Ya Hayyu ya Qayyum, by Your mercy I seek help.

Ya Hayyu ya Qayyum bi rahmatika astagheeth (يَا حَيُّ يَا قَيُّومُ بِرَحْمَتِكَ أَسْتَغِيثُ) means "O Ever-Living, O Sustainer of all, by Your mercy I call for help". It calls on Allah by two of His names: Al-Hayy, the Ever-Living who never dies, and Al-Qayyum, the One who holds up and runs all of creation. See them in the 99 Names of Allah.

The hadith

Anas ibn Malik said that when something distressed the Prophet ﷺ, he would say: "Ya Hayyu ya Qayyum, bi rahmatika astagheeth" (Jami at-Tirmidhi, from Anas; some scholars graded it weak because of its chain, and al-Albani graded it hasan with its supporting reports).

The Prophet ﷺ also told his daughter Fatimah to say, morning and evening: "Ya Hayyu ya Qayyum, bi rahmatika astagheeth, aslih li sha'ni kullahu, wa la takilni ila nafsi tarfata ayn" (an-Nasa'i in as-Sunan al-Kubra and al-Hakim, from Anas, graded hasan by al-Albani). The last line, "do not leave me to myself for the blink of an eye", is one of the most moving lines in the adhkar.

Al-Hayy al-Qayyum in the Quran

The two names come together in Ayat al-Kursi (2:255), at the start of Surah Al Imran (3:2) and in Surah Ta-Ha (20:111). A hadith in Sunan Ibn Majah, from Abu Umamah, says Allah's greatest name is in these three surahs, and many scholars took it to be "Al-Hayy al-Qayyum". Read Ayat al-Kursi for more.

When to say it

• When worried, stressed or facing a crisis.
• Morning and evening, with the fuller wording above.
• In sujud and in the last third of the night, when dua is most hoped to be answered.

Spellings

Ya Hayyu ya Qayyum bi rahmatika astagheeth, ya hayyu ya qayyum birahmatika astaghith and ya hayyu ya qayyoom are the same dua.

1. Jami at-Tirmidhi, Kitab ad-Daawat, from Anas ibn Malik (grading discussed above).
2. An-Nasa'i, as-Sunan al-Kubra; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, from Anas ibn Malik, graded hasan by al-Albani.
3. Quran 3:2, translation by Sahih International; see also 2:255 and 20:111.
4. Sunan Ibn Majah, Kitab ad-Dua, from Abu Umamah.