Dua for Protection of Children from Evil Eye and Harm

As parents, one of our biggest worries is keeping our children safe. The Prophet ﷺ taught us a short dua for protection of children that he used to recite over his own grandsons, al-Hasan and al-Husain. It asks Allah to protect them from devils, from harmful creatures and from the evil eye. Let’s take a look at the hadith, what the words mean, and how we can make it part of our day.

The hadith

Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to seek refuge for al-Hasan and al-Husain, saying:

And he ﷺ would say: “It is with this that Ibrahim would seek refuge for Ishaq and Isma’il [peace be upon them].” At-Tirmidhi graded the hadith hasan sahih.

The same hadith is also in Sahih al-Bukhari, which makes it even stronger. In that narration the Prophet ﷺ says to his grandsons, “Your forefather (i.e. Abraham) used to seek refuge with Allah for Ishmael and Isaac by reciting the following”, and the words are in the first person: a’ūdhu, “I seek refuge”.

What the words of the dua mean

Here is the dua broken into its parts. The meanings follow the Sunnah.com translations above.

1. U’īdhukumā (أُعِيذُكُمَا): “I seek refuge for the two of you.” We are not asking for ourselves here; we are placing our children under Allah’s protection.
2. Bi kalimātillāhit-tāmmah (بِكَلِمَاتِ اللَّهِ التَّامَّةِ): “in the Perfect Words of Allah.” Words that are complete, with no flaw or shortcoming in them.
3. Min kulli shayṭānin wa hāmmah (مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْطَانٍ وَهَامَّةٍ): “from every devil and every poisonous pest.” Harm we cannot see, and harmful creatures we can.
4. Wa min kulli ‘aynin lāmmah (وَمِنْ كُلِّ عَيْنٍ لاَمَّةٍ): “and from every harmful eye.” This is the evil eye.

The evil eye is real. The Prophet ﷺ said: “The effect of an evil eye is a fact” (Sahih al-Bukhari 5740). That is why it is mentioned by name in this dua.

Reflection: What touches me about this hadith is that it is a dua passed from father to son across the prophets. Prophet Ibrahim said it over his sons, and the Prophet ﷺ said it over his grandsons. (I wrote about Prophet Ibrahim’s legacy in Lessons from Prophet Ibrahim.) When we say it over our own children, we are continuing a Sunnah of two prophets. And it reminds us that the real protector of our children is Allah, not us.

How to practise this dua for protection of children

• Recite it over your children. The hadith says the Prophet ﷺ “used to” say it over his grandsons, so it was something he did regularly. The hadith does not fix a time, so pick one that suits your family, for example at bedtime or before they leave the house.
• Use the right form for your children. The hadith’s wording, u’īdhukumā, is for two children. Many people adapt the pronoun for one or more children; see the questions below.
• Teach older children to say it for themselves. In the first person, as in Sahih al-Bukhari 3371: A’ūdhu bi kalimātillāhit-tāmmah, min kulli shayṭānin wa hāmmah, wa min kulli ‘aynin lāmmah.
• Pair it with other protections. For example, the surahs to recite before going to bed and the dua for daily protection.
• Say it with trust, not fear. We take the means Allah gave us, then leave the rest to Him.

Key lessons

• The Prophet ﷺ used to seek refuge for his grandsons al-Hasan and al-Husain with this dua (Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2060, Sahih al-Bukhari 3371).
• Prophet Ibrahim used the same words for his sons Isma’il and Ishaq.
• The dua seeks refuge in the Perfect Words of Allah from every devil, every harmful creature and every harmful eye.
• The evil eye is real (Sahih al-Bukhari 5740), and the protection we seek from it is with Allah.

Questions people ask

I hope this short dua becomes part of your family’s day. May Allah protect our children from every devil, every harm and every evil eye, and make them a source of goodness for us in this life and the next. Ameen.

Save this to Pinterest so you can find the dua again.