Duʿāʾ for a newborn

1In labour: the duʿāʾ of distress

Labour is hard, and Allah hears every breath of it. Ibn ʿAbbās reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to say at a time of distress the words below (Bukhārī 6346)². They are short enough to say between contractions, or for a husband, mother or sister to say beside you.

Nothing in the sound reports fixes a recitation for childbirth itself. Say what comes to your heart: “Yā Allāh, make it easy”, in any language, is a complete duʿāʾ.

2Duʿāʾs from the Qurʾān for your child

The Qurʾān keeps the prayers of parents. When Maryam’s mother gave birth, she named her daughter and placed her and her children in Allah’s protection from the accursed devil (Āl ʿImrān 3:36)⁴. Ibrāhīm asked, “My Lord, grant me a child from among the righteous” (al-Ṣāffāt 37:100)⁵, and with Ismāʿīl he prayed for their descendants (al-Baqarah 2:128)⁶. Zakariyyā asked for “a good child” (Āl ʿImrān 3:38)⁷.

Once the baby is here, these become prayers for the child in your arms: that Allah make them righteous, devoted to Him, and a joy to your eyes (al-Furqān 25:74)⁸. The believer in al-Aḥqāf asks, “make my children righteous for me” (al-Aḥqāf 46:15)⁹, and Ibrāhīm asks that he and his children keep up the prayer (Ibrāhīm 14:40)¹⁰.

A mother still in nifās (the bleeding after birth) can always make these duʿāʾs. Whether she may recite them as Qurʾān is a difference between the schools, set out at the end of this page.

3Placing your baby in Allah’s protection

Ibn ʿAbbās said the Prophet ﷺ used to seek Allah’s protection for his grandsons al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, saying: “Your forefather used to seek protection with these words for Ismāʿīl and Isḥāq” (Bukhārī 3371)¹¹. So these are the words of two prophets over their children, and of our Prophet ﷺ over his grandchildren.

The Prophet ﷺ said them over two boys. Many parents say them over one child in the singular; that is a natural adaptation, and the Arabic below is the wording as narrated.

The last two sūrahs of the Qurʾān, al-Falaq and al-Nās, are the Qurʾān’s own words of refuge. The Prophet ﷺ told ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir: “Seek refuge with these two; no one seeks refuge with anything like them” (Abū Dāwūd 1463, ṣaḥīḥ)¹².

1. Hold your baby close

   Morning and evening, or whenever you feel worried, hold the baby and say the words of refuge above.¹¹

2. Add al-Falaq and al-Nās

   Recite them, or have the father or a family member recite them, near the baby. A mother in nifās should see the note at the end on reciting the Qurʾān.¹²

3. Then rest

   Protection is with Allah. Say the words and put your trust in Him; you do not need to repeat them anxiously.

4When people admire your baby

Everyone will want to tell you how beautiful your baby is. The Prophet ﷺ said: “The evil eye is real” (Bukhārī 5740)^13,14. He also showed the cure, which is simple and kind: when you like what you see, pray for blessing.

When ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah admired Sahl ibn Ḥunayf and Sahl collapsed, the Prophet ﷺ said: “When one of you sees something in his brother that delights him, let him pray for blessing for him” (Ibn Mājah 3509, ṣaḥīḥ)¹⁵. The Qurʾān teaches the words “Mā shāʾ Allāh, lā quwwata illā bi-Llāh”, “what Allah wills; there is no strength except through Allah” (al-Kahf 18:39)¹⁶.

If a baby does seem touched by the eye, the Sunnah is ruqyah, recitation and duʿāʾ over them. The Prophet ﷺ told ʿĀʾishah to seek ruqyah for the eye, and he said of a little girl in Umm Salamah’s house, “Seek ruqyah for her” (Bukhārī 5738, 5739)^17,18. Ask a trusted person of knowledge. A fever, a rash or a baby who will not feed is a reason to call your pediatrician first.

1. For visitors

   Instead of only “so cute!”, say “Bāraka Llāhu fīh” (or fīhā for a girl), or “Mā shāʾ Allāh”.^15,16

2. For you

   When you catch yourself marvelling at your own baby, say it too. Parents admire their children more than anyone.¹⁵

3. For photos

   There is no ruling here, only good sense: share what you are comfortable with, and pray for blessing when you post.

5Telling Allah you love your child

Al-Barāʾ saw the Prophet ﷺ carrying his little grandson al-Ḥasan on his shoulder, saying: “O Allah, I love him, so love him” (Bukhārī 3749)¹⁹. It may be the gentlest duʿāʾ in the whole Sunnah, and it fits a sleeping baby on your shoulder perfectly. For a daughter, say “uḥibbuhā fa-aḥibbahā”.

