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A Comprehensive Du'ā for Success in Both Worlds
Twenty-two keys to spiritual excellence and worldly prosperity, as taught by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Sacred Tradition
The Prophetic Supplication
'Abdullah ibn 'Abbās (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported that the Prophet ﷺ used to supplicate with a magnificent du'ā containing twenty-two essential requests. This comprehensive supplication addresses the most important needs of every believer, encompassing both spiritual purification and worldly success.
The hadith was narrated by Abu Dawood, al-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah, and was authenticated by the renowned scholar al-Albani in Sahih Sunan Abi Dawood. This authentication confirms its reliability and establishes it as a trustworthy source of guidance for Muslims seeking to enrich their spiritual practice.
The Complete Arabic Text with Translation
رَبِّ أَعِنِّي وَلَا تُعِنْ عَلَيَّ، وَٱنْصُرْنِي وَلَا تَنْصُرْ عَلَيَّ، وَٱمْكُرْ لِي وَلَا تَمْكُرْ عَلَيَّ، وَٱهْدِنِي وَيَسِّرِ ٱلْهُدَى لِي، وَٱنْصُرْنِي عَلَىٰ مَن بَغَىٰ عَلَيَّ
"O Lord, assist me and do not assist against me; grant me victory and do not grant victory over me; plan for me and do not plan against me; guide me and make guidance easy for me; grant me victory over those who transgress against me."
ٱللَّهُمَّ ٱجْعَلْنِي لَكَ شَاكِرًا، لَكَ ذَاكِرًا، لَكَ رَاهِبًا، لَكَ مِطْواعًا، لَكَ مُخْبِتًا، إِلَيْكَ أَوَّاهًا مُّنِيبًا
"O Allah, make me grateful to You, make me constantly remembering You, make me fearful of You, make me obedient to You, make me humble before You, make me often returning to You."
رَبِّ تَقَبَّلْ تَوْبَتِي، وَٱغْسِلْ حَوْبَتِي، وَأَجِبْ دَعْوَتِي، وَثَبِّتْ حُجَّتِي، وَٱهْدِ قَلْبِي، وَسَدِّدْ لِسَانِي، وَٱسْلُلْ سَخِيمَةَ صَدْرِي
"O my Lord, accept my repentance, wash away my sins, respond to my supplication, establish my proof, guide my heart, make my tongue truthful, and remove the malice from my heart."
Divine Assistance
Seeking Allah's Support: The First Nine Requests
Request Divine Assistance
"O Lord, assist me" - Seek Allah's help in remembering Him, thanking Him, worshipping Him properly, and confronting life's challenges with His support and divine guidance.
Protection from Opposition
"Do not assist against me" - Ask Allah not to let those who prevent obedience overcome you, including the soul that incites evil and devils among humans and jinn.
Grant Me Victory
"Grant me victory" - Seek triumph over disbelievers, enemies of the religion, and most importantly, victory over your own soul that commands evil.
Protection from Defeat
"Do not grant victory over me" - Request that Allah not allow any of His creation to have power or dominance over you in matters of faith or life.
Divine Strategic Planning
"Plan for me" - Ask for sound strategy and righteous thinking to be safe from enemies' plots, such that they don't realize how Allah has guided you to counter their schemes.
Shield from Counter-Plans
"Do not plan against me" - Pray that Allah does not guide your enemies to ways of successfully opposing or harming you in return.
The Path of Guidance and Triumph
These three interconnected requests form a complete system of spiritual success: initial guidance to truth, facilitation of following that truth, and ultimate protection from those who would prevent righteous practice.
Seventh Request: Guidance to Truth
"And guide me" means directing toward doors of goodness, receiving beneficial knowledge, and gaining insight into the defects of one's own soul. True guidance begins with self-awareness.
Eighth Request: Ease of Following
"Make guidance easy for me" asks Allah to facilitate following the path of righteousness, preparing the means of goodness so obedience doesn't feel burdensome and worship remains a joy.
Ninth Request: Victory Over Oppressors
"Grant me victory over those who transgress" seeks divine support against those who wrong and oppress, ensuring justice prevails in worldly affairs.
Spiritual Excellence
Six Qualities of the Devoted Servant
Gratitude to Allah
Request 10: "Make me grateful to You" - Seeking divine inspiration to properly thank Allah for His countless blessings and favors, recognizing every bounty as coming from Him alone.
Constant Remembrance
Request 11: "Make me constantly remembering You" - Asking to remember Allah in all states and times, whether standing, sitting, or lying down, keeping the heart attached to the Divine.
