Virtue of Reciting Supplications After Obligatory Prayers━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Huraira (رضي الله عنه) that the poor immigrants came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said:❝O Messenger of Allah! The wealthy have attained high ranks and eternal blessings.❞
He ﷺ asked:
❝How is that?❞
They replied:
❝They pray as we pray, they fast as we fast, but they give in charity and we cannot, and they free slaves and we cannot.❞
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said:
❝Shall I not teach you something by which you can catch up with those who have preceded you,
and surpass those who come after you, and no one will be better than you except those who do the same as you do?❞
They said:
❝Yes, O Messenger of Allah!❞
He ﷺ said:
❝Recite Subḥān Allāh, Al-ḥamdu lillāh, and Allāhu Akbar 33 times after every prayer.❞
The narrator of the ḥadīth, Abu Ṣāliḥ, said:"The poor immigrants returned to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said:
❝Our wealthy brothers heard what we did and they began doing the same.❞
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said:
❝That is Allah’s bounty which He gives to whom He wills.❞
Surah Al-Ma’idah: 54
Sahih Bukhari: 843, Sahih Muslim: 595
Benefits:In another narration, it is mentioned to recite Allahu Akbar 34 times instead.
The Prophet ﷺ said:
❝There are some phrases to be recited after the obligatory prayers, by which one will never be unsuccessful:
33 times Subḥān Allāh,
33 times Al-ḥamdu lillāh,
and 34 times Allāhu Akbar.❞
Sahih Muslim: 596
There are many authentic aḥādīth on the virtue of reciting adhkār after obligatory prayers.Some of these are listed below.
Supplications That Lead to Paradise━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:❝Whoever recites Āyat al-Kursī after every obligatory prayer,
nothing prevents him from entering Paradise except death.❞
‘Amal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah by al-Nasa’i: 100 Its chain is ḥasan (good), also cited in al-Targhīb wa al-Tarhīb by al-Mundhirī 2/448, ḥadīth 2273
This shows the immense virtue of even a short act like reciting Āyat al-Kursī —just once after each Ṣalāh can become your path to Jannah.
Sayyiduna Muʿādh bin Jabal (رضي الله عنه) narrated:One day, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ took my hand and said:
❝O Muʿādh, by Allah, I love you.❞
Muʿādh replied:
❝May my parents be sacrificed for you, O Messenger of Allah! By Allah, I also love you.❞
The Prophet ﷺ then said:
❝O Muʿādh, I advise you never to forget to recite this duʿā’ after every prayer:❞
‘Amal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah by al-Nasa’i: 109 (this wording) Abu Dawud: 1522 – chain is authentic
In some narrations, the duʿā’ begins with “Rabbi” instead of “Allāhumma”.And Allah knows best.
Sayyiduna ʿUqbah bin ʿĀmir (رضي الله عنه) reported:The Messenger of Allah ﷺ commanded him to recite the Muʿawwidhatayn
(Sūrah al-Falaq and Sūrah al-Nās) after every prayer.
Sunan Abi Dawud: 1523 – chain is ḥasan
These aḥādīth highlight the importance and benefits of post-Salah supplications.Sadly, many Muslims today neglect them.
As soon as the Imām ends the prayer with Taslīm, people often:
Rush out of the masjid Get busy with conversations Or skip authentic adhkār in favor of invented/fabricated ones
Remember:Only those deeds are accepted by Allah ﷻ that are:
Proven from the Qur’ān and Sunnah
Not man-made innovations (bidʿah) A Dream Confirmed by the Prophet ﷺ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Sayyiduna Zayd bin Thābit (رضي الله عنه) narrated:❝We were commanded to recite:
• Subḥān Allāh – 33 times
• Al-ḥamdu lillāh – 33 times
• Allāhu Akbar – 34 times
after every prayer.❞
Then one of the Anṣār saw a dream, in which it was said to him:
❝You have been commanded to recite 33 times Subḥān Allāh, 33 times Al-ḥamdu lillāh, and 34 times Allāhu Akbar —
but you should also include Tahleel (Lā ilāha illa Allāh) and recite each of the four 25 times.❞
He mentioned this to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ,and the Prophet ﷺ responded:
❝Do as you have seen in your dream.❞
Musnad Aḥmad: 5/184 Sunan al-Nasa’i: 3/76, Hadith: 1351 ‘Amal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah: 157 Sunan al-Tirmidhi: 3413 – graded ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Khuzaymah: 752 Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān: Al-Iḥsān: 2014 Mawārid al-Ẓam’ān Benefits & Lessons:
From the Hadith of Jibrīl (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 8),and the Hadith of ‘Abdullāh bin Zayd regarding the Adhān (Sunan Abi Dawud: 499 – ḥasan chain),
we learn that sometimes angels appear in human form to teach —
and the Prophet ﷺ would confirm it later through revelation.
