“Allahumma arinal haqqa haqqan warzuqnat tiba’ah, wa arinal batila batilan warzuqnaj tinabah” (اَللّٰهُمَّ اَرِنَا الْحَقَّ حَقًّا) is a famous supplication asking Allah to make the truth clear so we can follow it, and to expose falsehood so we can avoid it. It is not a marfu hadith from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), but classical scholars attribute it to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA) and Sayyiduna Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA), and Ibn Kathir cites it in his commentary on Surah Al-Baqarah 2:213. This guide covers the Arabic text with and without diacritics, the word-by-word meaning, pronunciation, the full scholarly chain behind the dua, why it matters in an age of mixed messages, when to recite it, and authentic alternatives reported directly from the Prophet (peace be upon him).
Table of Contents
What “Allahumma Arinal Haqqa Haqqan” Means
The dua is short, balanced, and built around two opposed pairs: truth that should be followed and falsehood that should be avoided. The full Arabic, with diacritics, is:
اَللّٰهُمَّ اَرِنَا الْحَقَّ حَقًّا وَّ ارْزُقْنَا اتِّبَاعَهٗ وَ اَرِنَا الْبَاطِلَ بَاطِلًا وَّ ارْزُقْنَا اجْتِنَابَهٗ
And without the diacritics, the way it usually appears in printed adhkar booklets:
اللهم ارنا الحق حقا وارزقنا اتباعه وارنا الباطل باطلا وارزقنا اجتنابه
Allahumma arinal haqqa haqqan warzuqnat tiba’ah, wa arinal batila batilan warzuqnaj tinabah
“O Allah, show us the truth as true and grant us to follow it. Show us falsehood as false and grant us to avoid it.”
Breaking the dua into its four parts clarifies why it carries so much weight despite being short.
| Arabic | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| اَللّٰهُمَّ اَرِنَا الْحَقَّ حَقًّا | Allahumma arinal haqqa haqqan | O Allah, show us the truth as truth |
| وَّ ارْزُقْنَا اتِّبَاعَهٗ | warzuqnat tiba’ah | and grant us its following |
| وَ اَرِنَا الْبَاطِلَ بَاطِلًا | wa arinal batila batilan | and show us falsehood as falsehood |
| وَّ ارْزُقْنَا اجْتِنَابَهٗ | warzuqnaj tinabah | and grant us its avoidance |
Two details often get missed. First, the verb is arina (show us), not akhbirna (tell us). The request is for vision, for the kind of certainty where the truth is recognised on sight, not merely informed about. Second, both halves end in warzuqna (“provide us”), which treats following truth and avoiding falsehood as gifts from Allah, not personal achievements. Knowledge alone is not enough; the strength to act on knowledge is itself a provision.
You will also see the transliteration written as “Allahumma ariniyal haqqa haqqaw warzuqna tiba’ah” or “warzuqniyat tiba’ah” in some books. These are minor English-spelling variants of the same Arabic words and do not change the dua.
Related:
How to Pronounce Allahumma Arinal Haqqa Haqqan
Pronunciation matters because two of the words in this dua share heavy emphatic letters: the ha in haqqa (ح, not ه) and the ta in tiba’ah (ت). Listening to a native reciter before you memorise the dua is the easiest way to get the makharij right and to avoid pausing in the wrong place.
Is This Dua From an Authentic Hadith?
This is the most important question about the dua, and most online articles skip it. The short answer: the dua is not a marfu hadith (it is not attributed directly to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, with an authentic chain). It is instead reported as the speech of two of the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs.
Attribution 1: Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA). Imam al-Ghazali quotes the dua in Ihya Ulum al-Din and attributes it to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him). Al-Zabidi, in his commentary on the Ihya titled Ithaf al-Sadat al-Muttaqin, repeats this attribution (vol. 10, p. 106) without providing a chain of narration. Because there is no isnad, classical hadith scholars treat this as a mursal report from a Companion, useful for piety but not strong enough to be classified as authentic hadith.
Attribution 2: Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA). The Hanbali jurist Mansur al-Buhuti, in his fiqh manual Sharh Muntaha al-Iradat (also titled Daqa’iq Uli al-Nuha li-Sharh al-Muntaha), attributes the dua to Sayyiduna Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) at volume 3, page 497. This is a fiqh source rather than a hadith collection, so again it carries scholarly weight without supplying an isnad.
