آية الكرسي عند النوم
Reciting the Qur'an's 'Throne Verse' before sleeping, reported as protective through the night.
إِذَا أَوَيْتَ إِلَى فِرَاشِكَ فَاقْرَأْ آيَةَ الْكُرْسِيِّ ... لَنْ يَزَالَ عَلَيْكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ حَافِظٌ، وَلَا يَقْرَبُكَ شَيْطَانٌ حَتَّى تُصْبِحَ
“When you lie down to sleep, recite the Throne Verse... a protector from Allah will remain with you, and no devil will approach you until morning.” (meaning, not a literal translation)
Narrated by Abu Hurairah as advice given to him directly by a nightly visitor he had caught stealing from the charity stores, later confirmed by the Prophet ﷺ as truthful despite being 'a devil.' This is one of the few hadith where a piece of guidance is validated even though it came from an unexpected, untrustworthy source — commentators note the Prophet ﷺ judged the content on its own merit rather than dismissing it based on the messenger.
Ibn al-Qayyim discusses recitation before sleep as part of a broader nightly spiritual routine, alongside physical practices like ablution and right-side sleeping. He treats this verse specifically as carrying particular weight given its Qur'anic description of Allah's all-encompassing knowledge and power, making it a fitting recitation for the vulnerable, unconscious state of sleep.
This is a spiritual practice rather than a mechanism modern science studies directly — there's no expectation of a measurable physiological effect, and it's presented here purely as a matter of religious practice and textual sourcing, not a health intervention.