Mishkat al-Masabih
Mishkat al-Masabih 2488
عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ قَالَ: كَانَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَدْعُو يَقُولُ: «رَبِّ أَعِنِّي وَلَا تُعِنْ عَلَيَّ وَانْصُرْنِي وَلَا تَنْصُرْ عَلَيَّ وَامْكُرْ لِي وَلَا تَمْكُرْ عَلَيَّ وَاهْدِنِي وَيَسِّرِ الْهُدَى لِي وَانْصُرْنِي عَلَى مَنْ بَغَى عَلَيَّ ربِّ اجعَلني لكَ شَاكِرًا لَكَ ذَاكِرًا لَكَ رَاهِبًا لَكَ مِطْوَاعًا لَكَ مُخْبِتًا إِلَيْكَ أَوَّاهًا مُنِيبًا رَبِّ تَقَبَّلْ تَوْبَتِي وَاغْسِلْ حَوْبَتِي وَأَجِبْ دَعْوَتِي وَثَبِّتْ حُجَّتِي وَسَدِّدْ لِسَانِي وَاهْدِ قَلْبِي وَاسْلُلْ سَخِيمَةَ صَدْرِي» . رَوَاهُ التِّرْمِذِيّ وَأَبُو دَاوُد وَابْن مَاجَه
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ibn ‘Abbas reported that the Prophet ﷺ would supplicate: “My Lord, help me and do not help others against me; grant me victory and do not grant victory over me; devise in my favor and do not devise against me; guide me and make guidance easy for me; and grant me victory over those who transgress against me. My Lord, make me grateful to You, mindful of You, in awe of You, obedient to You, humble before You, tender-hearted toward You, and ever turning back to You in repentance. My Lord, accept my repentance, wash away my sin, answer my supplication, establish my proof, make my tongue speak rightly, guide my heart, and remove rancor from my breast.” Reported by al-Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, and Ibn Majah. The hadith was not studied by al-Albani.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The phrase وامكر لي ولا تمكر علي is kept close to the Arabic, although its idiomatic force is not fully explicit in isolation.
وَامْكُرْ لِي وَلَا تَمْكُرْ عَلَيَّ
The verb مكر means to plan or plot and has a positive contextual force in this supplication, but a literal English rendering may suggest wrongful deception.
Should this be rendered literally as “devise for me, not against me,” or more idiomatically as “counter the plots against me”? The close rendering is retained to preserve the wording.