4 Quls — Arabic, English Translation & Benefits (Four Quls of the Quran)

The 4 Quls (Four Quls) are four short surahs of the Quran that each begin with the word "Qul" — meaning "Say". They are among the most recited surahs in Islam, memorised early by children, and known for their powerful protection. The Four Quls are Surah Al-Kafirun, Surah Al-Ikhlas, Surah Al-Falaq and Surah An-Nas.

What are the 4 Quls?

Four surahs of the Quran open with the command "Qul" (Say). Muslims group them together as the "4 Quls" because they are short, easy to memorise, and carry immense benefit — especially the last three, which the Prophet ﷺ used daily for protection from all harm.

The word qul (قُلْ) is an instruction addressed to the Prophet ﷺ: say this. It is worth noticing that the command was kept in the text rather than removed. When you recite these surahs you are repeating the exact words he was told to speak, which is part of why they feel so direct compared with longer passages.

1. Surah Al-Kafirun

The repetition in this surah is deliberate. Read in English it can sound like the same sentence four times, but the phrasing shifts between what is worshipped now and what will be worshipped, closing the door on any compromise in either direction. The final verse — "for you is your religion, and for me is my religion" — is a statement of separation in worship, not of hostility: it settles the matter plainly rather than arguing it.

2. Surah Al-Ikhlas

The Prophet ﷺ said Surah Al-Ikhlas equals one-third of the Quran (Sahih al-Bukhari), because it purely describes the Oneness of Allah (Tawheed).

Four verses answer the question "who is Allah?" without a single wasted word. Ahad is one in a sense stronger than counting — unique, without parts. As-Samad describes the One everything turns to in need while He needs nothing. The third verse rules out parents and children, and the fourth rules out anything comparable at all. The name Al-Ikhlas means sincerity or purity, and it fits: the surah strips the idea of God down to its purest form.

3. Surah Al-Falaq

The surah opens with Rabb al-falaq — the Lord of the daybreak, the One who splits the darkness open every morning. Refuge is then sought from four things, moving from the general to the specific: everything created that can cause harm, night when it closes in, sorcery, and envy. Note the precision of the last two verses: the envier is a danger "when he envies", not simply for existing. See our guide on the evil eye and ruqyah for how this is put into practice.

4. Surah An-Nas

Where Al-Falaq deals with harm arriving from outside, An-Nas deals with harm that gets inside. Allah is named three ways before the danger is even mentioned — Lord, Sovereign, God of mankind — which gives the short surah a rising weight. The word khannaas describes something that whispers and then withdraws when Allah is remembered, only to return when He is forgotten. That is a recognisable description of a persistent bad thought, and the final verse makes clear such whispering can come from people as much as from jinn.

3 Quls or 4 Quls — and are they the last four surahs?

Two things confuse people about this group, and both have short answers.

"3 Quls" and "4 Quls" are not competing lists. The three Quls are Al-Ikhlas, Al-Falaq and An-Nas — the set recited together morning and evening and before sleep. Adding Al-Kafirun, which also begins with "Qul", gives you the four. So when someone says "recite the 3 Quls" they are describing the daily protection routine; "the 4 Quls" is the complete set of surahs opening with that word.

They are not simply the last four surahs of the Quran. Three of them are — Al-Ikhlas 112, Al-Falaq 113 and An-Nas 114 close the Quran. But Al-Kafirun is number 109, with Surah An-Nasr (110) and Surah Al-Masad (111) sitting in between. The grouping is based on the opening word, not on position.

You may also hear the pair Al-Falaq and An-Nas called Al-Mu'awwidhatayn — "the two that seek refuge" — and the three including Al-Ikhlas called Al-Mu'awwidhat. These are simply the Arabic names for the same groupings.

Benefits of the 4 Quls

• Al-Falaq and An-Nas (Al-Mu'awwidhatayn) are the two surahs of protection. The Prophet ﷺ recited them morning and evening and before sleeping, blowing into his hands and wiping over his body (Sahih al-Bukhari).
• Surah Al-Ikhlas equals one-third of the Quran in reward.
• Surah Al-Kafirun is a declaration of pure Tawheed and freedom from shirk; reciting it before sleep is a Sunnah.
• Reciting the last three Quls three times each morning and evening suffices a person against everything (Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud).

How to fit the Quls into your day

The reason these four surahs are so widely known is that they are short enough to use constantly. A practical routine looks like this:

• Morning and evening: Al-Ikhlas, Al-Falaq and An-Nas, three times each. In Quranic order, Al-Ikhlas comes first.
• Before sleeping: the same three, recited into cupped hands and then wiped over the body, as described above. Al-Kafirun is also recited before sleep.
• In Salah: any of the four can be recited after Surah Al-Fatiha. They are usually the first surahs a new Muslim or a child is able to pray with.
• Whenever you feel uneasy: Al-Falaq and An-Nas are for exactly that — they are seeking refuge, and there is no fixed number or time required.

If you are learning them, take one surah at a time and give it a few days rather than starting all four at once. Al-Ikhlas is the shortest and the natural place to begin; An-Nas repeats the word an-naas five times, which makes it easier to hold than its length suggests. What most people find hardest is not the memorising but the precision — the difference between س and ص, or the stretched vowels — and that is the part worth having corrected out loud early, before it sets. Our Tajweed rules guide covers the sounds these surahs rely on.