The Quran · Sūra 2
البقرة
al-Baqara · The Cow
- Verses 1–254 are not in the reader yet
- 2:255٢٥٥
255.Allah! There is no God save Him, the Alive, the Eternal. Neither slumber nor sleep overtaketh Him. Unto Him belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Who is he that intercedeth with Him save by His leave? He knoweth that which is in front of them and that which is behind them, while they encompass nothing of His knowledge save what He will. His throne includeth the heavens and the earth, and He is never weary of preserving them. He is the Sublime, the Tremendous.
Pickthall (1930)Quoted in the library:Faṣṣ Nūḥal-Mawāqif
- Verses 256–284 are not in the reader yet
- 2:285٢٨٥
285.The messenger believeth in that which hath been revealed unto him from his Lord and (so do) believers. Each one believeth in Allah and His angels and His scriptures and His messengers—We make no distinction between any of His messengers—and they say: We hear, and we obey. (Grant us) Thy forgiveness, our Lord. Unto Thee is the journeying.
Pickthall (1930)Quoted in the library:al-Ṭaḥāwiyya
- 2:286٢٨٦
286.Allah tasketh not a soul beyond its scope. For it (is only) that which it hath earned, and against it (only) that which it hath deserved. Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget, or miss the mark! Our Lord! Lay not on us such a burden as thou didst lay on those before us! Our Lord! Impose not on us that which we have not the strength to bear! Pardon us, absolve us and have mercy on us, Thou, our Protector, and give us victory over the disbelieving folk.
Pickthall (1930)Quoted in the library:al-Ṭaḥāwiyyaal-Mawāqif ×3
Why these verses are recited daily
Āyat al-Kursī (2:255). Three reports lie behind the practice. Their standing differs, so they are kept apart.
- At bedtime. Abū Hurayra reports that a thief he had caught told him that reciting it on going to bed brings a guard from God, and no devil comes near until morning (Bukhārī 2311, and 5010). The Prophet said the thief had told the truth though he is a liar: he was Satan. It is in Bukhārī, whose reports the schools accept as sound, so there is no separate grade to give.
- The greatest verse. Ubayy ibn Kaʿb answers the Prophet’s question which verse of God’s book is greatest: Āyat al-Kursī (Muslim 810, HadeethEnc 65059, “authentic”). In Muslim.
- After each obligatory prayer. Abū Umāma reports that nothing stands between the one who recites it after each prayer and Paradise but death (al-Nasāʾī, al-Sunan al-Kubrā 9848). An IslamWeb fatwa says al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Ḥibbān and al-Albānī graded it ṣaḥīḥ, and HadeethEnc says “authentic”. A different report, in al-Ṭabarānī (the reciter after the prayer is in God’s care until the next prayer), is graded weak by al-Albānī because one narrator, Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUmar al-Raqashī, is unknown; Ibn Ḥajar is reported calling it gharīb, and al-Mundhirī and al-Haythamī “good”. Scholars therefore grade the two wordings differently, and the ṣaḥīḥ grade belongs to the first.
Not confirmed on a primary page. sunnah.com and dorar.net could not be opened, so the texts were read in an open dataset of the six collections and the grades are those it lists for named scholars, with HadeethEnc beside it. For the after-prayer report we have only the fatwa and HadeethEnc, so it is the least settled item here. A claim that Ibn al-Jawzī called it fabricated turned up in a source we did not open; we could not confirm it and do not state it. A person should check each grading on a page of the grader before the site leans on it.
The last two verses (2:285–286). The report is that whoever recites the last two verses of al-Baqara at night, they will suffice him. It is in both collections (agreed upon): Bukhārī 5009, 4008 and 5040 (the two later ones from Abū Masʿūd; 5040 adds “for that night”), and Muslim 807 and 808 (HadeethEnc 6274, “authentic”, “agreed upon”). No separate grade is needed for a report in Bukhārī and Muslim.
What “suffice him” means. The wording does not say. Commentators on the report understand it in more than one way (enough for that night’s prayer, or protection from harm); we have not opened a commentary, so the page does not choose.
Not confirmed on a primary page. sunnah.com and dorar.net could not be opened, so the texts were read in an open dataset of the six collections and the grades are those it lists for named scholars, with HadeethEnc beside it. The Bukhārī numbers are those of the Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī / Fatḥ numbering and the Muslim numbers Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī’s; other editions number differently. A person should check each grading on a page of the grader before the site leans on it.
One of the Qurʾān in daily use. Hadith numbers: Bukhārī and Muslim by Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī; the others as sunnah.com numbers them.