Maktab QuranSurah Ad-Duha was revealed at a moment of aching doubt: revelation had paused, and the Prophet's ﷺ enemies taunted that his Lord had abandoned him. Then came eleven ayahs of pure reassurance, sworn by the morning light: 'Your Lord has not forsaken you, nor does He hate you' (authentically reported in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim). It reminds him — and every reader in a dark season — that the last will be better than the first, counts the times Allah already carried him, and ends with three instructions: do not oppress the orphan, do not repel the asker, and speak of your Lord's favour.
Surah Ad-Duha is the 93rd chapter of the Qur'an, a Meccan surah of 11 verses. Its name means “The Morning Brightness”. It is addressed to the Prophet ﷺ, reassuring him that his Lord has neither left him nor detested him, reminding him of three things already given, and instructing him in three things to do in return.
Surah Ad-Duha at a glance
| Surah number | 93 of 114 |
|---|---|
| Arabic name | سُورَةُ الضُّحَىٰ |
| Name in English | Ad-Duha — “The Morning Hours” |
| Verses (ayahs) | 11 |
| Revealed in | Makkah |
| Juz | 30 |
| Length in the Mushaf | about 1 page |
Your Lord has not left you
The surah opens with an oath by the morning brightness and by the night when it covers with darkness, then states directly that his Lord has not taken leave of him nor detested him, that the Hereafter is better for him than the first life, and that his Lord will give until he is satisfied.
Three things already given
It then recalls three: He found you an orphan and gave refuge; He found you lost and guided; He found you poor and made you self-sufficient. Each is a statement of what had already happened, offered as grounds for confidence about what had not yet.
Three things to do
The surah closes by turning each gift into an instruction: as for the orphan, do not oppress him; as for the petitioner, do not repel him; and as for the favour of your Lord, report it.
Read Surah Ad-Duha in full
The Arabic below is the Uthmani script, with a Roman transliteration to help you sound out each verse and the Sahih International English translation of the meaning. If you are learning to recite it, read the Arabic line first and use the transliteration only to check yourself — leaning on it slows real reading down.
Listen to Surah Ad-Duha (Mishary Al-Afasy)
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ وَٱلضُّحَىٰ
Wad duhaa
By the morning brightness
وَٱلَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَىٰ
Wal laili iza sajaa
And [by] the night when it covers with darkness,
مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَىٰ
Ma wad da'aka rabbuka wa ma qalaa
Your Lord has not taken leave of you, [O Muhammad], nor has He detested [you].
وَلَلْءَاخِرَةُ خَيْرٌۭ لَّكَ مِنَ ٱلْأُولَىٰ
Walal-aakhiratu khairul laka minal-oola
And the Hereafter is better for you than the first [life].
وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَىٰٓ
Wa la sawfa y'uteeka rabbuka fatarda
And your Lord is going to give you, and you will be satisfied.
أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًۭا فَـَٔاوَىٰ
Alam ya jidka yateeman fa aawaa
Did He not find you an orphan and give [you] refuge?
وَوَجَدَكَ ضَآلًّۭا فَهَدَىٰ
Wa wa jadaka daal lan fahada
And He found you lost and guided [you],
وَوَجَدَكَ عَآئِلًۭا فَأَغْنَىٰ
Wa wa jadaka 'aa-ilan fa aghnaa
And He found you poor and made [you] self-sufficient.
فَأَمَّا ٱلْيَتِيمَ فَلَا تَقْهَرْ
Fa am mal yateema fala taqhar
So as for the orphan, do not oppress [him].
وَأَمَّا ٱلسَّآئِلَ فَلَا تَنْهَرْ
Wa am mas saa-ila fala tanhar
And as for the petitioner, do not repel [him].
وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ
Wa amma bi ni'mati rabbika fahad dith
But as for the favor of your Lord, report [it].
Learning Surah Ad-Duha
Ad-Duha is 11 short verses and is one of the first surahs many children complete after the very shortest. Its three-and-three structure — what was given, then what to do — makes the order easy to keep.
Why memorize Surah Ad-Duha?
Because it is short, deeply loved, and medicine for hard days. At eleven brief ayahs Ad-Duha is typically a two-or-three-day memorization — and once memorized, it becomes the surah many students reach for whenever life feels like the pause before dawn.
How long does Surah Ad-Duha take to memorize?
Honest answer: it depends on your daily portion and whether someone is correcting you. Surah Ad-Duha is about 14 lines of mushaf text. Here is what that means at three realistic paces — each assuming you also run the revision cycle (which is what makes it permanent):
| Pace | New memorization per day | Time to finish Surah Ad-Duha | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Relaxed | ~3 lines | about 5 days | Busy adults, first-time memorizers |
| Steady | ~5 lines | about 3 days | Most students — the sweet spot |
| Focused | ~10 lines | about 2 days | Experienced memorizers, school holidays |
Add roughly a consolidation week at the end — the point where you can recite the whole surah to a listener without prompts. Our guide to how long the whole Quran takes uses the same arithmetic.
The smart way to memorize Surah Ad-Duha
Memorize it as one emotional arc in three breaths: the oath and the reassurance (1–3), the promise and the proof — did He not find you an orphan, wandering, poor? (4–8), and the response Allah asks of you (9–11). The three closing commands mirror the three favours — orphan, guidance, sufficiency — and spotting that mirror locks the order permanently. Recite it in your sunnah prayers from day one; a surah used in salah is a surah never lost.
A milestone plan for Surah Ad-Duha
At the steady pace (~5 lines a day), Surah Ad-Duha breaks into four milestones. Print our free planner PDF and mark them off:
| Portion | New-memorization time | Cumulative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milestone 1 | Ayahs 1–2 | ~1 day | Day 1 |
| Milestone 2 | Ayahs 3–4 | ~1 day | Day 2 |
| Milestone 3 | Ayahs 5–6 | ~1 day | Day 3 |
| Milestone 4 | Ayahs 7–11 | ~1 day | Day 4 |
Use the system huffadh actually use
Every hifz institute on earth runs some version of the same engine: new lesson (sabaq), near revision (sabqi), far revision (manzil). New memorization is the easy part — the system exists to stop last month's pages dissolving while you learn this month's. It's the backbone of our structured Hifz course, and you can run it yourself with the free planner PDF.
The correction problem (and its solution)
Apps and audio can help you repeat — but they can't hear you. Memorizing alone means locking in whatever you happen to be saying, right or wrong, and un-learning a settled mistake takes longer than learning it right the first time. Our teachers listen to every ayah live on a synchronized Quran screen, fix each slip in real time, and keep your sabaq–sabqi–manzil cycle honest. Try it in a free trial lesson — no card required.