Dua for the first 10 days of Ramadan, and what is authentic

The dua most often shared for the first 10 days of Ramadan is Ya Hayyu ya Qayyum, bi rahmatika astagheeth, linked to the idea that the first ten days are for mercy. Be aware that the hadith dividing Ramadan into mercy, forgiveness and freedom from the Fire is weak, and no authentic hadith gives a special dua for each ten days. The words themselves are good duas from the Sunnah and the Quran, so you can say them all month.

Where the idea of "ten days of mercy" comes from

Ibn Khuzaymah reports, from Salman al-Farisi, a long sermon in which Ramadan is described as a month whose beginning is mercy, whose middle is forgiveness and whose end is freedom from the Fire.¹ Its chain runs through Ali ibn Zayd ibn Judan, who is weak, and Abu Hatim al-Razi called the report munkar (rejected). Ibn Khuzaymah himself placed it under a heading beginning "if the report is sound". So the division is not established, and the duas assigned to each ten days are later customs, not hadith.

What is authentic about Ramadan's mercy

• When Ramadan begins, the gates of heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed.²
• Allah frees people from the Fire every night of Ramadan, not only in the last ten.³
• Whoever fasts Ramadan with faith, hoping for reward, has his past sins forgiven.

So ask for mercy in the first ten days if you wish, but ask for forgiveness and freedom from the Fire from the first night too. The full breakdown of all three ashras, with their dates for 2027, is in the 3 ashras of Ramadan. For the last ten nights and Laylat al-Qadr, see Laylatul Qadr 2027.

A simple plan for the first ten days

• Set your Quran goal while energy is high: a juz a day finishes the Quran in the month.
• Use the minutes before iftar for dua. The dua of a fasting person is among those hoped to be answered.
• Say Dua 1 and Dua 2 through the day, and Sayyidul Istighfar morning and evening.

1. Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah, from Salman al-Farisi; Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Ilal, citing Abu Hatim al-Razi.
2. Sahih al-Bukhari 1899.
3. Jami at-Tirmidhi 682, graded sahih by al-Albani.
4. Jami at-Tirmidhi 3524, from Anas, graded hasan by al-Albani. The Prophet ﷺ said it when something distressed him; the hadith does not tie it to Ramadan
5. Quran 23:118, translation by Sahih International
6. Quran 18:10, translation by Sahih International