Fearful Awareness
Request 12: "Make me fearful of You" - Requesting appropriate fear of Allah in both ease and hardship, maintaining consciousness of divine accountability in all circumstances.
Complete Obedience
Request 13: "Make me obedient to You" - Seeking strength to comply, submit fully, and obey Allah's commands with eagerness and consistency in all matters.
Humble Submission
Request 14: "Make me humble before You" - Asking for true humbleness, modesty, and submission, recognizing one's complete dependence on Allah and insignificance before His majesty.
Frequent Return
Request 15: "Make me often returning to You" - The word "awwah" describes one who frequently supplicates and cries in humility, while "muneeb" means constantly repenting and returning to Allah.
Acceptance of Repentance and Purification
Sixteenth Request
"O Lord, accept my repentance"
This profound request asks Allah to make one's repentance correct by fulfilling all its conditions and gathering all its proper etiquettes. True repentance requires sincere regret for past sins, immediate cessation of the wrongdoing, firm resolve never to return to it, and making amends where possible.
The conditions of valid repentance include acknowledging the sin, feeling genuine remorse, stopping the sinful behavior immediately, and having sincere intention never to repeat it. When directed toward fellow humans, it also requires seeking their forgiveness.
Seventeenth Request
"And wash away my sins"
The Arabic word "hawbah" encompasses all forms of sin, guilt, and wrongdoing. This request seeks complete spiritual purification - not merely forgiveness, but a washing away that leaves no trace or stain on the soul. It's a plea for Allah to erase sins as if they never occurred.
Just as water cleanses physical impurities, this supplication asks for divine mercy to cleanse spiritual impurities. The imagery of washing emphasizes completeness - seeking not just pardon but total removal of sin's effects from one's record and heart.

💡 Reflection: These two requests work together - repentance is the human effort to turn away from sin, while the washing away is the divine gift that completes the purification. Both are necessary for spiritual renewal.
Divine Response
Supplication Answered and Proof Established
Eighteenth Request
"Respond to My Supplication"
This request—"and respond to my supplication"—asks Allah to answer prayers and grant what is sought. It acknowledges that while believers call upon Allah with sincerity, only He determines what prayers to answer, when, and how. The believer's role is to ask with humility and certainty in Allah's wisdom.
Answered prayers come in three forms according to prophetic teaching: either granted immediately, stored as rewards for the Hereafter, or used to avert an equivalent harm. Every sincere supplication receives divine attention, even when the answer isn't immediately visible to the supplicant.
Nineteenth Request
"Establish My Proof"
The request to "establish my proof" (waththbit hujjati) has multiple dimensions of profound importance. It means making one's arguments and evidence firm against Allah's enemies in this world and the Hereafter, establishing truth in debates and discussions about faith.
It also means strengthening one's testimony of faith and truthfulness in this worldly life, and most critically, remaining firm when questioned by the two angels in the grave. This questioning—about one's Lord, religion, and Prophet—is the first test after death, and firmness in answering correctly is among the greatest blessings a believer can receive.
Guidance of the Heart
Request Twenty
"And Guide My Heart"
This twentieth request—"and guide my heart"—seeks guidance to the knowledge of one's Lord and understanding of truth. It asks for illumination toward the guidance that Allah commanded and sent through His messengers.
Heart guidance differs from intellectual knowledge. While the mind may understand concepts, the heart must embrace them with certainty and love. This request asks Allah to open the heart's eye to perceive divine realities, to love what Allah loves, to hate what Allah hates, and to find tranquility in His remembrance.
The heart is the king of the body's limbs—when it is sound, all actions become righteous; when it is corrupted, all actions suffer. Therefore, seeking heart guidance is seeking the foundation of all spiritual success. A guided heart naturally inclines toward goodness and recoils from evil, making righteous action effortless rather than burdensome.
Truthfulness of the Tongue
Request Twenty-One
"And make my tongue truthful" (wa saddid lisani) asks Allah to make one's tongue correct, straight, and truthful. The word "saddid" implies hitting the target—speaking words that are precisely true, beneficial, and appropriate for each situation.
This encompasses speaking only truth, avoiding lies even in jest, and ensuring words align with reality. It also means speaking wisely—knowing when to speak and when to remain silent, choosing words that benefit rather than harm, and expressing oneself with clarity and eloquence.
The Tongue's Tremendous Impact
The tongue is among the smallest body parts yet causes the greatest harm or benefit. A single word can spark wars or bring peace, destroy reputations or build them, lead to Paradise or drag to Hellfire. The Prophet ﷺ said most people enter Hell because of their tongues.
