from Abū Hurayrah that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Allah wrote in a book, which is kept with Him above the Throne: ‘My mercy prevails over My wrath.’”

In another narration: “My mercy preceded My wrath.”

He thus described His mercy as prevailing over and preceding His wrath. This indicates the superiority of His mercy over His wrath in respect of its precedence and its prevailing over it. It is also established in Sahīh Muslim, from Ā’ishah, that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to say while prostrating:

“O Allah, I seek refuge in Your pleasure from Your displeasure, and in Your sparing me from Your punishment. I seek refuge in You from You.”

Al-Tirmidhī narrated that he used to say this in his witr prayer, but this requires scrutiny. Seeking refuge in His perfect words is also established through multiple routes in the Sahīh, Sunan, and Musnad collections, as in his saying:

“I seek refuge in Allah’s perfect words from His wrath and punishment, from the evil of His servants, and from the incitements of the devils and their presence.”

In Sahīh Muslim, Khawlah reports that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Whoever stops at a place and says, ‘I seek refuge in Allah’s perfect words,’ will not be harmed by anything until he departs from it.”

It is also related in the Sahīh that he said to Uthmān ibn Abī al-Ās:

“Say: ‘I seek refuge in Allah’s might and power from the evil of what I feel and fear.’”

It is well known that that in which refuge is sought is superior to that from which refuge is sought. He sought refuge in His pleasure from His displeasure, and in His sparing him from His punishment.

As for his seeking refuge in Him from Him, this must be understood in terms of two aspects: he seeks refuge in Him with regard to one aspect, and from Him with regard to the other, so that the one in whom refuge is sought differs from the one