Verbal Sunnahs of Prayer

1-Opening du’aa (supplication): saying after the opening takbeer (saying: allahu akbar, i.e. allah is the greatest) : (o allah, glorified be you, a glorification that is associated with your praise, blessed be your name, exalted be your greatness and there is no god but you). narrated by the four scholars.

and there is another du’aa (o allah, distance me from my sins, just as you have distanced the east from the west. o allah, purify me from my sins, just as a white dress is purified from filth. o allah, wash me from my sins with ice, water and hail). narrated by al-bukhari and muslim. one should choose one of the supplications that were narrated as an opening du’aa and say it.

2- Saying (i take refuge with allah from the outcast devil) before reciting.

3- Starting with allah’s name, i.e. saying (in the name of allah, the all-merciful, the ever-merciful).

4-Amen, after al-fatihah.

5-Reciting a sura (a chapter of qur’an) after al-fatihah in the first two rak’as (units of prayer) of fajr (dawn), jumu’ah (friday), maghreb (sunset), isha’ (evening) and the whole supererogatory prayers for the single. (as for this who prays behind imam, he should recite in the secret prayer, but, not in the open one).

6-Saying (as much as what fills the heavens, as much as what fills the earth, as much as what fills whatever is between them and as much as what fills whatever you will afterwards. you are the source of praise and glory. this is the most truthful thing to be said by a bondman and we are all your bondmen. o allah, there is no deterrent for what you gave, no giver for what you prevented, and neither wealth nor power can protect their owner from you). narrated by muslim. after rising from ruku’ (kneeling) and saying: o our lord, and all praise is to you.

7-Glorifying (allah) more than once in ruku’ and sujoud (prostration).

8-Saying (o my lord, forgive me) more than once between the two sajdahs (prostrations).

9- Supplication after the last tashahud (an invocation that is recited at the middle or end of the prayer while sitting) : (o allah, i take refuge with you from the torment of hell, the torment of the grave, the sedition of life and death and the sedition of antichrist). narrated by al-bukhari and muslim.

· It is desirable that the worshipper does not limit himself to glorification in sujoud, rather, he should add to it the supplication he wishes, for this hadith: (when a bondman prostrates, he is in the nearest point to his lord, thus, increase your supplication). narrated by muslim.

· There are other supplications, if anyone wants them, he may refer to {hissn al-muslim (the muslim’s fort)} al-qahtani’s book.

 
All verbal sunnahs are repeated in every rak’a, except the opening du’aa and the supplication after tashahud.

Thus, the total applied verbal sunnahs in the obligatory prayer, which consist of 17 rak’as, reaches 136 sunnah, if we say that there are eight repeated sunnahs in every rak’a.

And its total in supererogatory prayer, which is 25 rak’as according to what we have shown about the supererogatory prayers performed per day and night, reaches 175 applied sunnahs in the supererogatory rak’as. these may increase through qiyam (night prayers) and ad-dhuha (noon prayer), and thus, you apply these sunnahs more and more. 

· As for the verbal sunnahs, which do not repeat in prayer except once, these are:
1- opening du’aa.
2-  supplication after the last tashahud.
their total in obligatory prayers is 10 sunnahs.

* as for their total in supererogatory prayers performed per day and night and in which these two sunnahs repeat, it reaches 24 sunnahs and may increase through qiyam (night prayers), ad-dhuha (noon prayer) or tahhiyat al-masjed (mosque salutation), thus, one applies these sunnahs more and more, though they do not repeat in a prayer except once, he acquires more reward and becomes more adherent to the sunnah.