A truthful tongue guards against gossip, backbiting, slander, mockery, lying, and vain speech. It becomes a instrument of remembrance, supplication, teaching, encouraging good, and forbidding evil. This request recognizes that controlling the tongue requires divine assistance beyond mere willpower.
Inner Purification
Removing Malice from the Heart
The Twenty-Second Request
"And remove the malice from my heart"
This final request—"waslul sakhimata sadri"—asks Allah to extract and remove the malice that resides in the chest and settles in the heart. The word "sakhimah" encompasses all evil traits that arise from within: deceit, envy, hatred, resentment, grudges, and similar spiritual diseases.
These internal poisons prevent the heart from achieving true purity. They block the light of faith, corrupt one's relationship with Allah and His creation, and turn worship into mere outward motions devoid of spiritual reality. A heart filled with malice toward others cannot fully love Allah or find peace in His remembrance.
This request acknowledges human weakness—that despite best efforts, negative emotions arise and settle deep within. Only Allah can truly extract these roots of spiritual illness and replace them with their opposites: sincerity, goodwill, love, forgiveness, and purity. The complete removal of malice transforms the heart into a vessel worthy of divine blessings and capable of genuine worship.
Deceit and Duplicity
Insincerity in dealings with others, hidden agendas, and false appearances that contradict inner reality
Envy and Jealousy
Wishing others to lose blessings, feeling resentment at their success, competing destructively rather than cooperatively
Hatred and Resentment
Harboring ill will, nursing grudges, refusing to forgive, and allowing past hurts to poison present relationships
The Magnificent Scope of This Supplication
This magnificent supplication encompasses twenty-two distinct requests that together form a complete program for spiritual development and worldly success. Each petition addresses a fundamental human need, covering both external circumstances and internal spiritual states. The sequence moves from seeking divine assistance in outward affairs to cultivating noble character traits to achieving deep inner purification.
The comprehensiveness of this du'ā reflects prophetic wisdom in understanding human nature and needs. It balances requests for help against enemies with prayers for victory over one's own soul, acknowledgment of dependence on divine guidance with recognition of personal responsibility for spiritual growth, and concern for worldly affairs with emphasis on preparing for the eternal Hereafter.
Historical Practice
The Practice of Great Scholars
Ibn Taymiyyah's Devoted Practice
Al-Hafiz al-Bazzar mentioned in his biography of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) that this comprehensive supplication was the most frequently offered du'ā of this great scholar. This fact alone testifies to the tremendous value and benefit contained within these words.
Ibn Taymiyyah, renowned for his vast knowledge, sharp intellect, and profound spiritual insight, chose this supplication above countless others available in Islamic tradition. His consistent practice of this du'ā demonstrates that even the most learned scholars recognize their complete dependence on Allah for success in both spiritual and worldly matters.
The fact that such a towering figure of Islamic scholarship made this his primary supplication should inspire us to memorize it, understand its meanings deeply, and incorporate it into our daily worship. What benefited Ibn Taymiyyah can benefit every Muslim who sincerely seeks Allah's pleasure and success in both worlds.

📖 Source: This explanation is drawn from "Fiqh al-Ad'iyah wa al-Adhkar" (Understanding Supplications and Remembrances) by Shaykh Abdul Razzaq al-Badr, pages 910-913. This comprehensive work provides detailed understanding of authentic Islamic supplications.
Call to Action: Making This Du'ā Part of Your Life
Memorize the Supplication
Begin by memorizing the Arabic text in small portions. The du'ā divides naturally into three sections, making memorization manageable. Regular repetition will engrain it in your heart and mind.
Understand Each Request
Study the meaning of each of the twenty-two requests carefully. Understanding what you're asking for transforms supplication from mere words into meaningful conversation with Allah. Reflect on how each petition applies to your life.
Incorporate into Daily Worship
Make this supplication part of your regular routine—after obligatory prayers, during tahajjud, or in moments of need. Following the Prophet's practice and the example of Ibn Taymiyyah brings barakah (divine blessing).
Share with Others
Teach this du'ā to family members, friends, and community. Sharing beneficial knowledge multiplies its reward. When you help others access this treasure, you participate in preserving prophetic wisdom for future generations.
This comprehensive supplication represents a complete program for spiritual excellence and worldly success. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, who chose his words with divine guidance, crafted these twenty-two requests to address every essential human need. By making this du'ā a consistent part of your worship, you follow prophetic example, walk the path of righteous scholars, and open yourself to receiving the boundless blessings that Allah has promised to those who sincerely call upon Him.
"And when My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me." — Qur'an 2:186