Mishkat al-Masabih
Mishkat al-Masabih 2441
وَعَنْ أَبِي مُوسَى: أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ كَانَ إِذَا خَافَ قَوْمًا قَالَ: «اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا نَجْعَلُكَ فِي نُحُورِهِمْ وَنَعُوذُ بِكَ من شرورهم» . رَوَاهُ أَحْمد وَأَبُو دَاوُد
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Musa reported that when the Prophet ﷺ feared a people, he would say: “O Allah, we place You before them, and we seek refuge in You from their evils.” Reported by Ahmad and Abu Dawud. The hadith was not studied by al-Albani.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The expression نجعلك في نحورهم literally places Allah before their throats; the English conveys the supplication’s protective sense.
نَجْعَلُكَ فِي نُحُورِهِمْ
The idiom نجعلك في نحورهم literally means placing You at their throats/fronts; its intended protective sense is clear, but the best idiomatic English phrasing is less certain.
Should this be rendered literally as “we place You before them” or idiomatically as “we ask You to repel them”? This version stays close to the Arabic image.