Dua for Forgiveness: Authentic Supplications from the Quran and Sunnah

No human being is free of sin. What separates the people Allah loves is not that they never fall, but that when they fall, they turn back — and they turn back with words. The beautiful thing is that Allah has not left us to invent those words on our own. In the Quran, He preserved the exact supplications with which His prophets returned to Him after their mistakes, and through the Messenger of Allah ﷺ He taught this ummah duas for forgiveness that cover every kind of sin a person can commit. These are not words we invented: they are the very words of Adam, Yunus, Musa and Nuh (peace be upon them), and of the Prophet ﷺ himself.

This article gathers those authentic supplications in one place, each with its Arabic, its translation and its reference, so that you can learn it and make it part of your daily life. For the broader subject of seeking forgiveness and what it earns a person, see our article on Istighfar and its benefits.

1. Adam’s Dua After His Mistake

The very first dua for forgiveness in human history was spoken by the very first humans. When Adam (peace be upon him) and his wife ate from the tree they had been forbidden, they did not argue, blame or despair. They turned straight back to their Lord with a confession — that the wrong was theirs — and with a plea that joined forgiveness to mercy:

قَالَا رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَآ أَنفُسَنَا وَإِن لَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلْخَـٰسِرِين

“They said, “Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and do not bless us with mercy, we shall, indeed, be among the losers.” (Quran 7:23)

Notice how the dua is built. It begins with an honest admission — “we have wronged ourselves” — not “we were misled” or “we forgot.” Then it places everything in Allah’s hands: if He does not forgive and does not show mercy, loss is certain. When you do not know what to say after a sin, these are the words of your father Adam — begin with them.

2. Yunus’s Dua from the Depths of Darkness

Prophet Yunus (peace be upon him) left his people in anger before he was given leave, and he found himself in the belly of the fish, in layer upon layer of darkness: the darkness of night, of the sea, and of the fish itself. From that place, where no human being could hear him or help him, he called out to Allah with words that contain no request at all — only the declaration of Allah’s oneness, His purity, and Yunus’s own confession of wrongdoing:

لَّآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّآ أَنتَ سُبْحَـٰنَكَ إِنِّى كُنتُ مِنَ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِين

“he called (Us) in depths of darkness saying, “There is no god but You. Pure are You. Indeed I was among the wrongdoers”.” (Quran 21:87)

Allah describes the moment before the call: Yunus was one “when he walked away in anger and thought that We would never put him to trouble” (Quran 21:87). The dua that came out of that trouble is short enough to say in one breath, and it is built entirely on truth: there is no god but Allah, Allah is pure of all fault, and the fault belongs to me. It is a dua for the darkest moments of a person’s life, when the sin feels heavy and the way out is not visible. We have written more about this supplication in our article on the dua for anxiety and sadness.

3. Musa’s Dua: Forgiveness Asked for at Once

When Musa (peace be upon him) was in Egypt, before his prophethood was announced, he struck a man in defence of another and the man died. Musa did not wait, did not rationalise, and did not let the matter rest even for a day. In the very same moment he turned to Allah: “O my Lord, I have wronged myself, so forgive me.” And the Quran records Allah’s response in the same verse:

قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّى ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِى فَٱغْفِرْ لِى

“He said, “O my Lord, I have wronged myself, so forgive me.” So He forgave him. Indeed He is the most Forgiving, Very-Merciful.” (Quran 28:16)

There is a lesson in how short this dua is and how immediate the answer was. Musa’s words are only a handful — a confession and a request — yet Allah says, “So He forgave him,” and seals the verse with His two names: the most Forgiving, the Very-Merciful. A sincere dua for forgiveness does not need to be long; it needs to be honest, and made without delay.

4. Nuh’s Dua for Himself, His Parents and All Believers

Prophet Nuh (peace be upon him) called his people for centuries, and near the end of his story in the Quran he makes a dua that keeps widening. He begins with himself, then his parents, then everyone who enters his home as a believer, and finally all believing men and believing women everywhere. It is the dua to learn if you want your seeking of forgiveness to carry the people you love along with you:

رَّبِّ ٱغْفِرْ لِى وَلِوَٰلِدَىَّ وَلِمَن دَخَلَ بَيْتِىَ مُؤْمِنًا وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنَـٰتِ وَلَا تَزِدِ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ إِلَّا تَبَارًۢا

“My Lord, grant pardon to me, and to my parents, and to everyone who enters my home as a believer, and to all the believing men and believing women, and do not increase the wrongdoers but in ruin.” (Quran 71:28)

A dua for forgiveness is not weakened by sharing it — Nuh’s prayer shows it is meant to be shared. Parents come first after oneself, because no one has a greater right over a person’s dua. If you are building the habit of praying for your parents, you may also benefit from our article on kindness to parents in Islam.

