‘Ā’isha said that every night when the Prophet (ﷺ) went to his bed he joined his hands and breathed into them, reciting into them, ‘Say, He is God, One’; ‘Say, I seek refuge in the Lord of the dawn’; and ‘Say, I seek refuge in the Lord of men.’ Then he would wipe as much of his body as he could with his hands, beginning with his head, his face and the front of his body, doing that three times. (Bukhārī and Muslim)

Ibn Mas'ūd reported God’s messenger as saying: “If anyone recites a letter of God’s Book he will be credited with a good deed, and a good deed gets a tenfold reward (Al-Qur’ān, 6:160). I do not say that A.L.M are one letter*, but alif is a letter, lām is a letter and mīm is a letter.” *These letters occur at the beginning of sūras 2, 3, 29, 30, 31 and 32. No satisfactory explanation of their meaning has been given. A brief discussion of them is given by Abdullāh Yūsuf Ali in The Holy Qur’ān, Text, Translation & Commentary (Lahore, 1934 and later editions), note 25. Sea also pp. 118-120. Tirmidhī and Dārimī transmitted it, Tirmidhī saying this is a hasan sahīh tradition whose isnad is gharīb.

Al-Hārith al-A‘war said: While passing in the mosque I found the people engrossed in talk, so I went to visit ‘Alī and told him. He asked if that was really so, and when I assured him that it was, he said he had heard God’s messenger say, “Dissension will certainly come,” and asked him how it could be avoided, to which he replied, “God’s Book is the way, for it contains information of what has happened before you, news of what will happen after you, and a decision regarding matters which occur among you (This is explained as a reference to such matters as unbelief and faith, obedience and dis-obedience, what is lawful and what is forbidden, etc.). It is the distinguisher and is not jesting, (Qur’ān, 86:13). If any overweening person abandons it God will break him, and if anyone seeks guidance elsewhere God will lead him astray. It is God’s strong cord, it is the wise reminder, it is the straight path, it is that by which the desires do not swerve nor the tongues become confused, and the learned cannot grasp it completely.* It does not become worn out by repetition and its wonders do not come to an end. It is that of which the jinn did not hesitate to say when they heard it, ‘We have heard a wonderful recital which guides to what is right, and we believe in it,’ (Qur’ān, 72). He who utters it speaks the truth, he who acts according to it is rewarded, he who pronounces judgment according to it is just, and he who invites people to it guides to a straight path.” *The verb used is one ordinarily meaning 'to be satisfied'. Here it is used to indicate that the learned can never learn all there is to be known about the teaching and meaning of the Qur’ān, so that they should be satisfied and feel no need to continue their study of it. Tirmidhī and Dārimī transmit­ted it, Tirmidhī saying this is a tradition whose isnād is unknown, and al-Hārith is adversely criticised.

Abū Huraira said: When God’s Messenger once asked Ubayy b. Ka'b how he recited in the course of the prayer and he recited Umm al- Qur’ān (Al-Qur’ān 1) , he said, “By Him in whose hand my soul is, nothing like it has been sent down in the Torah, the Injīl, the Zabūr, or the Qur’ān, and it is seven of the oft-repeated verses and the mighty Qur’ān (Qur’ān, 15:87) which I have been given.” Tirmidhī transmitted it, and Dārimī transmitted from “nothing like it has been sent down,” but he did not mention Ubayy b. Ka‘b. Tirmidhī said this is a hasan sahīh tradition.

He reported God's Messenger as saying: “If anyone recites in the morning Hā Mīm al-Mu’min (Al-Qur’ān, 40:1-3) to ‘to Him is the final goal’ and the Throne Verse (Al-Qur’ān, 2:255) he will be guarded by them till the evening, and if anyone recites them in the evening he will be guarded by them till the morning.” Tirmidhī and Dārimī transmitted it, Tirmidhī saying this is a gharīb tradition.

Anas reported God’s messenger as saying, “Everything has a heart, and the heart of the Qur’ān is Yā Sīn (Qur’ān, 36). God will record anyone who recites Yā Sīn as having recited the Qur’ān ten times.” Tirmidhī and Dārimī transmitted it, Tirmidhī saying this is a gharīb tradition.

Abū Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, “A thousand years before creating the heavens and the earth God recited Tā’ Hā’ (Qur’ān, 20) and Yā’ Sīn, and when the angels heard the recitation they said, ‘Happy are a people to whom this comes down, happy are the minds which carry this, and happy are the tongues which utter this’.” Dārimī transmitted it.

