Grammar
A grammatical point in a morning and evening dhikr
A Dhikr of Protection: Nothing Can Harm Except by Allāh’s Decree
It is narrated from Abān ibn ʿUthmān that he heard ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān رضي الله عنه say that the Messenger of Allāh (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) said:
“There is no servant who says in the morning of every day and the evening of every night:
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الَّذِي لَا يَضُرُّ مَعَ اسْمِهِ شَيْءٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِي السَّمَاءِ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ
“In the name of Allāh, with Whose name nothing on earth nor in heaven can cause harm, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing,”
three times, except that nothing will harm him.”
In this same narration, Abān ibn ʿUthmān, who narrated this ḥadīth, had been afflicted with partial paralysis. A man began looking at him, as though wondering how he could be afflicted while narrating this ḥadīth.
So Abān said to him:
“Why are you looking at me? The ḥadīth is exactly as I narrated it to you, but I did not say it on that day, so that the decree of Allāh might take its course.”
Narrated by at-Tirmidhī, and Shaykh al-Albānī graded it ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.
Shaykh Sulaymān ar-Ruḥaylī حفظه الله mentioned an important benefit regarding this dhikr:
"The word شَيْءٌ — “anything” — comes here as an indefinite noun (nakirah) in the context of negation:
لَا يَضُرُّ ... شَيْءٌ
“Nothing can harm…”
In Arabic, this gives a meaning of generality. Meaning:
no harm whatsoever can reach a person except by the permission and decree of Allāh — whether from the evil eye, envy, magic, illness, or any other harm"
It is narrated from Abān ibn ʿUthmān that he heard ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān رضي الله عنه say that the Messenger of Allāh (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) said:
“There is no servant who says in the morning of every day and the evening of every night:
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الَّذِي لَا يَضُرُّ مَعَ اسْمِهِ شَيْءٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِي السَّمَاءِ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ
“In the name of Allāh, with Whose name nothing on earth nor in heaven can cause harm, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing,”
three times, except that nothing will harm him.”
In this same narration, Abān ibn ʿUthmān, who narrated this ḥadīth, had been afflicted with partial paralysis. A man began looking at him, as though wondering how he could be afflicted while narrating this ḥadīth.
So Abān said to him:
“Why are you looking at me? The ḥadīth is exactly as I narrated it to you, but I did not say it on that day, so that the decree of Allāh might take its course.”
Narrated by at-Tirmidhī, and Shaykh al-Albānī graded it ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.
Shaykh Sulaymān ar-Ruḥaylī حفظه الله mentioned an important benefit regarding this dhikr:
"The word شَيْءٌ — “anything” — comes here as an indefinite noun (nakirah) in the context of negation:
لَا يَضُرُّ ... شَيْءٌ
“Nothing can harm…”
In Arabic, this gives a meaning of generality. Meaning:
no harm whatsoever can reach a person except by the permission and decree of Allāh — whether from the evil eye, envy, magic, illness, or any other harm"