Surah Al-Mulk Before Sleep: Its Virtues and What It Teaches

Many Muslims end each day the same way: before they sleep, they read Surah Al-Mulk, the 67th surah of the Quran. It takes about ten minutes, and for many it is a habit learned in childhood and kept for life.

This article looks at the hadith behind the nightly reading, what the surah's 30 verses say, and how to make it part of your night, with links to read each passage for yourself.

About the surah

Al-Mulk means "the dominion" or "the sovereignty", from its first verse. It is also known by its opening word, Tabārak, and the 29th juz, which it begins, is often called Juz Tabārak. It is a Meccan surah with 30 verses.

Like many Meccan surahs, it speaks to people who doubted the resurrection. It does not argue with them in the abstract. Instead it points again and again at things anyone can see: the sky, the earth underfoot, birds in flight, the water we drink. Each one is held in place by Allah, and each one could be taken away.

Why it is read at night

It intercedes until its reader is forgiven

Abū Hurayrah reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: "A surah from the Quran of thirty verses interceded for a man until he was forgiven. It is Tabārak alladhī biyadihi al-mulk." (Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2891; also reported by Abū Dāwūd and Ibn Mājah). At-Tirmidhī graded it ḥasan, and later scholars including Ibn Taymiyyah and al-Albānī accepted it as authentic.

The Prophet ﷺ read it before sleeping

Jābir ibn ʿAbdillāh reported that the Prophet ﷺ would not sleep until he had recited Alif Lām Mīm Tanzīl (Surah As-Sajdah) and Tabārak alladhī biyadihi al-mulk (Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2892). Scholars differ on the strength of this report's chain, but it is the main basis for reading it at night, and many people read As-Sajdah alongside it for the same reason.

"The protector" from the punishment of the grave

ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd said that whoever reads Tabārak alladhī biyadihi al-mulk every night, Allah will protect them by it from the punishment of the grave, and that the Companions called it al-Māniʿah, "the protector". It is reported by al-Nasāʾī in al-Sunan al-Kubrā and by al-Ṭabarānī, and scholars including al-Haythamī and al-Suyūṭī considered its chain sound.

A better-known story about a Companion who pitched his tent over a grave and heard its occupant reciting Al-Mulk is also reported by at-Tirmidhī, but most scholars of hadith grade that narration weak. The idea it is usually quoted for, that the surah protects its reader in the grave, is supported by the report of Ibn Masʿūd above.

Since the Islamic night begins at sunset, it can be read any time after Maghrib. Many people read it after ʿIshāʾ or in bed, from the mushaf or from memory. Thirty verses is a manageable goal to memorise, and it's easier to keep the habit if you can recite it with the lights off.

What the surah says

Life is a test (verses 1-2)

The surah opens with the One who holds all dominion, and then gives the reason we are here:

ٱلَّذِي خَلَقَ ٱلۡمَوۡتَ وَٱلۡحَيَوٰةَ لِيَبۡلُوَكُمۡ أَيُّكُمۡ أَحۡسَنُ عَمَلٗاۚ وَهُوَ ٱلۡعَزِيزُ ٱلۡغَفُورُ

[He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed - and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving - (67:2)

Death is named before life, and the test is not who does the most but who does it best. Read at the end of a day, the verse is a natural moment to look back on how that day was spent.

Look at the sky, then look again (verses 3-5)

Allah created seven heavens in layers, and "You do not see in the creation of the Most Merciful any inconsistency." The surah then invites the reader to check: "So return [your] vision [to the sky]; do you see any breaks?" (67:3). Look again, and again, and "[Your] vision will return to you humbled while it is fatigued" (67:4). The nearest heaven is adorned with lamps, the stars (67:5).

"If only we had listened" (verses 6-11)

The surah then describes Hell, which "almost bursts with rage". Each time a group is thrown in, its keepers ask them: "Did there not come to you a warner?" (67:8). They admit that one did, and that they denied him. Then they say:

If only we had been listening or reasoning, we would not be among the companions of the Blaze. (67:10)

Their regret is not that no one told them, but that they did not listen or think about what they heard.

Those who fear their Lord unseen (verses 12-14)

Against that picture comes a promise: "Indeed, those who fear their Lord unseen will have forgiveness and great reward" (67:12). Whether you hide your words or say them aloud, Allah knows what is in the heart, and the surah asks:

أَلَا يَعۡلَمُ مَنۡ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ ٱللَّطِيفُ ٱلۡخَبِيرُ

Does He who created not know, while He is the Subtle, the Aware? (67:14)

The earth made tame (verses 15-18)

"It is He who made the earth tame for you - so walk among its slopes and eat of His provision - and to Him is the resurrection" (67:15). The ground we walk on without a second thought is steady because Allah keeps it so. The next verses ask whether anyone feels secure that it could not shake beneath them, or that a storm of stones could not come down from above.

The birds above them (verses 19-24)

Do they not see the birds above them with wings outspread and [sometimes] folded in? None holds them [aloft] except the Most Merciful. Indeed He is, of all things, Seeing. (67:19)

A series of questions follows: who else could defend you, and who could feed you if He held back His provision? Is the one who walks stumbling on his face better guided, or the one who walks upright on a straight path (67:22)? Allah gave us hearing, sight and hearts, "little are you grateful" (67:23).

"When is this promise?" (verses 25-29)

The disbelievers ask when the Day will come. The Prophet ﷺ is told to answer that "The knowledge is only with Allāh, and I am only a clear warner" (67:26). When they see it approaching, their faces will be distressed. The believers' answer is simple: "He is the Most Merciful; we have believed in Him, and upon Him we have relied" (67:29).

How the surah ends

The last verse asks a question that is easy to read past, about something we rarely think of as a gift:

قُلۡ أَرَءَيۡتُمۡ إِنۡ أَصۡبَحَ مَآؤُكُمۡ غَوۡرٗا فَمَن يَأۡتِيكُم بِمَآءٖ مَّعِينِۭ

Say, "Have you considered: if your water was to become sunken [into the earth], then who could bring you flowing water?" (67:30)

The surah began with the One who holds all dominion and ends with a glass of water. Everything between, from the stars to the birds to the ground, makes the same point: none of it is ours to keep, and all of it is held up by the Most Merciful.

Read it tonight

Read Surah Al-Mulk in the Uthmani or IndoPak script, with English or Urdu translation (Urdu), or play Mishary Alafasy's recitation and follow along. Each verse has its own page, so you can memorise a few at a time and pick up where you left off.

Sources

• The Quran, Surah Al-Mulk (67), in the Saheeh International translation
• Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2891 and 2892, with the parallel reports in Sunan Abī Dāwūd and Sunan Ibn Mājah
• al-Nasāʾī, al-Sunan al-Kubrā, and al-Ṭabarānī, al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr, on the report of Ibn Masʿūd
• The commentaries (tafsīr) of al-Ṭabarī and Ibn Kathīr on Surah Al-Mulk

The wording of the hadith above is summarised rather than translated word for word; follow the links to read the full narrations. For questions of religious practice, please ask a qualified scholar.