َ ‫ك َع َليَّ َوأَبُو ُء َل‬

‫ك ِب َذ ْن ِبي‬ َ ‫ت أَبُو ُء َل‬

َ ‫ك ِب ِنعْ َم ِت‬ ُ ْ‫ص َنع‬
َ ‫ك ِمنْ َشرِّ َما‬
َ ‫ِب‬
َ ‫وب إِال أَ ْن‬
‫ت‬ ُّ ‫اغ ِفرْ لِي َفإِ َّن ُه ال َي ْغ ِف ُر‬
َ ‫الذ ُن‬ ْ ‫َف‬
‘Allahumma anta Rabbi la ilaha illa anta, Anta khalaqtani wa ana abduka, wa ana
‘ala ahdika wa wa’dika mastata’tu, A’udhu bika min Sharri ma sana’tu, abu’u Laka
bini’matika ‘alaiya, wa Abu Laka bidhanbi faghfirli innahu la yaghfiru adhdhunuba illa
anta.”

(O Allah! You are my Lord! None has the right to be worshipped but You. You
created me and I am Your slave, and I am faithful to my covenant and my promise
as much as I can. I seek refuge with You from all the evil I have done. I
acknowledge before You all the blessings You have bestowed upon me, and I
confess to You all my sins. So I entreat You to forgive my sins, for nobody can
forgive sins except You.

The Prophet added. “If somebody recites it during the day with firm faith in it, and
dies on the same day before the evening, he will be from the people of Paradise;
and if somebody recites it at night with firm faith in it, and dies before the morning,
he will be from the people of Paradise.”
Sahih Al-Bukhari – Book 75 Hadith 318

Istighfar (to ask Allah for forgiveness) is a type of dhikr too, it is done by many
statements, like saying: “Astaghfirullah”, 
“Rabi-ghfirli”, or “Ghufranak”, or “O Allah forgive me”; all of these give one
meaning which is: Asking Allah for forgiveness, all of these are called istighfar.
Also if one makes istighfar for himself and did not mention other than himself he
will get reward. However, if he mentions himself in the istighfar along with other
than himself he will get more reward; like if he says: “O Lord 
forgive and forgive my parents” or “O Allah forgive me and forgive so and so”. If
one goes beyond that and generalizes his istighfar he will get even more reward
like saying: “O Lord forgive me and forgive the believer males and females”. 

If the person makes istighfar for himself and did not mention others, this is called
Religious Istighfar, which will earn him reward. If he mentions his parents, it will
be more beneficial like saying: “O Lord for give me and forgive my parents”, when
the good deeds are displayed to the parents they will see this istighfar, they will
say: Where is this from? They will say: This is from the istighfar, which your son
made to you, after your death. By this, the son would have benefited himself and
his parents. All of these statements are called Religious Istighfar. 

The Messenger of Allah sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam said that one who says: 

"‫فر من الزحف‬
ّ ‫"أستغفر هللا الذي ال إله إال هو الحي القيوم وأتوب إليه ُيغفر له وإن كان‬ 

“Astaghfirullaha-ladhi la ilaha illa Huwa-l-Haya-l-Qayyuma wa atubu ilayh, shall

be forgiven his sins even if he had fled the compulsary battle grounds ” 

This hadith means that the one who says: “I ask Allah, the One Who is the only
God, the Hayy, the Qayyum, and I repent to Him” will be forgiven even if he had
fled the obligatory battlefield. 

Al-Hayy is among the Perfect Names of Allah and it means: The One Who is
attributed with a life that is unlike our life and is not that of a combination of soul,
flesh, and blood. 

Al-Qayyum means the One Who remains and does not end. 

So it is understood from this statement which was mentioned by the Messenger of

Allah sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam that the person who says that will be forgiven if
he had committed an enormous sin.