Virtues of the Three Quls

Every night, in homes across the Muslim world, three short surahs are whispered before sleep. A mother recites them over her children, an elderly man cups his hands and blows into them before lying down, and a traveller murmurs them in an unfamiliar room. These are the Three Quls — Surah Al-Ikhlas, Surah Al-Falaq and Surah An-Nas — so called because each of them begins with the word Qul, “Say.” Together they take less than a minute to recite, yet they held a place in the daily life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ that few other passages can match: he recited them every single night before sleep, and he turned to them again when illness came.

Why did the Prophet ﷺ hold on to these surahs so closely? The answer is found in the authentic narrations themselves. In this article we will look at what the verified hadith actually say about the Three Quls — the honour Allah gave to the last two of them on the night they were revealed, the exact way the Prophet ﷺ recited them before bed, and how he used them when he was sick — so that we can follow his practice exactly as it has reached us, without adding anything to it.

1. The Three Quls: Al-Ikhlas, Al-Falaq and An-Nas

The Three Quls are the final three surahs of the Holy Quran. Surah Al-Ikhlas (chapter 112) opens with the words Qul huwallahu ahad — “Say: He is Allah, the One” — and is a short, majestic declaration of Allah’s absolute oneness. Surah Al-Falaq (chapter 113) opens with Qul a’udhu bi-rabbil-falaq — “Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of the dawn.” Surah An-Nas (chapter 114), the very last surah of the Quran, opens with Qul a’udhu bi-rabbin-nas — “Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of men.”

Because Al-Falaq and An-Nas both begin with seeking Allah’s refuge, the two of them together are known as the Mu’awwidhat — the surahs of seeking protection. When the three are recited together, as the Prophet ﷺ recited them at night, Al-Ikhlas stands at their head: first the declaration of who Allah is, then the turning to Him for refuge. This combination of knowing Allah and seeking shelter with Him is what made these surahs the Prophet’s ﷺ nightly companions, as the narrations below show.

It is worth pausing on the titles themselves. Al-Falaq seeks refuge with “the Lord of the dawn” — the One who splits the darkness with morning light. An-Nas seeks refuge with “the Lord of men,” their King and their God. Even before we reach the hadith, the openings of these surahs teach a believer where safety lies: not in locks and walls, but with the Lord who brings the dawn and rules mankind. The Prophet ﷺ did not treat these words as a casual bedtime habit. As we will see, he described the two refuge surahs in terms he used for almost nothing else.

2. Verses the Like of Which Have Never Been Seen

What rank do Al-Falaq and An-Nas hold? The companion ‘Uqba b. ‘Amir reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ announced their revelation with extraordinary words:

“What wonderful verses have been sent down today. the like of which has never been seen!” (Sahih Muslim 814a — Sahih)

And which verses were they? The narration names them by their opening lines:

“Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of the dawn … Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of men.” (Sahih Muslim 814a — Sahih)

Consider what the Prophet ﷺ is saying here. Verses had been descending upon him for years — verses of law and mercy, of Paradise and warning. Yet when Al-Falaq and An-Nas came down, he gathered his companions’ attention with the declaration that nothing like them had ever been seen. These two short surahs, which a child can memorise in a day, were announced by the Prophet ﷺ himself as unmatched.

This should settle something in our hearts. We sometimes measure the worth of a passage by its length — a long surah feels weightier than a short one. The Prophet’s ﷺ words cut through that instinct. Five verses of Al-Falaq and six verses of An-Nas received a commendation that he did not give to far longer passages: the like of them has never been seen. When we recite the Three Quls, then, we are not reciting “small” surahs to fill a moment. We are reciting verses whose uniqueness the Messenger of Allah ﷺ proclaimed on the very day they were sent down.

Notice, too, what kind of verses earned this praise: verses of refuge. Their greatness lies in what they do — they place the one who recites them directly in the care of the Lord of the dawn and the Lord of men. A believer who ends his day with them ends it by handing himself over to Allah, and it is precisely these verses that the Prophet ﷺ then built into his own nightly routine, as the next narration shows.

