of the grave.
Likewise, in the hadith of Muʿadh ibn Jabal it is reported that the Prophet ﷺ would say, at the end of every prayer: “O Allah, help me to remember You, to thank You, and to worship You with excellence.” Concerning the term dubur (the end), the rule is this: if what is being cited consists of remembrances (adhkar), they are to be recited after the closing salutation; but if what is being cited is a supplication (duʿaʾ), it is to be made before the salutation, for the period after the tashahhud and before the salutation is the dubur of the prayer. As Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah explained, the dubur of a thing is its rear, just as the hind-part of an animal is called its dubur.
On this basis, the supplication mentioned in the hadith of Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas and that of Muʿadh ibn Jabal is to be said before you say the final salutation. When you have completed the tashahhud and the formula: “I seek refuge in Allah from the punishment of Hell, from the punishment of the grave, from the trials of life and death, and from the trial of the Antichrist,” then say:
“O Allah, I seek refuge in You from miserliness and from cowardice; I seek refuge in You from being returned to the most decrepit stage of life; I seek refuge in You from the trials of this world; and I seek refuge in You from the trial of the grave.”
These are five matters from which you seek Allah’s protection:
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Miserliness (bukhl): stinginess with one’s wealth.
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Cowardice (jubn): stinginess with one’s own self. Miserliness is when a person withholds what he is obliged to spend of his wealth—zakat, household expenses, generosity to a guest, and the like. Cowardice is when a person withholds himself: he refrains from taking part in jihad for fear of being killed, or from speaking a word of truth for fear of imprisonment, and the like. This is cowardice.
As for the plea, “I seek refuge in You from being returned to the most decrepit stage of life,” the word ardhal means the worst and the lowest. This may happen in two ways. The first is that a person suffers an accident that impairs his mind so that he begins to ramble and is reduced