Dua for Anxiety and Stress: 4 Authentic Supplications

Anxiety in the language of the Sunnah has two faces: hamm — worry about what is coming — and ḥazan — grief over what has already passed. It is a strikingly precise description. Most of what weighs on us is either a future we cannot control or a past we cannot undo, and the Prophet ﷺ gave us a supplication that seeks refuge from both at once.

Notice how it travels. It begins with the feeling — anxiety, grief — then moves to the things that so often feed it: helplessness and laziness, stinginess and fear, debt, and being overpowered by others. It is not a request to feel nothing. It is a request for refuge, and for the strength that keeps worry from hardening into paralysis.

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet ﷺ would say it often. Make it part of your morning and evening remembrance so the words are already on your tongue on the day you most need them.

When Prophet Yūnus (peace be upon him) called out from within layered darkness — the night, the sea, and the belly of the whale — he did not begin by asking for rescue. He began by declaring who Allah is, and by owning his own shortcoming:

Allah follows it with a promise that reaches past Yūnus to every believer after him: “So We answered him and saved him from distress — and thus do We save the believers” (21:88). It is a duʿāʾ of tawḥīd, humility and hope in nine words, and it is short enough to memorise today. You can hear it in its full context in the whole Quran with audio and tafsir.

Some of the most steadying words are the briefest — short enough to repeat while you walk, wait, or lie awake. Keep these close through a hard day:

• Ḥasbunā Allāhu wa niʿmal-wakīl — “Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best Disposer of affairs” (Quran 3:173). Said by those who were warned of danger and answered with trust.
• Yā Ḥayyu yā Qayyūm, bi-raḥmatika astaghīth — “O Ever-Living, O Sustainer, by Your mercy I seek relief” (Sunan al-Tirmidhī 3524). A plea that leans on two of Allah's names: the One who never dies, and the One who holds everything up.
• Lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh — “There is no might nor power except with Allah,” described as a treasure of Paradise. It quietly hands the weight back to the One who can carry it.
• Abundant istighfār — the Prophet ﷺ taught that whoever keeps to seeking forgiveness, Allah makes for them a way out of every distress and a relief from every worry (Sunan Abī Dāwūd 1518).

A supplication calms most when it is a habit rather than an emergency call. The aim is not to say more words, but to have the right words near when the heart is too tired to search. A simple rhythm:

• Anchor them to your prayers — say the refuge-duʿāʾ after each salah, while you are still on the mat.
• Fold them into your morning and evening adhkār, so the words are warm before worry arrives.
• Turn to them in sujūd — the closest a servant is to their Lord — where you may ask in any language.
• Keep one short dhikr for the in-between moments: the commute, the queue, the wait for news.

If it helps to have them gathered in one place, Itabah's daily duʿāʾ collection carries these supplications from Ḥiṣn al-Muslim with their sources, and Sakīnah is a gentle companion for anxious nights — grounded in the Quran and authentic Sunnah.

And remember the frame the Quran gives all of this: “Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest” (Sūrat al-Raʿd, 13:28). Duʿāʾ is not a denial of the difficulty. It is bringing the difficulty to the One who holds it.

No — and Islam never asked it to. These supplications are a mercy and a real source of calm, and the same faith that teaches them also teaches us to take the means. The Prophet ﷺ said that Allah has not sent down a disease without also sending down its cure.

So if anxiety is persistent, heavy, or stealing your sleep and your work, make these duʿās and speak to a doctor or a qualified professional. Seeking help is part of trusting Allah, not a retreat from it — just as a believer ties their camel and then places their trust in Him. Nor is anxiety a sign of weak faith: the Prophet ﷺ himself was taught to seek refuge from it, which tells you plainly that feeling it is human.