3. The Prophet’s Nightly Recitation Before Sleep

The most famous practice connected with the Three Quls is the Prophet’s ﷺ own bedtime routine, reported by his wife ‘Aisha. She tells us that this was not something he did occasionally, or only when he felt afraid — it was what he did every night:

“Whenever the Prophet (ﷺ) went to bed every night, he used to cup his hands together and blow over it after reciting Surat Al-Ikhlas, Surat Al-Falaq and Surat An-Nas, and then rub his hands over whatever parts of his body he was able to rub, starting with his head, face and front of his body. He used to do that three times.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 5017 — Sahih)

Every element of this short description deserves attention. First, the regularity: “went to bed every night.” The Prophet ﷺ, who was under Allah’s protection in a way no one else is, still did not let a single night pass without these surahs. Second, the gathering of all three: Al-Ikhlas, Al-Falaq and An-Nas together, one after another. Third, the manner: the hands cupped together, the gentle blowing into them after the recitation, and then the hands passing over the body. Fourth, the starting point: the head, the face, and the front of the body, then whatever else could be reached. And fifth, the repetition: the whole sequence done three times.

This is why the Three Quls are inseparable from the subject of bedtime remembrance. A believer who wants to sleep as the Prophet ﷺ slept will find these surahs at the very centre of his night — alongside the other authentic words he used to say before resting, gathered in our guide to the dua before sleeping. The point is not merely to have recited something before the eyes close; it is to enter sleep in the same state the Prophet ﷺ entered it: having declared Allah’s oneness, and having sought refuge with the Lord of the dawn and the Lord of men, three times over.

There is a quiet lesson in the fact that he wiped his hands over his body, beginning with his head and face. The recitation was not left as words floating in the air; it was brought close, made personal, spread over the very body that was about to rest. When we follow this, our children learn it by watching us — the cupped hands and the gentle wiping become the last thing they see each night, and in time the first thing they do themselves.

4. How to Perform the Bedtime Recitation, Step by Step

Because ‘Aisha’s narration is so precise, we can follow the practice exactly as it is described, without guesswork. Based only on the narration above, the steps are these:

1. Settle into your bed. The narration describes what the Prophet ﷺ did when he “went to bed” — this is the closing act of the day, done once you are ready for sleep. 2. Cup your hands together. Bring the palms together in front of you, as one does when making dua. 3. Recite the three surahs into them. Recite Surah Al-Ikhlas, then Surah Al-Falaq, then Surah An-Nas — the narration lists them in this order. 4. Blow gently into your cupped hands. The blowing comes after the recitation: “he used to cup his hands together and blow over it after reciting” the three surahs. 5. Wipe your hands over your body. Pass the hands over whatever parts of the body you can reach, starting with the head, then the face, then the front of the body. 6. Repeat the whole sequence three times. Recite, blow, and wipe — three full rounds, just as he used to do it three times.

That is all. No additions are needed, because nothing is missing. The practice takes only a few minutes, requires nothing but the three short surahs memorised, and can be done by the elderly, by children, by the sick in their beds — by anyone, anywhere, every night of the year. The Prophet’s ﷺ Sunnah here is beautifully simple, and its simplicity is part of its mercy: a means of ending every day in Allah’s remembrance and refuge that no believer is too weak, too busy, or too tired to perform.

5. The Three Quls in Sickness

The second setting in which the narrations place these surahs is illness. ‘Aisha also reported what the Prophet ﷺ would do whenever sickness came to him:

“Whenever Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) became sick, he would recite Mu’awwidhat (Surat Al-Falaq and Surat An-Nas) and then blow his breath over his body.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 5016 — Sahih)

The word used in the narration is the Mu’awwidhat — and the narration itself explains the term in brackets: Surah Al-Falaq and Surah An-Nas, the two refuge surahs. So the same verses that guarded his nights were the verses he reached for in pain. He would recite them and blow his breath over his body — the same gentle blowing as at bedtime, now directed over a body in discomfort, seeking Allah’s care in sickness just as he sought it in sleep.

This tells us something about how the Prophet ﷺ faced illness. He did not leave the Quran to one side when he was unwell, waiting for health before returning to it. The refuge surahs were his response within the illness itself. For us, the lesson is gentle and clear: sickness is not a pause in remembrance. Even a few verses — the shortest in the Book — recited from one’s bed, carry the believer to the same Lord of the dawn in whom he seeks refuge every night. Those looking for the broader collection of authentic words for recovery can find them among the duas for healing and shifa, and these two surahs stand at their heart because they stood at the heart of the Prophet’s ﷺ own practice.

