Forgiveness

Sayyidul Istighfar — The Master Supplication for Forgiveness

اللَّهُمَّ أَنْتَ رَبِّي لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ، خَلَقْتَنِي وَأَنَا عَبْدُكَ، وَأَنَا عَلَىٰ عَهْدِكَ وَوَعْدِكَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُ، أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا صَنَعْتُ، أَبُوءُ لَكَ بِنِعْمَتِكَ عَلَيَّ، وَأَبُوءُ بِذَنْبِي فَاغْفِرْ لِي فَإِنَّهُ لَا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ
Allahumma anta Rabbi la ilaha illa ant, khalaqtani wa ana 'abduk, wa ana 'ala 'ahdika wa wa'dika mastata't, a'udhu bika min sharri ma sana't, abu'u laka bini'matika 'alayy, wa abu'u bidhanbi faghfir li fa'innahu la yaghfirudh-dhunuba illa ant
O Allah, You are my Lord, there is no god but You. You created me and I am Your servant, and I hold to Your covenant and promise as best I can. I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I have done. I acknowledge Your favor upon me, and I acknowledge my sin, so forgive me — for none forgives sins except You.
Sahih al-Bukhari 6306 · Sahih

Where this dua comes from

This is called Sayyidul Istighfar — "the master (or best) of seeking forgiveness" — a name that comes directly from the hadith itself, where the Prophet ﷺ describes it that way and adds that whoever recites it during the day with certainty and dies that day before evening, or recites it at night with certainty and dies before morning, enters Paradise. Structurally, it's unusual among the adhkar for how much it packs into one sentence: an acknowledgment of Allah's lordship, an admission of one's own status as a created servant, a statement of ongoing (if imperfect) commitment, a request for refuge from one's own wrongdoing, and finally the forgiveness request itself, framed around acknowledging both Allah's favor and one's own fault side by side. Its length and density are why it's usually recited slowly and deliberately rather than as a quick daily line.

When to recite

Morning and evening, as part of the daily adhkar.

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