The Virtue of Morning Azkar and When to Say Them
The virtue of the morning azkar, their time, and what Hisnul Muslim includes, with authentic hadith from al-Bukhari and Muslim.
What are the morning azkar?
The morning azkar are a set of supplications and remembrances authentically narrated from the Prophet (peace be upon him), said at the start of the day after waking and praying Fajr. Sheikh Sa'id bin Ali al-Qahtani gathered them into a dedicated chapter of Hisnul Muslim, and that chapter is the reference millions of Muslims read their daily portion from each morning.
They are not an extra layer of worship so much as a practical way to open the day with the remembrance of Allah: short words that take no more than ten minutes, yet they set the intention for the whole day and connect the heart to its Creator before work, study and traffic take it over.
The virtue of morning remembrance in the Qur'an
The Qur'an singles out the two ends of the day for remembrance and glorification, and makes the time before sunrise a deliberate occasion for calling upon Allah. Allah says:
وَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ قَبْلَ طُلُوعِ الشَّمْسِ وَقَبْلَ غُرُوبِهَا
English meaning: And exalt your Lord with praise before the rising of the sun and before its setting.
Remembrance at the start of the day is worship in itself
The verse shows that remembering Allah at the start of the day is an act of worship in its own right, not merely a preface to something else. The narrated morning azkar are the practical form of that: supplications preserved in the exact wording of the Prophet (peace be upon him), so a Muslim never has to improvise words whose meaning he cannot vouch for.
Part of the wisdom of this timing is that the beginning of the day is what the whole day's effort is built on. The believer opens it with praise of Allah rather than with the worries or the news of the day, and so begins with a measure of calm already in hand.
The hadith of one hundred tasbihat morning and evening
Among the clearest texts on the virtue of the morning azkar is the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) mentions that a single phrase said one hundred times in the morning cannot be outdone on the Day of Resurrection:
مَنْ قَالَ حِينَ يُصْبِحُ وَحِينَ يُمْسِي: سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ مِائَةَ مَرَّةٍ، لَمْ يَأْتِ أَحَدٌ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ بِأَفْضَلَ مِمَّا جَاءَ بِهِ، إِلَّا أَحَدٌ قَالَ مِثْلَ مَا قَالَ أَوْ زَادَ عَلَيْهِ
English meaning: Whoever says, when he reaches the morning and when he reaches the evening, 'Subhan Allahi wa bihamdih' one hundred times, no one will come on the Day of Resurrection with anything better than what he brings, except someone who said the like of it or more.
Why hold on to this daily portion?
That single hadith explains why Muslims hold on to the morning azkar: an act that is light in time yet weighty in reward, needing no wealth, no strength and no long sitting. Muslim recorded it in his Sahih, which places it at the highest level of authenticity.
The morning azkar are also not only a matter of reward in the hereafter. They remind a person that he is in Allah's care before he steps out among people, they turn the heart away from the anxious churn many begin their day with, and they make the first words on the tongue praise rather than complaint.
And because counting can distract from meaning, the Azkar app puts a counter on every dhikr that keeps your place if you are interrupted, so you complete the hundred while following the words rather than your fingers.
Sayyidul Istighfar: the greatest words of the morning
Among the morning azkar is what the Prophet (peace be upon him) called the greatest way of seeking forgiveness, with an immense reward for whoever says it with certainty:
سَيِّدُ الاسْتِغْفَارِ أَنْ تَقُولَ: اللَّهُمَّ أَنْتَ رَبِّي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ، خَلَقْتَنِي وَأَنَا عَبْدُكَ، وَأَنَا عَلَى عَهْدِكَ وَوَعْدِكَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُ، أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا صَنَعْتُ، أَبُوءُ لَكَ بِنِعْمَتِكَ عَلَيَّ، وَأَبُوءُ بِذَنْبِي فَاغْفِرْ لِي؛ فَإِنَّهُ لَا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ. مَنْ قَالَهَا مِنَ النَّهَارِ مُوقِنًا بِهَا فَمَاتَ مِنْ يَوْمِهِ قَبْلَ أَنْ يُمْسِيَ فَهُوَ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ
English meaning: The best way of asking for forgiveness is to say: O Allah, You are my Lord, there is no god but You. You created me and I am Your servant, and I keep to Your covenant and promise as much as I can. I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I have done. I acknowledge Your favour upon me, and I acknowledge my sin, so forgive me, for none forgives sins but You. Whoever says it during the day with certainty in it and dies that day before evening is among the people of Paradise.
The time of the morning azkar
The wording of the hadith, 'when he reaches the morning,' points to the first part of the day, which is why the practice of Muslims generally is to read the morning azkar after the Fajr prayer and before sunrise — the same window the verse refers to with 'before the rising of the sun.'
If someone sleeps past Fajr or is caught up in work, the point is not to abandon the portion altogether; he reads it whenever he remembers within the early part of his day, so that his morning does not pass in heedlessness.
The day's remembrance is then closed with the evening azkar after the Asr prayer. The two are one portion at the two ends of the day, exactly as the hadith joins them: 'when he reaches the morning and when he reaches the evening.'
What do the morning azkar in Hisnul Muslim include?
The morning chapter of Hisnul Muslim gathers established verses and supplications, the best known of which are:
Each one has the number it was narrated with: some are said once, some repeated three times, and some reach one hundred — which is why counting is part of the portion rather than an addition to it.
- Ayat al-Kursi — once
- Surah al-Ikhlas and the two Mu'awwidhatayn — three times
- «أَصْبَحْنَا وَأَصْبَحَ الْمُلْكُ لِلَّهِ» — 'We have entered the morning and the dominion belongs to Allah' — once
- Sayyidul Istighfar — once
- «اللَّهُمَّ بِكَ أَصْبَحْنَا، وَبِكَ أَمْسَيْنَا» — 'O Allah, by You we enter the morning and by You we enter the evening' — once
- «رَضِيتُ بِاللَّهِ رَبًّا، وَبِالْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا، وَبِمُحَمَّدٍ صلى الله عليه وسلم نَبِيًّا» — 'I am pleased with Allah as my Lord, Islam as my religion and Muhammad (peace be upon him) as my prophet' — three times
- «بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الَّذِي لَا يَضُرُّ مَعَ اسْمِهِ شَيْءٌ» — 'In the name of Allah, with whose name nothing can cause harm' — three times
- «سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ» — 'Glory be to Allah and praise be to Him' — one hundred times
How to keep the morning azkar every day
What usually breaks a daily portion is not weak desire but missing structure: no fixed time, no text at hand, and a count that gets lost halfway. The fix is practical:
Keeping the azkar is a habit that gets built, not a burst of enthusiasm that gets waited for. After two weeks at one fixed time, the morning azkar become part of your morning and stop needing a reminder at all.
- Tie it to a fixed moment: right after you finish the Fajr prayer, before you open your phone.
- Keep the text at hand: the morning azkar page is ready on the site and in the Azkar app, so you are not hunting for the words each day.
- Use the counter instead of your fingers; it keeps your place if you are interrupted.
- Turn on the daily reminder in the app so it reaches you at the time you chose.
- Start small but constant: two or three azkar every day beat a full portion abandoned after a week.