817 – Hudhayfah, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “When the Prophet ﷺ lay down to sleep at night he would place his hand under his cheek and say, ‘O Allah, in Your name I die and I live.’ When he awoke he would say, ‘Praise be to Allah who has brought us back to life after causing us to die, and to Him is the resurrection.’” Narrated by al-Bukhārī.

[Explanation]
This is one of the narrations that Imām al-Nawawī, may Allah have mercy on him, includes in the “Book of the Etiquette of Sleep.” We have already mentioned that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him and his family peace—ordered al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib to lie on his right side and say, “O Allah, I surrender myself to You, I turn my face toward You, I entrust my affair to You…,” and so on to the end of the hadith. We clarified there that the sunnah, and what is preferable, is for a person to sleep on his right side. Hudhayfah’s report, may Allah be pleased with him, shows that one should also place his hand beneath his cheek, and it is understood that the right hand goes under the right cheek. This is not obligatory but recommended; if it is easy for you, that is better, otherwise the matter is broad and praise belongs to Allah. The Prophet ﷺ would place his hand under his cheek and say, “O Allah, in Your name I die and I live,” meaning that I die and I live by Allah’s will, and what is intended