Duas for Your Children: What Parents Can Pray For

There are nights when all you can do for your child is pray. They’re ill, or struggling at school, or a teenager who won’t talk to you, or simply asleep in the next room and you’re overwhelmed with love for them. A parent’s dua is one of the most powerful things in the world, and one of the quietest.

This guide gathers the duas the Qur’an and sunnah give parents for their children, with the Arabic, a simple translation and when you might say each one. Use the words, and use your own.

A parent’s dua is answered

Evidence · Hadith

“There are three supplications that will undoubtedly be answered: the supplication of one who has been wronged, the supplication of the traveller, and the supplication of a father for his child.” Narrated by Abu Hurayrah (RA).

A similar narration in Sunan Abi Dawud 1536 (Hasan, al-Albani) mentions “the supplication of a father”. A mother’s dua for her child is just as heartfelt, and every Qur’anic dua below belongs to both parents.

Answered doesn’t always mean “answered exactly as I asked, straight away”. Allah answers in the way and at the time He knows is best. Keep asking.

From the Qur’an

These duas were made by prophets and righteous people, and Allah preserved them in the Qur’an for us.

Comfort for our eyes

Evidence · Qur’an

رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَٰجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّٰتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍۢ وَٱجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا

Rabbana hab lana min azwajina wa dhurriyyatina qurrata a’yunin waj’alna lil-muttaqina imama · “Our Lord, grant us from among our spouses and offspring comfort to our eyes, and make us an example for the righteous.”

A dua for the whole family. Notice the second half: we ask to be good examples ourselves.

Children who pray

Evidence · Qur’an

رَبِّ ٱجْعَلْنِى مُقِيمَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةِ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِى ۚ رَبَّنَا وَتَقَبَّلْ دُعَآءِ

Rabbij-‘alni muqimas-salati wa min dhurriyyati, Rabbana wa taqabbal du’a’ · “My Lord, make me an establisher of prayer, and from my descendants. Our Lord, and accept my supplication.”

Ibrahim (peace be upon him) asked for himself first, then his children. Say it after your own salah.

Make my children righteous

Evidence · Qur’an

وَأَصْلِحْ لِى فِى ذُرِّيَّتِىٓ ۖ إِنِّى تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَإِنِّى مِنَ ٱلْمُسْلِمِينَ

Wa aslih li fi dhurriyyati, inni tubtu ilayka wa inni minal-muslimin · “…and make righteous for me my offspring. Indeed, I have repented to You, and indeed, I am of the Muslims.”

This is the end of a longer dua in which a person thanks Allah for their parents and asks to be grateful. It joins three generations in one prayer.

A good child (before or after birth)

Evidence · Qur’an

رَبِّ هَبْ لِى مِن لَّدُنكَ ذُرِّيَّةًۭ طَيِّبَةً ۖ إِنَّكَ سَمِيعُ ٱلدُّعَآءِ

Rabbi hab li min ladunka dhurriyyatan tayyibah, innaka sami’ud-du’a’ · “My Lord, grant me from Yourself a good offspring. Indeed, You are the Hearer of supplication.”

Zakariyya’s (peace be upon him) dua. Also lovely during pregnancy; see our duas for pregnancy.

Evidence · Qur’an

رَبِّ هَبْ لِى مِنَ ٱلصَّٰلِحِينَ

Rabbi hab li minas-salihin · “My Lord, grant me a child from among the righteous.”

Muslims, from generation to generation

Evidence · Qur’an

رَبَّنَا وَٱجْعَلْنَا مُسْلِمَيْنِ لَكَ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِنَآ أُمَّةًۭ مُّسْلِمَةًۭ لَّكَ وَأَرِنَا مَنَاسِكَنَا وَتُبْ عَلَيْنَآ ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلتَّوَّابُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ

Rabbana waj’alna muslimayni laka wa min dhurriyyatina ummatan muslimatan lak, wa arina manasikana wa tub ‘alayna, innaka antat-Tawwabur-Rahim · “Our Lord, make us Muslims in submission to You, and from our descendants a Muslim nation in submission to You. Show us our rites and accept our repentance. Indeed, You are the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.”