6. Reciting for a Loved One: The Hands of ‘Aisha

The narration of the Prophet’s ﷺ sickness holds one more scene — one of the most tender in all the hadith. ‘Aisha continues:

“When he became seriously ill, I used to recite (these two Suras) and rub his hands over his body hoping for its blessings.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 5016 — Sahih)

When the Prophet ﷺ was too ill to perform the practice himself, ‘Aisha did not abandon it. She recited the same two surahs, and she took his hands and rubbed them over his body — preserving his own beloved routine for him, hoping for the blessings of those hands and those words. There is a whole teaching in this single sentence about caring for the sick: the one who nurses a patient can carry the patient’s remembrance for them when they are too weak to carry it themselves, reciting over them the very words they love.

It also quietly confirms the standing of these surahs in his life. Of all the passages ‘Aisha could have chosen at his bedside in his final illness, she chose the Mu’awwidhat — because they were his. The verses he recited every night, and in every sickness, were the verses recited over him when he could no longer recite. A family that builds the Three Quls into its nights is building something that will still be there at the hardest bedsides: familiar words of refuge that everyone present already knows by heart.

7. A Surah of Refuge for Every Night of the Year

Step back and look at the picture these three narrations paint together. On the day Al-Falaq and An-Nas were revealed, the Prophet ﷺ announced that their like had never been seen. He then took them — together with Al-Ikhlas — into the most regular corner of his life: his bed, every night, with his cupped hands and his wiping, three times. And when sickness came, the same refuge surahs were on his lips, and finally on the lips of his wife at his side.

This is the heart of the seeking of refuge in Allah in a believer’s daily life — not an emergency measure used only in moments of terror, but a rhythm: refuge sought in health and in sickness, in the ordinary night and in the night of pain. The Three Quls also sit naturally beside the other great passage of protection the Prophet ﷺ recited at night, whose virtues are explored in our article on the benefits of Ayat al-Kursi. And for a fuller collection of the authentic words of protection for oneself and one’s family, see our guide to the duas for protection from harm.

So let the Three Quls take their place in your night tonight. Cup your hands. Recite Al-Ikhlas, Al-Falaq and An-Nas. Blow gently, wipe from your head and face over the front of your body, and do it three times — as he did, every night. Then sleep, having handed yourself over to the Lord of the dawn and the Lord of men, with verses the like of which have never been seen.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the Three Quls? The Three Quls are Surah Al-Ikhlas, Surah Al-Falaq and Surah An-Nas — the last three surahs of the Quran, each beginning with the word Qul (“Say”). In the bedtime narration, the Prophet ﷺ is described reciting all three together: “after reciting Surat Al-Ikhlas, Surat Al-Falaq and Surat An-Nas” (Sahih al-Bukhari 5017 — Sahih).

2. What did the Prophet ﷺ do with the Three Quls before sleeping? ‘Aisha reported that every night he would cup his hands together, blow into them after reciting the three surahs, and then rub his hands over his body, beginning with his head, face and the front of his body — and he would do this three times (Sahih al-Bukhari 5017 — Sahih).

3. What is so special about Surah Al-Falaq and Surah An-Nas? On the day they were revealed, the Prophet ﷺ said of them: “What wonderful verses have been sent down today. the like of which has never been seen!” — naming them by their openings, “Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of the dawn” and “Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of men” (Sahih Muslim 814a — Sahih).

4. Which surahs are called the Mu’awwidhat? The Mu’awwidhat are Surah Al-Falaq and Surah An-Nas, the two surahs of seeking refuge — the narration of the Prophet’s ﷺ sickness names them exactly so: “he would recite Mu’awwidhat (Surat Al-Falaq and Surat An-Nas)” (Sahih al-Bukhari 5016 — Sahih).

5. Can these surahs be recited for someone else who is ill? Yes — this is what ‘Aisha did for the Prophet ﷺ himself. She reported: “When he became seriously ill, I used to recite (these two Suras) and rub his hands over his body hoping for its blessings” (Sahih al-Bukhari 5016 — Sahih).