As for the prescribed remembrances and transmitted supplications to be recited at these two blessed times, they are many and varied. Allah willing, a good selection of them will follow, together with an explanation of some of their profound meanings and sound implications.

Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhī, and others narrated from Uthman ibn Affan, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“No servant says three times every morning and every evening, ‘In the name of Allah, with whose name nothing on earth or in heaven can cause harm, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing,’ without being protected from all harm.”1

This is one of the great remembrances that a Muslim should observe every morning and evening so that, by Allah’s leave, he may be protected from being suddenly struck by an affliction, suffering harm from a calamity, or the like.

Al-Qurtubī, may Allah have mercy on him, said regarding this hadith: “This is an authentic report and a truthful statement, whose truth we have come to know through both proof and experience. From the time I heard it, I acted upon it, and nothing harmed me until I neglected it. A scorpion then stung me one night in Medina. When I reflected, I realized that I had forgotten to seek refuge with those words.”2

It is also related in the Sunan of al-Tirmidhī that Aban ibn Uthman, may Allah have mercy on him—who narrated this hadith from Uthman—was afflicted by partial paralysis, that is, paralysis affecting one side of the body. One of the men began staring at him, so Aban said to him, “Why are you staring? The hadith is indeed just as I narrated it to you, but I did not recite it that day, so that Allah’s decree concerning me might come to pass.”

The Sunnah regarding this remembrance is to recite it three times every morning and evening, as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, instructed.