Attribution 3: Ibn Kathir’s tafsir. The mufassir Ibn Kathir, in his Tafsir al-Qur’an al-Azim, cites the dua in his commentary on Surah Al-Baqarah ayah 213 (the verse that mentions mankind being one community and Allah sending prophets to judge between people in matters they differ over). He describes it as ad-du’a al-ma’thur, “the reported supplication,” classifying it as something handed down from the early generations without certifying it as marfu.
The honest verdict: it is permissible to recite, widely endorsed by classical scholars, and connected to two great Companions; but it should not be quoted as a hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him). When you teach it to your family or share it online, name the attribution honestly, because clarity about sources is itself part of haqq.
Why This Dua Matters: The Two Fitnahs of the Heart
Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, in his book Ighathat al-Lahfan fi Masayid al-Shaytan, divides every trial that hits the believer’s heart into two categories. The first is fitnat al-shahawat, the fitnah of desires: lust, greed, anger, vanity. The second is fitnat al-shubuhat, the fitnah of doubts: confused arguments, half-truths, misrepresented religion, or convincing falsehoods that look like truth.
Ibn al-Qayyim notes that the fitnah of doubts is by far the more dangerous of the two, because a person trapped in lust still knows he is doing wrong, while a person trapped in shubuhat believes he is doing right. The first sinner needs willpower; the second has lost the compass entirely.
This is the exact theological frame the dua addresses. It does not ask to be made more disciplined, more patient, or more pious. It asks for basira, inner sight, so that truth registers as truth on contact and falsehood registers as falsehood. It is, in effect, a prayer for protection from fitnat al-shubuhat at the level of perception itself.
The Quranic anchor sits in Surah Al-Baqarah 2:213. Allah says that humanity was one community, that He sent prophets with the Book to judge between people in what they differed over, and that He guides whomever He wills among the believers to the truth they had disagreed about. Ibn Kathir quotes the dua precisely here, because the verse and the dua share one premise: people will dispute over what is true, and only Allah grants the clarity to settle the dispute inside the heart.
Benefits of Reciting Allahumma Arinal Haqqa Haqqan
The benefits are exactly what the dua asks for, distilled into four returns that compound over time.
- Clarity in recognising truth. The dua trains the heart to ask Allah for vision before it asks for action. Over time, the believer becomes harder to deceive, because his first move when something looks attractive is to ask whether it is actually true, not whether it feels good.
- The will to follow truth once recognised. Recognition is half the work; the other half is the strength to act on it, often against social pressure. The phrase warzuqnat tiba’ah (“grant us its following”) is a request for Allah to make obedience easy where willpower alone would fail.
- Clarity in recognising falsehood. Falsehood today rarely arrives as obvious lies; it arrives as plausible-sounding shubuhat. Asking Allah to make falsehood visible as falsehood is a request to dismantle the disguise before it lands.
- The will to avoid falsehood once recognised. Some people see the lie clearly and follow it anyway, because the social or financial cost of leaving feels too high. The phrase warzuqnaj tinabah (“grant us its avoidance”) asks Allah to remove that grip.
Read together, the four benefits form a complete protection cycle for the heart: see truth, follow it, see falsehood, leave it. The dua does not stop at half of the cycle.
When to Recite Allahumma Arinal Haqqa Haqqan
There is no fixed time prescribed by the Sunnah for this dua, since it is not marfu. That actually widens the appropriate moments, because it can be tied to any situation where you need clarity. The most useful windows in practice:
- After every fard salah, alongside the established post-prayer adhkar. This is when the heart is most receptive after the five-times-daily resetting of focus.
- During the last third of the night, in tahajjud. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said that Allah descends to the lowest heaven in the last third of every night and asks who is seeking Him so He may give. Asking for vision into truth at that hour is asking at the most blessed moment.
- Before making a real decision, especially a marriage proposal, a business deal, a major migration, a religious ruling you are unsure about. Pair it with salat al-istikhara for compounding clarity.
- When reading or watching something that confuses you. Articles, lectures, social-media debates, or news stories that pull at the heart in two directions are exactly the territory of fitnat al-shubuhat. Recite the dua before engaging, not after.
- While studying religion. Students of Quran, hadith, and fiqh have repeated this dua for centuries before opening their books, because the goal of study is the truth and not merely accumulated information.
You can recite it in Arabic, in English translation, or in your own words; the meaning is what matters. Keep the Arabic form for the established blessings of dua language, but never treat the words as a charm; the dua works through Allah, not through the syllables.
