The 365 · Sunnah · Day 341 · Special Days
Reciting al-Sajdah and al-Insān in Fajr on Friday
The hadith
«كَانَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ يَقْرَأُ فِي صَلاةِ الفَجْرِ يَوْمَ الجُمُعَةِ: الم تَنزيل السَّجْدَةِ، وَهَلْ أَتَى عَلَى الإِنسَانِ حِينٌ مِنَ الدَّهْرِ».
The Prophet ﷺ used to recite in the Fajr prayer on Friday: Alif Lām Mīm Tanzīl (al-Sajdah 32) and Hal Atā ʿalā al-Insān (al-Insān 76). (Bukhari 891, Muslim 880)
Svenska: Profeten ﷺ brukade recitera i Fajr på fredagen: al-Sajdah och al-Insān. (Bukhari 891, Muslim 880)
Bukhari 891; Muslim 880
The story
The Prophet ﷺ never abandoned this practice on Friday Fajr. The Companions noticed and preserved it. The two surahs became identified with the Friday morning.
Why it's here
Two specific surahs the Prophet ﷺ chose for Friday's Fajr. Al-Sajdah names the believers who leave their beds to call upon their Lord; al-Insān describes the abrar (the righteous) and what they receive. Together, the two surahs frame Friday's beginning: be of those who leave beds (al-Sajdah) and end as the abrar (al-Insān).
Try it today
If you lead Fajr on Friday (in masjid or at home), recite these two surahs (al-Sajdah in the first rakaʿah, al-Insān in the second). If praying behind an imam who does not, recite mentally during qiyām. Memorize them if not yet.
In your day
The Friday Fajr is a Sunnah-rich prayer. Many imams have lost this practice; the believer who knows it can request it of imams or follow it personally.
A reflection to carry
Two surahs for one prayer, the Prophet's ﷺ Friday morning signature.
Read the longer reflection
Al-Sajdah ends with verses describing the believers whose sides forsake their beds. Al-Insān describes the rewards of the abrar. Reading both at Friday Fajr aligns the believer's morning with the two ends of the journey: the wake-up resistance, the eternal reward. May our Friday Fajrs carry both surahs and both meanings.
Sources: Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.
Subscribe, free