When Umm Sulaym brought her young son Anas, the Prophet ﷺ prayed for plenty and blessing for him (Bukhārī 6334)²⁰, and for the young Ibn ʿAbbās he prayed for understanding of the religion (Bukhārī 143)²¹.

6When friends congratulate you

The best-known words of congratulation come from the early Muslims, not from a ḥadīth. Ibn Qudāmah reports that al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī taught a man to say them²², and al-Nawawī reports similar words from al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, with a reply for the parents²³. We found no grading of either chain, so we present them as a beautiful saying of the salaf, not as the Prophet’s ﷺ words.

Ibn al-Qayyim adds that a daughter should be congratulated exactly as a son is²⁴. If you are the one visiting, say the same warm words for a girl as for a boy.

7For mothers in nifās: can I recite these?

During nifās you do not pray, but you are never cut off from Allah. Al-Nawawī reports that the scholars agree a woman in her period or in nifās may say subḥān Allāh, lā ilāha illa Llāh and every other dhikr²⁵. Every duʿāʾ on this page that comes from a ḥadīth is not Qurʾān, so you can say it freely.

The schools differ only on reciting the Qurʾān itself, including the Qurʾānic duʿāʾs and al-Falaq and al-Nās. Here is each school from its own books.

Sources

1. Qurʾān, al-Naḥl 16:78 Allah brought you out of your mothers’ wombs knowing nothing, and gave you hearing, sight and hearts, so that you might be grateful.
2. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6346 Ibn ʿAbbās: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to say at a time of distress: “There is no god but Allah, the Magnificent, the Forbearing …”
3. Report that, when Fāṭimah’s labour drew near, the Prophet ﷺ sent Umm Salamah and Zaynab bint Jaḥsh to recite Āyat al-Kursī, al-Aʿrāf 7:54 and the two Muʿawwidhahs over her (Ibn al-Sunnī) Graded fabricated by al-Albānī. Grading: mawḍūʿ (fabricated): al-Albānī, takhrīj of al-Kalim al-Ṭayyib 210.
4. Qurʾān, Āl ʿImrān 3:36 Maryam’s mother, after giving birth to a daughter, names her Maryam and places her and her offspring in Allah’s protection from the accursed devil.
5. Qurʾān, al-Ṣāffāt 37:100 Ibrāhīm’s prayer: “My Lord, grant me a child from among the righteous.”
6. Qurʾān, al-Baqarah 2:128 Ibrāhīm and Ismāʿīl’s prayer for themselves and their descendants.
7. Qurʾān, Āl ʿImrān 3:38 Zakariyyā prays: “My Lord, grant me from Your grace a good child; You hear every prayer.”
8. Qurʾān, al-Furqān 25:74 Our Lord, give us joy and comfort in our spouses and our children, and make us an example for the God-fearing.
9. Qurʾān, al-Aḥqāf 46:15 His mother bore him in pain and brought him into the world in pain; his bearing and weaning take thirty months.
10. Qurʾān, Ibrāhīm 14:40 My Lord, make me one who keeps up the prayer, and my children too. Our Lord, accept my prayer.
11. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3371 The Prophet ﷺ used to seek refuge for al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn: “I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from every devil and harmful creature, and from every envious eye”, saying that Ibrāhīm used to say it over Ismāʿīl and Isḥāq.
12. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 1463 ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir: on a dark, windy night the Prophet ﷺ sought refuge with al-Falaq and al-Nās and said: “ʿUqbah, seek refuge with these two; no one seeks refuge with anything like them.” Grading: ṣaḥīḥ: al-Albānī (as shown on sunnah.com).
13. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5740 “The evil eye is real.”
14. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2188 “The eye is real. If anything were to outstrip the decree, the eye would outstrip it.”
15. Sunan Ibn Mājah 3509 ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah admired Sahl ibn Ḥunayf, who then collapsed. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Why would one of you kill his brother? When one of you sees something in his brother that delights him, let him pray for blessing for him.” Grading: ṣaḥīḥ: al-Albānī, Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Mājah 2844; Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾūṭ, Takhrīj Mushkil al-Āthār 2894 (“ṣaḥīḥ, its men are trustworthy, the men of the two Ṣaḥīḥs”).
16. Qurʾān, al-Kahf 18:39 “Why, when you entered your garden, did you not say: What Allah wills; there is no strength except through Allah?”
17. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5738 ʿĀʾishah: the Prophet ﷺ told me (or told someone) to seek ruqyah for the evil eye.
18. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5739 Umm Salamah: the Prophet ﷺ saw a girl in her house with a dark mark on her face and said: “Seek ruqyah for her; the eye has touched her.”
19. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3749 al-Barāʾ: I saw the Prophet ﷺ with al-Ḥasan on his shoulder, saying: “O Allah, I love him, so love him.”
20. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6334 Umm Sulaym said to the Prophet ﷺ, “Anas is your servant,” and he prayed: “O Allah, increase his wealth and children, and bless him in what You give him.”
21. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 143 The Prophet ﷺ prayed for the young Ibn ʿAbbās: “O Allah, give him understanding of the religion.”
22. Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī) 9/464 Some scholars said it is recommended for the father to give the adhān in his child’s ear when born. ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz would wrap his newborn in a cloth, give the adhān in the right ear and the iqāmah in the left, and name the child. Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī’s words of congratulation. The Prophet ﷺ did taḥnīk with dates.
23. al-Nawawī, al-Majmūʿ (Shāfiʿī) 8/442–443 The sunnah is to give the adhān in the newborn’s ear at birth, boy or girl, in the words of the prayer adhān; a group of scholars add the iqāmah in the left ear. Taḥnīk with a date is sunnah, or something sweet if there is no date; the one who does it should be a good person, “and if not a man, then a righteous woman”. The parent is congratulated with the words taught by al-Ḥusayn, and replies with a prayer.
24. Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 3, pp. 27–29 It is recommended to bring the good news of a birth and to congratulate. One should not congratulate for a boy and not for a girl, but for both alike, to leave the custom of the Jāhiliyyah. Through Ibn al-Mundhir: al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī taught, “May the gift be blessed for you, may you thank the Giver, may the child reach maturity, and may you be granted the child’s kindness.” Grading: A saying of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (a Successor), not a ḥadīth. al-Nawawī (al-Majmūʿ 8/443) attributes the same words to al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī.
25. al-Nawawī, al-Majmūʿ (Shāfiʿī) 2/162–163 and 2/356–357 Reciting any of the Qurʾān, even part of an āyah, is forbidden to a woman in ḥayḍ or nifās when she intends the Qurʾān; words of the Qurʾān said as dhikr or duʿāʾ, not intending recitation, are allowed (e.g. “Rabbanā ātinā fi d-dunyā ḥasanah …”). Reading in the heart and looking at a muṣḥaf are allowed without disagreement, and “the scholars agree” that tasbīḥ, tahlīl and other dhikr are allowed to women in ḥayḍ and nifās.
26. Ibn ʿĀbidīn, Radd al-Muḥtār (Ḥanafī) 1/293 (Bāb al-Ḥayḍ) Reciting the Qurʾān is barred to a woman in ḥayḍ or nifās “even less than an āyah”, when she intends recitation. “If she recites al-Fātiḥah as a duʿāʾ, or āyāt that carry the meaning of duʿāʾ, not intending recitation, there is no harm.”
27. al-Dardīr, al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr, with Ḥāshiyat al-Dasūqī (Mālikī) 1/174–175 Ḥayḍ bars touching a muṣḥaf but “not recitation”. Of nifās: “what it bars is like ḥayḍ: it bars all that ḥayḍ bars, and recitation is permitted.”
28. Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī) 1/106 “The junub, the woman in ḥayḍ and the woman in nifās do not recite the Qurʾān.” An āyah is forbidden; part of an āyah that is also ordinary speech (the basmalah, al-ḥamdu lillāh, other dhikr) is no harm when the Qurʾān is not intended, “for there is no disagreement that they may remember Allah”.
29. al-Buhūtī, Kashshāf al-Qināʿ (Ḥanbalī) 1/147 Forbidden: reciting an āyah or more. Not forbidden: part of an āyah (unless long), and saying what matches the Qurʾān without intending it, such as the basmalah. Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn (Ibn Taymiyyah) held that a woman in ḥayḍ may recite when she fears forgetting.

Read next

• The first hoursThe adhān in your baby’s ear, taḥnīk with a date, the first duʿāʾ, and how to congratulate, with each ruling sourced in the four schools.
• For mothers: your first forty daysFor the new mother: the rulings of nifās in the four schools, nursing and rest, the warning signs that should not wait, and where to call if your heart grows heavy.
• The seventh dayThe ʿaqīqah, shaving your baby’s hair and giving its weight in silver, and how to count the seventh day, with each ruling from the four schools’ own books.