Dua to wake up for Fajr: what to say when you wake — and how to ask for help the night before
There is one short duʿāʾ the Prophet ﷺ said when he got up from sleep. Here it is in Arabic, transliteration and English, with the exact references — kept apart from the personal duʿāʾ you make in your own words.
Updated
When you wake up, say: “Al-hamdu li l-lahil-ladhi ahyana ba'da ma amatana wa ilaihin-nushur.” Its meaning, as sunnah.com gives it: “Praise is due to Allah, Who gave us life after our death (sleep) and unto Thee is resurrection.” It is reported in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6312 and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2711. For asking Allah to help you wake up for Fajr, these hadiths give no fixed wording — make that duʿāʾ in your own words before you sleep, and pair it with a practical plan.
The duʿāʾ when you wake up
This is the duʿāʾ the Prophet ﷺ said when he got up from sleep. The Arabic wording is the same in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6312 and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2711:
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَحْيَانَا بَعْدَ مَا أَمَاتَنَا وَإِلَيْهِ النُّشُورُ
Transliteration (as sunnah.com gives it for Bukhārī 6312): Al-hamdu li l-lahil-ladhi ahyana ba'da ma amatana wa ilaihin-nushur.
Meaning (sunnah.com, Muslim 2711): “Praise is due to Allah, Who gave us life after our death (sleep) and unto Thee is resurrection.”
To learn it, take it in four pieces. The English column is the sunnah.com translation, split at the same points:
| Say | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Al-hamdu li l-lah | Praise is due to Allah, |
| il-ladhi ahyana | Who gave us life |
| ba'da ma amatana | after our death (sleep) |
| wa ilaihin-nushur | and unto Thee is resurrection. |
A note on the last part: the Arabic wa ilaihi literally means “and to Him”; the sunnah.com translation renders it “unto Thee”. The meaning is the same — the resurrection is to Allah.
Why “death”? The translation answers it in its own brackets: sleep is meant. Each morning you thank Allah for giving your life back to you, and you remember where every life returns.
Where it is reported
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6312, narrated by Ḥudhaifa, in the book of Invocations, chapter “What to say on going to bed”. The English page on sunnah.com gives the duʿāʾ only in transliteration:
When the Prophet (ﷺ) went to bed, he would say: “Bismika amutu wa ahya.” and when he got up he would say: “Al-hamdu li l-lahil-ladhi ahyana ba'da ma amatana wa ilaihin-nushur.”
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2711, narrated by al-Barāʾ, chapter “Supplication When Going To Sleep”. Here sunnah.com gives an English meaning:
Al-Bara' reported that whenever Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) went to bed, he said: “O Allah, it is with Thine Name that I live and it is with Thine Name that I die.” And when he got up he used to say: “Praise is due to Allah, Who gave us life after our death (sleep) and unto Thee is resurrection.”
Notice what the hadiths say: “when he got up”. The duʿāʾ belongs to every waking, not only to Fajr — which makes it the natural first words when your Fajr alarm rings.
The duʿāʾ before you sleep
The same two hadiths also give the words for lying down. Saying them at night and the wake-up duʿāʾ in the morning turns the two into a pair that is easier to remember.
In Bukhārī 6312:
بِاسْمِكَ أَمُوتُ وَأَحْيَا
Bismika amutu wa ahya.
In Muslim 2711 the wording is slightly longer:
اللَّهُمَّ بِاسْمِكَ أَحْيَا وَبِاسْمِكَ أَمُوتُ
sunnah.com translates it: “O Allah, it is with Thine Name that I live and it is with Thine Name that I die.”
Asking Allah to wake you for Fajr — in your own words
It helps to keep two things apart. The duʿāʾ above is reported, with a reference. A request to wake up for Fajr is a personal duʿāʾ: the hadiths on this page give no fixed wording for it, so you say it in your own words.
A simple way to do it:
- Ask before you sleep. Name the thing you need: to wake up for Fajr, to get out of bed, to pray it on time.
- Be honest about what is hard. Late nights, a heavy sleep, a phone in bed — tell Allah what you struggle with.
- Then do your part. Set the alarm, put the phone out of reach, go to bed early enough.
An example — our own words, not a reported text: “O Allah, help me wake up for Fajr tomorrow and pray it on time, and make it easy for me.”
If you do wake before Fajr, the last part of the night is a time the Prophet ﷺ described like this:
“Our Lord, the Blessed, the Superior, comes every night down on the nearest Heaven to us when the last third of the night remains, saying: ‘Is there anyone to invoke Me, so that I may respond to invocation? Is there anyone to ask Me, so that I may grant him his request? Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness, so that I may forgive him?’”
How to remember it half-asleep
The first seconds after an alarm are foggy. Remembering Allah in that moment matters: in a hadith from the book on the night prayer (Tahajjud), the Prophet ﷺ spoke of knots that Satan ties at the back of a sleeper’s head, and said: “When one wakes up and remembers Allah, one knot is undone” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1142). Some practical ways to make the duʿāʾ automatic:
- Learn it in four pieces. Use the table above — one piece a day, then all four together.
- Say it right after the alarm. Make it the first thing you say, before you look at anything on your phone.
- Keep it visible. Write the transliteration on a card next to your bed until you know it by heart.
- Link it to the night duʿāʾ. If you said “Bismika amutu wa ahya” when you lay down, the morning words follow more easily.
- Know your Fajr time. An alarm set for the wrong time does not help — see how Fajr time is calculated, and our full guide on how to wake up for Fajr.
If you use Fajr Up, one of its wake-up missions asks you to say this wake-up duʿāʾ out loud once the alarm has rung.
About our sources
We checked every hadith on this page at sunnah.com on October 3, 2026: the Arabic text, the reference number, and the English wording, which we quote exactly as sunnah.com shows it. For Bukhārī 6312, sunnah.com offers only a transliteration, so the English meaning on this page comes from Muslim 2711, which has the same Arabic wording for the wake-up duʿāʾ.
English translations of this duʿāʾ vary from book to book and site to site. If you see slightly different wording elsewhere, that is usually the reason — the Arabic stays the same.
This page explains what is reported. It does not give rulings. For questions of fiqh, ask your imam or a scholar you trust.
Frequently asked questions
What dua do you say when you wake up for Fajr?
Is this dua only for Fajr?
Is there a dua that guarantees I wake up for Fajr?
Is there a surah to read to wake up for Fajr?
What does “wa ilaihin-nushur” mean?
Keep reading
- How to wake up for Fajr: a practical guide for people who keep sleeping through it
- Fajr time explained: how it's calculated, and why your apps and your mosque disagree
- Why your Fajr alarm didn't ring on iPhone — and how to fix it tonight
Sources
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6312 – sunnah.com
- Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2711 – sunnah.com
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1142 – sunnah.com
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1145 – sunnah.com
Arabic text, transliteration and English wording checked against sunnah.com on October 3, 2026.