The Best Opening Supplication in Salah:
This excerpt is taken from Shaykh Zubair Ali Zai (رحمه الله)’s book Hadiyyat al-Muslimeen: Important Issues of Salah with the Complete Prophetic Prayer (ﷺ).
Duʿāʾ al-Istiftāḥ (Opening Supplication)
«عن أبى هريرة رضى الله عنه قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أقول: اللهم باعد بيني وبين خطاياي كما باعدت بين المشرق والمغرب، اللهم نقني من الخطايا كما ينقى الثوب الأبيض من الدنس، اللهم اغسل خطاياي بالماء والثلج والبرد»
Narration: Abū Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه) reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
“(In the first pause of the prayer) I say:
اللَّهُمَّ بَاعِدْ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَ خَطَايَايَ، كَمَا بَاعَدْتَ بَيْنَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ، اللَّهُمَّ نَقِّنِي مِنْ خَطَايَايَ، كَمَا يُنَقَّى الثَّوْبُ الأَبْيَضُ مِنَ الدَّنَسِ، اللَّهُمَّ اغْسِلْنِي مِنْ خَطَايَايَ بِالثَّلْجِ وَالْمَاءِ وَالْبَرَدِ
“O Allah, keep me away from my sins as You have kept the East far from the West. O Allah, purify me from my sins as a white garment is purified from dirt. O Allah, wash away my sins with water, snow, and hail.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 1/103, ḥadīth 744 (wording from here); Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 1/219, ḥadīth 598]
✦ فوائد (Benefits)
① This ḥadīth proves that in the first pause (sukūt al-awlā) of the prayer, one should recite اللَّهُمَّ بَاعِدْ بَيْنِي....
② From ʿUmar (رضي الله عنه), a mawqūf (Companion-statement, not marfūʿ) narration is reported with the wording سُبْحَانَكَ اللَّهُمَّ وَبِحَمْدِكَ.
[Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, vol. 1, p. 172, ḥadīth 399]
This supplication is also authentically reported from the Prophet (ﷺ) in qiyām al-layl.
[Sunan Abī Dāwūd, vol. 1, p. 120, ḥadīth 775]
Hence, this thanaa is also permissible.
③ Apart from these, several other opening supplications are also proven.
④ According to the research of Abū Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه), in audible prayers the follower (muqtadī) should recite Sūrat al-Fātiḥah instead of this duʿāʾ, completing it before the imam finishes.
[See Āthār al-Sunan (translated), p. 223, ḥadīth 358 — graded ḥasan]
This was also the view of some Tābiʿīn.
⑤ References from Āthār al-Sunan and other books of the people of taqlīd are presented against them as an argument and completion of proof.
