from You except by fleeing to You. I believe in the Book You have revealed and in Your Prophet whom You have sent.’

Let this be the last thing you say—that is, after the other evening invocations such as: ‘O Allah, by Your name I lay my side down and by Your name I raise it; if You take my soul, forgive it and have mercy on it, and if You release it, protect it with the protection You grant to Your righteous servants,’ and the like. What matters is that the supplication the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, taught al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib should be the final words you utter.

The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—told al-Barāʾ to repeat the formula back to him. Al-Barāʾ did so but said, ‘…and in Your Messenger whom You have sent.’ The Prophet corrected him: ‘No—say, “and in Your Prophet whom You have sent”; do not say, “and in Your Messenger.”’

The scholars explain that the term rasūl (messenger) can refer both to a human messenger and to the angelic messenger Gabriel, as in the Almighty’s words: ‘Indeed, it is the speech of a noble messenger, one endowed with power, secure with the Lord of the Throne’ [Q 81:19–20]. The word nabī (prophet), however, is restricted to the human prophet. Therefore, when you say, ‘Your Prophet whom You have sent,’ you affirm for Allah’s Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—both prophethood and messengership, making this wording preferable to saying, ‘Your Messenger whom You have sent.’ For if you were to say