Related Authentic Duas for Guidance and Truth
Because “Allahumma arinal haqqa haqqan” is not marfu, some readers want a direct prophetic alternative they can pair with it. The Sunnah has several. Each of the duas below is authentic and addresses the same need for guidance to truth.
- “Allahumma inni as’aluka al-huda wat-tuqa wal-‘afafa wal-ghina” — “O Allah, I ask You for guidance, mindfulness of You, chastity, and self-sufficiency.” Reported by Ibn Mas’ud (RA), graded sahih, in Sahih Muslim 2721 (Book 48, Hadith 86). This is the strongest authentic substitute, because it begins with the same request for huda.
- “Ya muqallib al-qulub, thabbit qalbi ‘ala dinik” — “O Turner of hearts, keep my heart firm upon Your religion.” Reported by Anas ibn Malik (RA), graded sahih by al-Albani, in Jami at-Tirmidhi 2140. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said this so often that Umm Salama (RA) asked him why; he replied that Allah turns hearts as He wills.
- “Ihdina as-sirata al-mustaqim” — “Guide us to the straight path.” Surah Al-Fatihah ayah 6. Every Muslim recites this at least seventeen times every day in the obligatory prayers, and it is the most repeated request for guidance in the whole Quran.
- “Allahumma ihdini wa saddidni” — “O Allah, guide me and make me firm.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) taught this to Ali ibn Abi Talib (RA) as a complete dua for guidance combined with steadfastness, reported in Sahih Muslim 2725.
A balanced routine: pair “Allahumma arinal haqqa haqqan” with one of the marfu duas above each time you recite it, so the act of seeking truth is anchored to a direct prophetic word.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the dua “Allahumma arinal haqqa” from the Quran or hadith?
Neither. It is not a verse of the Quran, and it is not a marfu hadith from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). It is an athar (a saying from the early generations) attributed to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA) by Imam al-Ghazali in Ihya Ulum al-Din and to Sayyiduna Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA) by Mansur al-Buhuti in Sharh Muntaha al-Iradat 3/497. Ibn Kathir also cites it as ad-du’a al-ma’thur in his tafsir of Surah Al-Baqarah ayah 213.
Who narrated this dua — Abu Bakr, Umar, or the Prophet (peace be upon him)?
Not the Prophet (peace be upon him). Two attributions exist among classical scholars. Imam al-Ghazali attributes it to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA) in Ihya Ulum al-Din; al-Buhuti attributes it to Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA) in Sharh Muntaha al-Iradat. Both are reported without isnad, so the dua is treated as a pious athar from the Rightly-Guided Caliphs rather than as authenticated hadith.
Is “Allahumma arinal haqqa haqqan” sahih?
The dua itself is not graded as a hadith because it is not narrated from the Prophet (peace be upon him) with a chain. The meaning is sound, consistent with the Quran (Surah Al-Baqarah 2:213) and with authentic supplications for guidance, and classical scholars including al-Ghazali, Ibn Kathir, and al-Buhuti endorse reciting it. So it is permissible and recommended to say, but it should not be quoted as a sahih hadith.
When should I recite “Allahumma arinal haqqa haqqan”?
Any time. The most useful windows are: after every fard salah, in the last third of the night during tahajjud, before making a real-life decision (paired with salat al-istikhara), while studying religion, and before engaging with content that pulls the heart in two directions. There is no fixed Sunnah count because the dua is not marfu, so frequency is left to the believer.
What are the benefits of reciting this dua?
Four compounding benefits: clarity in recognising truth, the will to follow truth once recognised, clarity in recognising falsehood, and the will to avoid falsehood once recognised. Together they form the protection cycle Ibn al-Qayyim describes against fitnat al-shubuhat, the fitnah of doubts, which he calls the more dangerous of the two main fitnahs in Ighathat al-Lahfan.
How do you pronounce “Allahumma arinal haqqa haqqan warzuqnat tiba’ah”?
The trickiest letters are the emphatic ha in haqqa (ح, deeper than the English h) and the ta in tiba’ah (ت). Stress falls on the doubled letters: haq-qan, not ha-qan; tib-ba’ah, not ti-ba’ah. Pause once after tiba’ah before starting wa arinal batila. Listening to a native reciter once and copying the rhythm is faster than reading any phonetic guide.
Memorise this dua, teach it to your children, and recite it before opening any book, reading any debate, or making any decision that matters. Truth has not changed; only our exposure to mixed signals has. The shortest path back to clarity is to ask the One who created the heart to keep its vision honest.