5. The Believers’ Dua for Themselves and Their Brothers

The Quran describes the generations of believers who came after the first generation, and it describes them by the dua on their tongues. They ask Allah to forgive them, and in the same breath they ask Him to forgive the brothers who went before them in faith — and to keep their own hearts clean of any rancour toward fellow believers:

رَبَّنَا ٱغْفِرْ لَنَا وَلِإِخْوَٰنِنَا ٱلَّذِينَ سَبَقُونَا بِٱلْإِيمَـٰنِ وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِى قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّا لِّلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ رَبَّنَآ إِنَّكَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيم

“Our Lord, forgive us and those of our brothers who preceded us in faith, and do not place in our hearts any rancor against those who believe; Surely, Our Lord, you are Very-Kind, Very-Merciful.” (Quran 59:10)

This dua joins two things that are rarely joined: asking pardon for oneself, and asking pardon for others — even for people one has never met, who lived and died before one’s time. And it asks for a heart with no hidden grudge inside it. A person who regularly prays for other Muslims’ forgiveness will find it hard to keep hating them.

6. Rabbana Faghfir Lana: The Dua of Those Who Heard and Believed

In Surah Aal-e-Imran, Allah paints the picture of people who hear the caller inviting them to faith — and believe. Their very first words after believing are a dua for forgiveness, and it asks for three things together: that their sins be forgiven, that their evil deeds be written off, and that when death comes, it finds them in the company of the righteous:

رَبَّنَا فَٱغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَكَفِّرْ عَنَّا سَيِّـَٔاتِنَا وَتَوَفَّنَا مَعَ ٱلْأَبْرَار

“Our Lord, forgive us, then, our sins, and write off our evil deeds, and make us die only when we have joined the righteous.” (Quran 3:193)

Before this, the verse tells us what moved them: “Our Lord, We heard a herald calling towards Faith: ‘Believe in your Lord.’ So we believed” (Quran 3:193). Faith and istighfar arrive together in this passage — no sooner do they believe than they ask to be forgiven. It is a dua for anyone who has newly returned to practising, or who wants their whole past record cleared and their ending written among the righteous.

7. The Dua the Prophet ﷺ Taught Abu Bakr for His Prayer

Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) — the closest companion of the Prophet ﷺ — once asked him a favour: teach me a supplication that I can say inside my prayer. Think about what the Prophet ﷺ chose to teach him. Not a dua for wealth, victory or long life, but a dua for forgiveness, built on confessing the great injustice a person does to his own soul, and on the fact that none forgives sins except Allah:

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِي ظُلْمًا كَثِيرًا وَلاَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلاَّ أَنْتَ، فَاغْفِرْ لِي مَغْفِرَةً مِنْ عِنْدِكَ، وَارْحَمْنِي إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيم

“I asked Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) to teach me an invocation so that I may invoke Allah with it in my prayer. He told me to say, “Allahumma inni zalumtu nafsi zulman kathiran, Wala yaghfiru dh-dhunuba illa anta, fa ghfir li maghfiratan min `indika, wa r-hamni, innaka anta l-ghafuru r-rahim (O Allah! I have done great injustice to myself and none except You forgives sins, so bestow on me a forgiveness from You, and Have Mercy on me, You are the Forgiver, the Merciful).” (Sahih al-Bukhari 834 — Sahih)

The same teaching is narrated in Sahih Muslim, where Abu Bakr says: “Teach me a supplication which I should recite in my prayer” (Sahih Muslim 2705a — Sahih), and the dua is given in these words: “Grant me pardon from Thyself, have mercy upon me for Thou art much Forgiving and Compassionate” (Sahih Muslim 2705a — Sahih). Since the Prophet ﷺ appointed this dua for the inside of the prayer itself, it deserves a permanent place in our salah — the prayer whose own virtues are gathered in our article on the virtues of Salah.

8. The Prophet’s Comprehensive Dua for Every Kind of Sin

Some duas ask forgiveness for one sin; this one leaves nothing out. Abu Musa al-Ash’ari (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself used to supplicate with these words — a dua that gathers the sins of ignorance and of knowledge, of excess and of carelessness, sins done in earnest and sins done in jest, by mistake and on purpose, the early ones and the late ones, the hidden ones and the open ones, and even the ones the servant himself has forgotten but Allah knows:

اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِي خَطِيئَتِي وَجَهْلِي وَإِسْرَافِي فِي أَمْرِي وَمَا أَنْتَ أَعْلَمُ بِهِ مِنِّي اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِي جِدِّي وَهَزْلِي وَخَطَئِي وَعَمْدِي وَكُلُّ ذَلِكَ عِنْدِي اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِي مَا قَدَّمْتُ وَمَا أَخَّرْتُ وَمَا أَسْرَرْتُ وَمَا أَعْلَنْتُ وَمَا أَنْتَ أَعْلَمُ بِهِ مِنِّي أَنْتَ الْمُقَدِّمُ وَأَنْتَ الْمُؤَخِّرُ وَأَنْتَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِير

“O Allah, forgive me my faults, my ignorance, my immoderation in my concerns. And Thou art better aware (of my affairs) than myself. O Allah, grant me forgiveness (of the faults which I committed) seriously or otherwise (and which I committed inadvertently and… All these (failings) are in me. O Allah, grant me forgiveness from the fault which I did in haste or deferred, which I committed in privacy or in public and Thou art better aware of (them) than myself. Thou art the First and the Last and over all things Thou art Omnipotent.” (Sahih Muslim 2719a — Sahih)

The same dua is narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari, also from Abu Musa, who said: “The Prophet (ﷺ) used to invoke Allah with the following invocation” (Sahih al-Bukhari 6398 — Sahih). Two things in this dua deserve attention. First, the Prophet ﷺ admits, “All these (failings) are in me.” Second, twice he says that Allah is better aware of his affairs than he is himself: this is a dua for the sins we know and the sins we do not even know about. If you learn only one long dua for forgiveness, let it be this one.

