Qur'an 2:255
Āyat al-Kursī — meaning, benefits and when to recite
One āyah in the middle of Sūrat al-Baqarah, describing Allah in a way no other single āyah does. Below it is shown in Arabic exactly as the muṣḥaf has it, with its meaning, what each phrase says, and the authentic reports about reciting it — each with its source.
The āyah, with its meaning
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What the āyah says, phrase by phrase
Allah — there is no god but He
The āyah opens by settling the only question that matters: nothing else is worthy of worship. Everything after this describes the One being spoken about.
al-Ḥayy, al-Qayyūm — the Ever-Living, the Sustainer
He lives without beginning or end, and everything else stands only because He keeps it standing. Two names carrying the whole of existence between them.
No drowsiness takes Him, nor sleep
The care never pauses. Whatever a person's night is like, the One holding it does not look away, not even for a moment.
To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth
Ownership is total. Nothing sits outside it, so nothing can be appealed to over Him.
Who can intercede with Him except by His permission?
No one speaks up before Him unbidden. Intercession is real, but it happens only where He allows it.
He knows what is before them and what is behind them
Past and future are both open to Him, and people grasp of His knowledge only what He wills them to grasp.
His Kursī extends over the heavens and the earth
An immensity beyond measure. The classical commentators differ over what exactly the Kursī is, and the safest position is to affirm the word as revealed without inventing a picture for it.
Keeping them tires Him not
Holding everything in place costs Him nothing — and the āyah closes on al-ʿAlī, al-ʿAẓīm: the Most High, the Supreme.
What the ḥadīth say about reciting it
These are the reports people usually mean by “the benefits of Āyat al-Kursī”. Each one is given with where it comes from, and where a report is strong but outside Bukhārī and Muslim, that is said plainly rather than passed over.
Recited when going to bed — a guard until morning
Abū Hurayrah was made to repeat this by someone stealing from the zakāh store, and the Prophet ﷺ confirmed it afterwards: whoever recites Āyat al-Kursī on lying down has a protector from Allah over him, and no devil comes near him until morning.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 2311
Recited after each obligatory prayer
A report from Abū Umāmah states that whoever recites Āyat al-Kursī after every obligatory prayer, nothing stands between him and entering Paradise except death. It is recorded by an-Nasā'ī in ʿAmal al-Yawm wa'l-Layla and graded ṣaḥīḥ by later scholars including al-Albānī — a strong report, though not one found in Bukhārī or Muslim.
an-Nasā'ī, ʿAmal al-Yawm wa'l-Layla 100
The greatest āyah in the Book of Allah
The Prophet ﷺ asked Ubayy ibn Kaʿb which āyah of the Qur'an he considered greatest. When Ubayy answered “Allah — there is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer,” the Prophet ﷺ struck him on the chest and said: may knowledge be pleasant for you, Abū al-Mundhir.
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 810
When to recite it
- Lying down to sleep — the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah above, and the reason it is part of the before-sleep set.
- After each obligatory prayer — on the report of Abū Umāmah.
- Morning and evening remembrance — kept by many scholars within the daily remembrance, alongside the closing sūrahs.
- When reciting over yourself or someone ill — part of the ruqyah set, together with al-Fātiḥah and the last three sūrahs.
No number of repetitions, no set time of day, and no worldly outcome is promised beyond what the reports above state. Anything added to that is not from the ḥadīth.