Popular Duas That Are Not Authentic

Every Ramadan and every Rajab, particular supplications circulate — set on images, attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. Most of the people sharing them are seeking reward, so this has to be said gently: the problem is not the meaning. It is the attribution.

A supplication can be beautifully worded and entirely sound in meaning, and still not be something the Prophet ﷺ said. Attributing to him what he did not say is a grave matter: “Whoever lies about me deliberately, let him take his seat in the Fire” (agreed upon). And: “Whoever narrates from me a hadith thinking it is a lie is one of the liars” (Muslim). Note that — one of the liars: the one passing it on is included, even without inventing it.

Here are the best known, and what to say instead.

1. “O Allah, bless us in Rajab and Sha’ban, and let us reach Ramadan”

Among the most shared as Rajab begins. It is narrated from Anas, but its chain is weak: it turns on Za’idah ibn Abi ar-Ruqad, of whom al-Bukhari said “munkar al-hadith”. A number of scholars graded the narration weak.

Instead: ask Allah to let you reach Ramadan in your own words. The meaning is unobjectionable, and supplication requires no memorised wording. What must be avoided is attributing it to the Prophet ﷺ as a sunnah.

2. Supplications for the days of the week

A Saturday dua, a Tuesday dua, and so on — a long text for each day. None of it is established, and none of the authors of the accepted books of Sunnah recorded any of it.

What is established is that deeds are presented on Monday and Thursday, so fasting them is recommended, and that Friday contains an hour of response — both the virtue of an action, not of a form of words.

Instead: see the days of the week page for what is authentic, day by day.

3. Salat ar-Ragha’ib

A prayer performed on the eve of the first Friday of Rajab with a specific form and number. It is an innovation by the agreement of the verifying scholars. An-Nawawi called it “an ugly, rejected innovation”, and the narration supporting it is fabricated.

Instead: pray at night on any night — that door is open every night, with no fixed count and no fixed form.

4. The specific supplication for mid-Sha’ban

This one needs detail, because the parts are not on the same level:

• The virtue of the night itself: a narration exists that Allah looks upon His creation on the night of mid-Sha’ban and forgives all but a polytheist or one harbouring enmity. Scholars differed over it — some graded it hasan because of its several chains, others graded it weak. Whoever prays that night as he prays on other nights has done nothing wrong.
• The long supplication specific to it: not established from the Prophet ﷺ, and no sound chain is known for it.
• Singling it out with a particular prayer or gathering: not transmitted from the Prophet ﷺ or his companions.

Instead: pray that night as you would any other, and supplicate as you wish, without a wording or form that was never transmitted.

5. The supplication specific to ‘Ashura

Circulated as “whoever says such-and-such on the day of ‘Ashura…” with a long text. None of it is established.

What is established about ‘Ashura is fasting: “Fasting the day of ‘Ashura, I hope Allah will expiate the year before it” (Muslim). Fasting the ninth alongside it is recommended.

Instead: fast, and supplicate as you wish — the fasting person’s supplication is not turned back.

6. The Qur’an-completion dua attributed to the Prophet ﷺ

The long supplication printed at the back of some copies of the Qur’an and attributed to the Prophet ﷺ is not established in that wording.

Supplicating on completing the Qur’an does have a basis among the early generations — Anas would gather his family and supplicate on finishing. The practice has a precedent; the specific attributed wording does not.

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Three signs of a dua that is not authentic

Practical enough for a non-specialist:

1. No source with it. An image carrying a long supplication with no book and no narrator named — that alone is reason to stop.
2. A precise promise for a precise act. “Whoever says this seven times will be forgiven such-and-such and have his need met.” Authentic narrations do mention virtues, but this transactional specificity is usually a mark of fabrication.
3. An instruction to share it. “Pass it on, do not be stingy.” That sentence is not prophetic speech in any form, and its presence dates the text.

A word of fairness

The point is not that you should supplicate less, but that it should be sound. The Prophet ﷺ left comprehensive supplications that make every invention unnecessary; anyone who reads the Qur’anic duas and the established adhkar will find them more eloquent and more complete than what circulates.

Where scholars genuinely differed, no one should be harshly condemned for taking a view; the objection is to what is agreed to have no basis. And if something remains unclear to you, ask the scholars in your own country — this is a page of transmission and verification, not of religious verdicts.