How to recite Surah Al-Falaq

Surah Al-Falaq is the 113th chapter of the Quran. It has five short verses, and in it you ask Allah (the Arabic word for God, the One God) for protection. Al-Falaq means the daybreak.

Al-Falaq and the surah after it, An-Nas, came as a special gift. 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said:

Have you not seen that some verses were revealed (to me) tonight the like of which has never been seen before?

Sahih Muslim 814

He then named them: Al-Falaq and An-Nas.

Before you start

You already practiced the method with Al-Ikhlas: listen, repeat, and add one verse at a time. Keep a recording by any well-known reciter close by (the Quran.com page in the sources below has audio) and follow the transliteration as you listen. There is no rush. 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet said:

Whoever recites a letter from the Book of Allah will be credited with a good deed for it, and a good deed is multiplied tenfold.

Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2910

Every letter you manage today counts, even if the whole surah takes you a week.

Sounds to listen for

• dh is the soft "th" in "this".

• sh is as in "show".

• kh is a rough sound from the back of the throat, like the "ch" in the Scottish word "loch".

• gh is a gargled sound, close to a French r.

• th is the "th" in "think".

• The apostrophe (') marks the letter 'ayn, a tight sound from the middle of the throat. If you cannot make it yet, do your best and keep listening.

• Doubled letters, like the rr in sharri, are held a moment longer.

• Every verse ends on q, b or d. When you stop on these letters, give them a small bounce, like an echo. Reciters call this qalqalah.

The opening: the basmala

The five verses

The English under each verse is the Saheeh International translation of its meaning. The next lesson explains each verse.

Notice the rhythm: verse 2 begins with min sharri ("from the evil of"), and verses 3 to 5 begin with wa min sharri ("and from the evil of"). Once you know that phrase, you already know part of every verse after the first.

Reciting it in your prayer

Just like Al-Ikhlas, you can recite Al-Falaq after Al-Fatiha in the first two rak'ahs (units) of your prayer, following the Prophet's practice of reciting Al-Fatiha and then another surah. Now that you know two surahs, you could recite Al-Ikhlas in the first rak'ah and Al-Falaq in the second.

Next, you will learn what each verse of Al-Falaq means, and the times of day the Prophet recited it.