The phrases · 3 min read
La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah
La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah: there is no power and no strength except with Allah.
It is in Sahih al-Bukhari 6384, and it carries no narrated count.
That absence is not a gap in the record. Some phrases were given numbers and some were not, and this is one of the ones that was not.
What it means
Two words carry it. Hawl is the capacity to change, to move from one state to another. Quwwah is the strength to carry something through.
The phrase denies both to the creation and affirms both for Allah. Nothing shifts, no hardship turns to ease, and no good act gets done except through Him.
That is why it belongs to moments of difficulty, effort and exhaustion rather than to a daily total.
The setting of the narration
In Sahih al-Bukhari 6384, Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him) was travelling with the Prophet ﷺ.
The Prophet ﷺ came to him while he was saying the phrase quietly to himself, addressed him by his name Abdullah bin Qais, and told him it is one of the treasures of Paradise.
The setting is a man saying it under his breath on a journey, not a set number being handed out.
When it is said in the sunnah
The phrase belongs to specific moments rather than a daily tally.
It is the prescribed response to the call to prayer at two points. In Sahih Muslim 385, when the muezzin says Hayya 'alas-salah and then Hayya 'alal-falah, the listener answers each with this phrase rather than repeating the words of the call.
Beyond that, it lands naturally wherever your own capacity runs out:
- At a difficulty you cannot change by your own means.
- At the start of a demanding or intimidating task.
- On hearing troubling news about something outside your control.
- When patience and energy are spent.
No count, and what that means
Say it as often as you like. There is no narrated daily number to keep to.
Counts attached to it in circulating lists, a hundred a day for relief from poverty or a thousand for a specific need, do not come from Bukhari 6384 or Muslim 385. The lists that carry them cite nothing at all.
This site's counter shows no target for it, the same way it handles every other uncounted phrase.
Common misuses and confusion
A frequent mix-up is using this phrase as an expression of grief on hearing of a death or a misfortune.
It is not a phrase of sorrow or complaint. It is a statement that capacity and strength belong to Allah, which is why it answers the call to prayer and fits the start of an effort.
The phrase said on hearing of a loss is a different one, Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un, and it has its own place in the Qur'an.
The related heavy phrase
It gets grouped in manuals alongside SubhanAllahil-Azim wa bihamdihi, and the grouping is loose.
The two are both short, both weighty, and neither carries a number. That is a real similarity. They are still separate phrases with separate narrations, and the wording of the second one is itself often mixed up, which is set out on SubhanAllahi wa bihamdihi.
Where to go next
For the full list of phrases split by whether a count is narrated, see what to say on a tasbih.
For the other phrase of reliance with no count, see hasbunallahu wa ni'mal-wakeel.