9. “Rabbi Ighfir Li wa Tub ‘Alayya” — A Hundred Times in One Sitting

Not every dua for forgiveness needs to be long; some are powerful through sheer repetition. Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) counted the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in a single gathering, and what he counted was one short sentence of istighfar, said again and again before the Prophet ﷺ even stood up:

رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِي وَتُبْ عَلَىَّ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ التَّوَّابُ الْغَفُورُ

“In one sitting of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), one could count that he said a hundred time, before he would get up: ‘O my Lord, forgive me, and accept my repentance. Verily, You are the Oft-Returning, the Most Forgiving (Rabbighfirlī watub `alayya innaka antat-Tawwābul-Ghafūr).’” (Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3434 — Sahih)

Seven or eight words in Arabic — yet the Prophet ﷺ filled his sittings with them. This makes it the easiest dua in this whole article to act upon: in the car, at your desk, while waiting, in any gathering. Choose a sitting each day and fill it the way he filled his.

10. Istighfar the Moment the Prayer Ends

The last dua in this collection is tied to a moment that comes five times a day. Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that whenever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ finished his prayer, the very first thing he did — before any other remembrance — was to seek forgiveness three times, and then say “Allahumma antas-salam…”:

أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّه

“When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) finished his prayer. He begged forgiveness three times and said: O Allah! Thou art Peace, and peace comes from Thee; Blessed art Thou, O Possessor of Glory and Honour.” (Sahih Muslim 591 — Sahih)

And when al-Awza’i was asked how this seeking of forgiveness is done, he replied: “You should say: I beg forgiveness from Allah, I beg forgiveness from Allah.” (Sahih Muslim 591 — Sahih) There is something deeply fitting in this: even the prayer is immediately followed by asking Allah’s pardon. Whoever attaches these three istighfars to every salah has built a dua for forgiveness into the structure of his day, five times over.

Common Questions

What is the best dua for forgiveness? Two duas stand out in the Sunnah. The first is the one the Prophet ﷺ specially taught Abu Bakr when he asked to be taught a supplication: it begins by confessing, “none except You forgives sins, so bestow on me a forgiveness from You” (Sahih al-Bukhari 834 — Sahih). The second is the Prophet’s own comprehensive dua, which asks forgiveness for sins committed “seriously or otherwise” and “in privacy or in public” (Sahih Muslim 2719a — Sahih), leaving no category of sin unnamed.

Which dua did Prophet Yunus make inside the fish? He called out from the depths of darkness: “There is no god but You. Pure are You. Indeed I was among the wrongdoers” (Quran 21:87). It contains no direct request — only Allah’s oneness, Allah’s purity, and the caller’s confession that the wrongdoing was his own.

Can I make a dua for forgiveness for my parents and other Muslims? Yes — the prophets did exactly that. Nuh prayed: “My Lord, grant pardon to me, and to my parents, and to everyone who enters my home as a believer, and to all the believing men and believing women” (Quran 71:28), and the believers after the first generation say: “Our Lord, forgive us and those of our brothers who preceded us in faith” (Quran 59:10).

How often did the Prophet ﷺ seek forgiveness? In the narration of Ibn Umar, in one single sitting “one could count that he said a hundred time, before he would get up” the words: “O my Lord, forgive me, and accept my repentance. Verily, You are the Oft-Returning, the Most Forgiving” (Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3434 — Sahih). Seeking forgiveness was not an occasional act for him; it filled his gatherings.

Is there a dua for forgiveness connected to the prayer itself? Yes, two of them in this article. Inside the prayer, there is the dua taught to Abu Bakr (Sahih al-Bukhari 834 — Sahih), and immediately after the prayer, the Prophet ﷺ “begged forgiveness three times” before anything else (Sahih Muslim 591 — Sahih).

Conclusion

Look back over these ten supplications and a pattern appears. Every one of them begins with the truth about ourselves — “we have wronged ourselves,” “I was among the wrongdoers,” “I have done great injustice to myself” — and every one rests on the truth about Allah: that He alone forgives sins, that He is the most Forgiving, the Very-Merciful, the Oft-Returning. Adam’s words are for the sin you committed today; Yunus’s words are for the darkness you cannot see a way out of; Abu Bakr’s dua belongs inside your prayer; the Prophet’s comprehensive dua covers the sins you remember and the ones you have forgotten; and three quiet “astaghfirullahs” after every salah will keep the door of return open five times a day. Learn two or three of these duas by heart, say them with presence, and say them often.