541, from Anas ibn Malik

Key takeaways

• Say it as a du'a, not a recitation: "اللهم إني أعوذ بك من الهم والحزن..." — "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from worry and grief…"
• It covers both directions of pain: worry is what you fear ahead, grief is what you carry from behind.
• Repeat it often, as the Prophet ﷺ did — Anas said he heard him say it frequently, not once.
• Say it morning and evening if you can, which is how the Prophet ﷺ taught it in the narration of Abu Sa'id.
• Grief is a trial to be lifted, not a state to be embraced — asking Allah to remove it is itself from the sunnah.

And Allah knows best.