Chapter: What one says when going to sleep and when waking up

1446 – Hudhayfah and Abū Dharr (may Allah be pleased with them) reported that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ lay down in his bed he would say, “In Your Name, O Allah, I live and I die,” and when he awoke he said, “Praise be to Allah who revived us after He had caused us to die, and to Him is the resurrection.” Narrated by al-Bukhārī.

[Explanation]

The author (may Allah have mercy on him) entitles this section “What one says when going to sleep and when waking up.” Among the favors Allah, exalted is He, has bestowed upon us is that He has legislated invocations for every state — sleeping and waking, the beginning and end of eating and drinking, even upon entering the lavatory and when putting on clothing. All of this is so that our time may be filled with the remembrance of Allah. Had Allah not prescribed these remembrances they would be an innovation, but He ordained them so that His grace toward us might increase through these acts of obedience.

One of those prescribed supplications is the ḥadīth cited by the author from Hudhayfah and Abū Dharr (may Allah be pleased with them): when the Prophet ﷺ retired to his bed he would say, “In Your Name, O Allah, I live and I die.”

The phrase “when he retired” means that when he went to his bed intending to sleep he said, “In Your Name, O Allah, I live and I die,” because Allah, exalted is He, is the One who gives life and causes death; He gives life to whom He wills and causes to die whom He wills. Therefore you say, “In Your Name, O Allah, I live and I die,” meaning: I die in Your Name and I live in Your Name, and the relevance