to do evil. Yet when Allah protects you from its harm, He directs you toward every good.

—and from the evil of Satan and his shirk (polytheism). In another wording: “and from his traps (sharak).” In other words, you ask Allah to give you refuge from the devil’s evil and from the evil of his shirk—that is, the polytheism he urges you to commit—or from his snare. A sharak is a net used to catch fish, birds, and the like. Satan indeed possesses snares by which he captures the children of Adam: lustful desires, misleading doubts, and similar lures.

—and that I not commit a sin against myself or drag it onto a Muslim.” This is the rest of the ḥadīth, and it seems that the phrase “that I not commit a sin against myself” has fallen from this manuscript. The verb aqtarafa means “to bring evil upon oneself” or “to inflict it on a Muslim.”

This invocation is what the Prophet ﷺ ordered Abū Bakr to recite when he entered the morning, when he entered the evening, and when he lay down to sleep.

We ask Allah for us and for you guidance and success in all that He loves and is pleased with.

1455 — Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: When the Prophet ﷺ entered the evening he would say, “We have entered the evening and the dominion belongs to Allah, and all praise is due to Allah. There is no deity but Allah alone with no partner.” The narrator added, “I think he also said among them: ‘His is the dominion and His is the praise, and He is over all things able.’ ” He would then say, “Lord, I ask You for the good that is in this night and the good that comes after it, and I seek refuge in You from the evil that is in this night and the evil that comes after it. Lord, I seek refuge in You from laziness and from the wretchedness of old age. I seek refuge in You from punishment in the Fire and punishment in the grave.” And when he entered the morning he said the same: “We have entered the morning and the dominion belongs to Allah.” Reported by Muslim.