Seeking forgiveness
Tasbih & Dhikr 100times
Seeking forgiveness
أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ
Astaghfirullah
I seek the forgiveness of Allah.
Plain text (no diacritics)
أستغفر الله
Virtue: The Prophet ﷺ would seek forgiveness a hundred times a day.
About this dhikr
This is istighfar in its unrestricted form: one word, with no fixed formula and no appointed time. Its basis is the report of al-Agharr al-Muzani that the Prophet ﷺ said that a covering would come over his heart, and that he would seek Allah's forgiveness a hundred times a day (Muslim 2702).
Scholars differ over what that covering was. Some held it to be the distraction of attending to people's affairs, breaking the continuity of presence of heart; others held it to be his continual ascent, so that each state he rose to made the one before it look lesser. What is not disputed is the conclusion: if the purest of creation sought forgiveness a hundred times a day, everyone beneath him needs it more.
Do not confuse this with the two other places istighfar appears. Sayyid al-Istighfar is a long formula with a fixed wording. Seeking forgiveness three times after prayer is a separate sunnah with a different count and a different narration. All three are istighfar; none of them stands in for another.
When is it said?
This dhikr has no fixed time: it is said by night and by day, while walking or waiting or doing anything that does not occupy the heart. The Prophet ﷺ would remember Allah at all his times.
The number attached to it is a deliberate sunnah rather than an approximation. Exceeding it is no sin, and falling short of it forfeits part of what was promised — but keeping steadily to a little is more beloved than a great deal that stops.
Where it comes in the litany
Dhikr number 5 of 20 in Tasbih & Dhikr — read in the order they are said.