The Prophet ﷺ confirming the Anṣārī’s dream shows it is permissible to recite:• 25 times each: Subḥān Allāh, Al-ḥamdu lillāh, Allāhu Akbar, and Lā ilāha illa Allāh.
However, keep in mind:
Dreams of non-prophets are not binding in Islamic law. This exception is only valid for dreams during the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ, which he himself confirmed.
No Islamic ruling can be derived solely from dreams —unlike some sects who build entire beliefs upon dreams, which is clearly false and misleading.
Tasbih That Wipes Out Sins Like Sea Foam━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Sayyiduna Abu Huraira (رضي الله عنه) narrated:The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
❝Whoever recites:
• Subḥān Allāh – 33 times
• Al-ḥamdu lillāh – 33 times
• Allāhu Akbar – 33 times
after every prayer,
and completes the hundred by saying:
his sins will be forgiven —
even if they are as much as the foam of the sea.❞
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 597 Benefits & Reflections: This Hadith teaches that in addition to Tasbīḥ, Taḥmīd, and Takbīr,adding Tahlīl (Lā ilāha illa Allāh...) at the end makes it complete and results in total forgiveness of minor sins.
All narrations, despite slight variations, converge on a total of 100 words of dhikr.Whether it's:
• 33× Subḥān Allāh, 33× Al-ḥamdu lillāh, 34× Allāhu Akbar
• or 25× each of Subḥān Allāh, Al-ḥamdu lillāh, Allāhu Akbar, and Lā ilāha illa Allāh
• or 33× each of the first three and ending with 1× Tahlīl
— the total equals 100 dhikr, and this is the Sunnah limit.
Going beyond this number becomes questionable. Musayyib bin Najabah once said to Sayyiduna ʿAbdullāh bin Masʿūd (رضي الله عنه):❝I saw people in the mosque saying: “Say Subḥān Allāh 360 times.”❞
He replied:
❝O ʿAlqamah, take me to them.❞
When he saw them, he said:
❝You have either grabbed onto the tail of misguidance,
or you think you are more rightly guided than the companions of Muhammad ﷺ.❞
From this, it's clear:Only the numbers established from the Prophet ﷺ should be followed in post-prayer dhikr.
Light Acts, Heavy Rewards — Few Remember to Do Them━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Sayyiduna ʿAbdullāh bin ʿAmr (رضي الله عنه) narrated:The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
❝There are two qualities — whoever holds to them will enter Paradise.
They are easy to do, but very few people maintain them:
➊ Recite after every prayer:
• Subḥān Allāh – 10 times
• Al-ḥamdu lillāh – 10 times
• Allāhu Akbar – 10 times
➋ And before sleeping:
• Subḥān Allāh – 33 times
• Al-ḥamdu lillāh – 33 times
• Allāhu Akbar – 34 times❞
The Prophet ﷺ said:❝This makes 150 dhikr on the tongue,
but 1500 on the scale (of good deeds)!
And 100 before sleep on the tongue,
but 1000 on the scale.❞
Then the Prophet ﷺ asked:
❝Who among you commits 2500 sins a day?❞
They said:
❝Why wouldn’t we hold to them, O Messenger of Allah?❞
He ﷺ replied:
❝Shayṭān comes to one of you in prayer and makes him forget.
He comes when you lie down and puts you to sleep.❞
Al-Tirmidhi: 3410 | Abu Dawud: 5065 | al-Nasa’i: 1349 — chain is ḥasan Benefits:
These are light actions, but their reward is enormous —and Allah loves small acts done consistently.
It’s also better to count using your fingers,as the Prophet ﷺ did,
rather than relying on beads or digital counters.
Dhikr That Protects You All Day━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Sayyiduna Abu Dharr (رضي الله عنه) narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:❝Whoever recites the following ten times after Fajr,
while sitting with his legs folded, without speaking to anyone:
…then:
10 good deeds will be written for him 10 sins will be erased He will be raised by 10 levels He will be protected from all evils throughout the day And no sin will harm him — except Shirk (polytheism)❞ Al-Tirmidhi: 3474 – chain is ṣaḥīḥ ʿAmal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah: 127 Benefits: No matter how many good deeds a person accumulates —If they are contaminated with Shirk, they become worthless.
Allah ﷻ says regarding certain Prophets:❝Had they associated others with Allah, all their deeds would have been nullified.❞
Surah Al-An‘ām: 88
He also says:❝Indeed, Shirk is a great injustice.❞
Surah Luqmān: 13
A polytheist who dies without repentance has no hope:❝Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him,
but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills.❞
For such a person, Jannah is forever prohibited:❝Indeed, whoever associates with Allah —
Allah has forbidden him Paradise, and his refuge is the Fire.❞
So let’s be firm on Tawḥīd, and never leave the powerful supplications taught by the Prophet ﷺ. These daily post-prayer adhkār are simple, timeless, and soul-purifying —a gift from the Sunnah we should hold on to.
May Allah help us remember Him in the way His Messenger ﷺ taught —with sincerity, gratitude, and excellence in worship. Ameen!
