IMPORTANCE OF ADHKĀR BEFORE SLEEPING

By

©Ibn Abdillah As-sudaisiy Al-Iloori

It is upon us to always take our adhkār (remembrance of Allāh) seriously. The best way to value the authentic adhkār that we recite in the morning, evening and the ones prescribed for some specific activities, such as before entering the toilet, before entering the market, before eating, after eating etc. is for us to take our time to reflect on their meanings and also read their benefits from hadiths authenticating them. 

By Allāh, if we are not regular in our adhkār, we will be unjust to ourselves in so many ways. Even the adhkār in our salawāt, we hardly pay attention to them. Yet they are the key factors when it comes to khushū' (humility) in Salah. They help us to concentrate and to be focused in our obligatory and voluntary prayers.  

The only way by which we can find tranquillity in our lives and our minds is to be steadfast upon our daily and routine supplications. Allāh says:

اَلَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْا وَتَطْمَئِنُّ قُلُوْبُهُمْ بِذِكْرِ اللّٰهِ ۗ اَ لَا بِذِكْرِ اللّٰهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوْبُ 

Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allah. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured. [Ar-Ra'd: Verse 28]

If we are nonchalant about our adhkār (supplications), we are simply handing ourselves over to shaytān and its agents to deal with anyhow. 

One of the reasons for our heedlessness regarding the remembrance of Allāh is the love of the ephemeral world. For instance, we allow our activities at work and frivolous social media arguments and skits take us away from the remembrance of Allāh. Then, our sins is one of the major causes of forgetfulness in our adhkār. Whenever we see sins as something that is normal, then we are bound to lose our focus on remembrance of Allāh. A sinful life is not sustainable for a true believer in Allāh. We only hurt ourselves whenever we make sins a customary thing in our lives. Being unrepentant upon sins takes us far away from Allāh.

Meanwhile, if we will be heedless about any of the supplications prescribed in the Sunnah, please let it not be the one to be recited when we are about to sleep. Whenever we sleep, we are gone. We don't know what is happening again. More harms are done to people when they are asleep. We must always fortify ourselves before sleeping. Try and read the meaning of some of those adhkār, then you will see how much you surcharge yourself if you don't recited them before sleeping. You don't need any "haintu". Recite adhkār regularly. Even if you are unable to recite any part of those adhkār, please do not forget "Āyatal Kursiyy" and "Āmana Rasūl..." till the end of Suratul Baqarah. Make sure you recite them and let your children be conversant with them.

In an authentic narration, Al-hāfidh Ibn Kathīr said Wakīʿ reported in his Tafsīr on the authority of ʿAlī رضي الله عنه that he said: 

مَا أَرَى أَحَدًا يَعْقِلُ، بَلَغَهُ الْإِسْلَامُ، يَنَامُ حَتَّى يَقْرَأَ آيَةَ الْكُرْسِيِّ وَخَوَاتِيمَ سُورَةِ الْبَقَرَةِ، فَإِنَّهَا مِنْ كَنْزٍ تَحْتَ الْعَرْشِ

I do not think anyone of intelligence and that knows al-Islām can go to sleep until he has recited Āyat al-Kursī and the last two verses of Sūrah al-Baqarah, for it is a treasure from under al-ʿArsh (i.e: the Throne of Allah). [Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAdhīm 1/571]

May Allāh guide us aright.