The bedtime and waking duas in Arabic, with transliteration and meaning — and the short sunnah routine they belong to, written for parents who are putting a child to bed tonight.
Published 2026-09-06 · 7 min read · By the Maktab Quran Team
The bedtime dua is Bismika Allahumma amutu wa ahya — “In Your name, O Allah, I die and I live” (Sahih al-Bukhari). On waking, the dua is Alhamdu lillahil-ladhi ahyana ba’da ma amatana wa ilayhin-nushur (Sahih al-Bukhari). The fuller sunnah routine is wudu, Ayat al-Kursi, the three Quls blown into the hands, then lying on the right side.
Key takeaways
The core bedtime dua is four words: Bismika Allahumma amutu wa ahya — "In Your name, O Allah, I die and I live." A three-year-old can learn it.
The waking dua thanks Allah for returning the soul after sleep. Sleep is described in the Quran as a lesser death, which is what both duas are pointing at.
The fuller sunnah routine is: wudu, Ayat al-Kursi, the three Quls blown into the hands, lie on the right side.
None of this is obligatory. It is a recommended practice, and a partial version said sincerely is not a failed version.
For a frightened child there is a specific narrated dua, given below.
Bedtime is the easiest moment in the day to build a religious habit, for a reason that has nothing to do with religion: it already happens at the same time, in the same place, with a parent present. Every study of how children acquire routines says the same thing — the moment does the teaching. That is exactly how the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم taught these duas, at the moment they belong to.
Which two duas should I learn first?
If you learn nothing else on this page, learn these. The bedtime dua is four words long and the waking dua is one sentence. Between them they frame the whole night.
A'udhu bikalimatillahit-tammati min ghadabihi wa 'iqabih
I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from His anger and His punishment.
Source: Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi
About the sources on this page
Every dua below is given with the collection it comes from — Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah — or, where it is from the Quran, with its exact surah and verse. We cite collections rather than hadith numbers on purpose: numbering differs between printings, and a wrong number helps nobody. If you want to trace a narration to its exact place, ask your teacher or an imam you trust, and check it in a printed collection you have to hand. This page is a learning aid for families, not a substitute for a scholar.
What is the full sunnah bedtime routine?
The narrations describe a short sequence rather than a single dua. In practice it takes about ninety seconds:
Make wudu before getting into bed, as you would for prayer.
Recite Ayat al-Kursi (Quran 2:255) once.
Recite al-Ikhlas, al-Falaq and an-Nas, blow lightly into cupped hands, and wipe over the head, face and body — three times.
Lie on your right side, and say the bedtime dua.
Two honest notes. First, none of this is obligatory — it is a recommended practice, and a child who manages the four-word dua and falls asleep before the rest has done something good, not something incomplete. Second, the order above is the commonly practised arrangement; the narrations report these as separate sunnahs, and you will see slightly different orderings in different books. Neither point is worth anxiety.
What do you say when a child wakes up frightened?
There is a specific narrated dua for fear at night, included in the table above. Say it with them rather than at them, and say it in a calm and ordinary voice — a dua delivered in an alarmed tone teaches a child that there is something to be alarmed about.
It is also worth knowing that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم distinguished between a good dream, which is from Allah, and a disturbing one, which is not to be told to others. Practically, for a young child: reassure, say the dua, and do not interrogate the dream.
How do I teach this without a nightly battle?
Say it out loud yourself, every night, whether or not the child joins in. That is the whole method. Children copy what a parent does far more reliably than what a parent instructs, and a dua that arrives as an instruction at the end of a long day tends to arrive as one more thing to resist.
Give the meaning once, in plain words: we are saying, "Allah, I go to sleep with Your name, and I wake up with Your name." A child who knows what they are saying says it differently.
Free printable: 18 everyday duas for children
Our most downloaded resource. Eighteen short duas for the moments of a child's day — waking, eating, leaving the house, sleeping — with Arabic, transliteration, meaning and source.
Bismika Allahumma amutu wa ahya — "In Your name, O Allah, I die and I live." It is narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari and is four words long, which makes it the usual first dua a child learns.
What is the dua after waking up?
Alhamdu lillahil-ladhi ahyana ba'da ma amatana wa ilayhin-nushur — "Praise be to Allah who gave us life after He caused us to die, and to Him is the return." It is narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari.
Should I recite Ayat al-Kursi before sleeping?
It is a well-known sunnah. The narration in Sahih al-Bukhari states that whoever recites it before sleeping has a guardian from Allah with them and no devil comes near until morning.
Which side should you sleep on in Islam?
The right side is the sunnah, as described in the narrations of the bedtime routine. It is recommended, not obligatory, and no one is sinful for sleeping otherwise.
What dua do you say if a child wakes up frightened?
A'udhu bikalimatillahit-tammati min ghadabihi wa 'iqabih — "I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from His anger and His punishment." It is narrated in Abu Dawud and Tirmidhi.
At what age can a child learn the sleeping dua?
Most children can repeat the four-word bedtime dua from around age three. Say it aloud yourself each night; children join in when they are ready.
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