Ibrahim and Isma’il (peace be upon them) made this dua together while building the Ka’bah: a father and son praying for the generations after them.

From the sunnah

Protection

Evidence · Hadith

أُعِيذُكُمَا بِكَلِمَاتِ اللَّهِ التَّامَّةِ مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْطَانٍ وَهَامَّةٍ وَمِنْ كُلِّ عَيْنٍ لاَمَّةٍ

U’idhukuma bi kalimatillahit-tammah, min kulli shaytanin wa hammah, wa min kulli ‘aynin lammah · I seek protection for you both in the perfect words of Allah, from every devil and every harmful creature, and from every evil eye.

For your child: “Allah’s perfect words keep you safe from everything bad.”

The Prophet ﷺ said this over his grandsons al-Hasan and al-Husayn, and told us that Ibrahim (peace be upon him) said it over Isma’il and Ishaq. The wording in the hadith is for two children (u’idhukuma, “you both”). Many families adapt it for one child, though that form isn’t in the text itself; ask a scholar you trust if you’d like guidance.

Knowledge and blessing

The Prophet ﷺ hugged the young Ibn ʿAbbas (RA) and prayed, “O Allah, teach him the Book” (Sahih al-Bukhari 75). When Umm Sulaym (RA) brought her little son Anas (RA) to him, he prayed, “O Allah, increase his wealth and his children, and bless him in what You give him” (Sahih al-Bukhari 6334).

You can pray the same way over your own children, in your own words: “O Allah, teach her Your Book.” “O Allah, bless him in everything You give him.” Say it with a hand on their head, so they hear it and feel it.

When things are hard

When a child is struggling, with illness, friendships, faith or behaviour, dua is where we put what we can’t fix.

Evidence · Qur’an

رَبَّنَا لَا تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ رَحْمَةً ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلْوَهَّابُ

Rabbana la tuzigh qulubana ba’da idh hadaytana wa hab lana min ladunka rahmah, innaka antal-Wahhab · “Our Lord, let not our hearts deviate after You have guided us, and grant us from Yourself mercy. Indeed, You are the Bestower.”

The Prophet ﷺ most often prayed, Ya Muqallibal-qulub, thabbit qalbi ‘ala dinik: “O Turner of hearts, make my heart firm upon Your religion” (Jami’ at-Tirmidhi 3522, graded Sahih by al-Albani). Many parents say it for their child: thabbit qalbahu (his heart) or qalbaha (her heart).

Evidence · Qur’an

وَٱجْنُبْنِى وَبَنِىَّ أَن نَّعْبُدَ ٱلْأَصْنَامَ

Wajnubni wa baniyya an na’budal-asnam · “…and keep me and my sons away from worshipping idols.”

Even Ibrahim (peace be upon him), the friend of Allah, prayed for his children’s faith, and his own.

And in your own words, any time:

• “O Allah, You know what my child is going through. Make it easy for them.”
• “O Allah, guide my child’s heart back to You, gently.”
• “O Allah, put love between us, and help me to be patient.”

If you’re parenting a teenager who has drifted from salah, our guide to when your teen stops praying may help. And if you’re the one struggling, see when parenting is hard: sabr, dua and help.

Never make dua against them

In a hard moment, angry words can come out. The sunnah gives us a gentle but serious warning:

Evidence · Hadith

“Do not invoke curses on yourselves, do not invoke curses on your children… lest it coincide with a time when Allah is asked and He grants your request.” Narrated by Jabir ibn ʿAbdullah (RA).

Another narration lists the dua of a father against his child among the duas that are answered (Jami’ at-Tirmidhi 1905, graded Hasan by al-Albani). The same power that makes a parent’s dua for a child so precious makes a dua against them something to avoid.

When you’re angry, swap the words:

If you’ve said something you regret, you’re human. Seek Allah’s forgiveness, then make dua for your child, and if it feels right, tell them you’re sorry. That repair teaches them something beautiful about Allah’s mercy.

To teach your children duas of their own, start with duas for kids: the essential list.