He reported God’s messenger as saying, “If someone recites Hā’ Mīm ad-Dukhān (Qur’ān, 44) any night, seventy thousand angels will ask forgiveness for him in the morning.” Tirmidhī transmitted it, saying that this is a gharīb tradition and that ‘Umar b. Abū Khath'am the transmitter is declared to be weak. Muhammad, i.e. Bukhārī, said his traditions were rejected.

He reported God's messenger as saying, “If anyone recites Hā’ Mīm ad-Dukhān on a Thursday night his sins will be forgiven.” Tirmidhī transmitted it, saying that this is a gharīb da’īf tradition and that Hishām Abūl Miqdām its transmitter is declared to be weak.

Al-Irbād b. Sāriya said the Prophet (ﷺ) used to recite al-Musabbihāt* before going to sleep, and say they contained a verse which is better than a thousand verses. *These are said to be sūras 57, 59, 61, 62, 64, 87 which begin with the perfect, imperfect, or imperative of the verb sabbaha ('to glorify'). Tirmidhī and Abū Dāwūd transmitted it, and Dārimī transmitted it in mursal form on the authority of Khalid b. Ma'dān. Tirmidhī said this is a hasan gharīb tradition.

Abū Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, “A sūra in the Qur’ān containing thirty verses interceded for a man till his sins were forgiven. It was ‘Blessed is He in whose hand is the kingdom.'” (Qur’ān, 67) Ahmad, Tirmidhī, Abū Dāwūd, Nasā’i and Ibn Mājah transmitted it.

Ibn ‘Abbās said that one of the Prophet's companions set up his tent over a grave without realising that it was a grave, and it contained a man who was reciting the sūra, “Blessed is He in whose hand is the kingdom,” up to the end. He went and told the Prophet, who said, “It is the defender; it is the protector which is protecting him from God's punishment.” Tirmidhi transmitted it, .saying this is a gharīb tradition.

Jabir said it was the Prophet’s custom not to go to sleep till he had recited “A. L. M The sending down,” (Qur’ān, 32) and “Blessed is He in whose hand is the kingdom.” Ahmad, Tirmidhī and Dārimī transmitted it, Tirmidhī saying this is a sahīh tradition. The same is said in Sharh as-sunna, but in al-Masābīh it is called gharīb.

Ibn ‘Abbās and Anas b. Mālik reported God’s messenger as saying that “When is shaken” (Qur’ān, 99) is equivalent to half the Qur’ān, “Say, He is God, One” (Qur’ān, 112) is equivalent to a third of the Qur’ān, and “Say, O infidels” (Qur’ān, 109) is equivalent to a quarter of the Qur’ān. Tirmidhī transmitted it.

Ma‘qil b Yasār reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying, “If anyone says three times in the morning, ‘I seek refuge in God, the Hearer and Knower, from the accursed devil’, and recites three verses at the end of sūra al-Hashr (Qur’ān, 59), God will put in charge of him seventy thousand angels who will invoke blessings on him till the evening, and if he dies that day he will die as a martyr. If anyone says them in the evening he will be in that rank.” Tirmidhī and Dārimī transmitted it, Tirmidhī saying this is a gharīb tradition.

Anas reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying, 'If anyone recites two hundred times daily, ‘Say, He is God, One’, the sins of fifty years will be wiped out, unless he is in debt.” Tirmidhī and Dārimī transmitted it. The latter’s version has “fifty times”, and he did not mention “unless he is in debt.”

He reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying, “If anyone who is about to sleep on his bed lies on his right side, then recites ‘Say, He is God, One’ a hundred times, the Lord will say to him on the day of resurrection, ‘My servant, enter paradise to your right’.” Tirmidhī transmitted it, saying this is a hasan gharīb tradition.

Abū Huraira said: The Prophet, on hearing a man reciting “Say, He is God, One” remarked, “It is certain.” I asked him what was certain, and he replied that it was paradise. Mālik, Tirmidhī and Nasā’i transmitted it.

Farwa b. Naufal quoted his father as saying that he had asked God's messenger to teach him something to say when he went to bed, and was told to recite, “Say, O infidels”, for it is a declaration of freedom from polytheism. Tirmidhī, Abū Dāwūd and Dārimī transmitted it.

‘Uqba b. ‘Āmir said : While I was travelling with God's messenger between *al-Juhfa and al-Abwa’ a wind and intense darkness enveloped us, whereupon God’s messenger began to seek refuge in God, reciting “I seek refuge in the Lord of the dawn” and “I seek refuge in the Lord of men.”(Qur’ān, 113 &114) He then said, “Use them, ‘Uqba, when seeking refuge in God, for no one can use anything to compare with them for the purpose.” *Al Juhfa- a village about 82 miles from Mecca. Al Abwa’- a village between twenty and thirty miles nearer Medina than al-Juhfa. Abū Dāwūd transmitted it.