Ruling 762. The ghufaylah [literally, ‘a brief state of unmindfulness’] prayer is one of the recommended prayers that is performed between maghrib and ʿishāʾ prayers. In the first rakʿah after Sūrat al-Ḥamd, these verses are recited instead of a surah:

وَذَا النُّوْنِ إِذْ ذَهَبَ مُغَاضِبًا فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ فَنَادَی فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ أَنْ لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّيْ كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِيْنَ ۞ فَٱسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُ وَنَجَّيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْغَمِّ وَكَذٰلِكَ نُنْجِي الْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ

wa dhan nūni idh dhahaba mughāḍiban faẓanna an lan naqdira ʿalayhi fanādā fiẓ ẓulumāti an lā ilāha illā anta subḥānaka innī kuntu minaẓ ẓālimīn. fastajabnā lahu wa najjaynāhu minal ghammi wa kadhālika nunjil muʾminīn

And the Man of the Fish [Prophet Yūnus], when he left in a rage, thinking that We would not put him to hardship. Then he cried out in the darkness, ‘There is no god except You! You are immaculate! I have indeed been among the wrongdoers!’ So We answered his prayer and delivered him from the agony; and thus do We deliver the faithful.[1]

In the second rakʿah after Sūrat al-Ḥamd, this verse is recited instead of a surah:

وَعِنْدَهُ مَفَاتِحُ الْغَيْبِ لَا يَعْلَمُهَا إِلَّا هُوَ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ وَمَا تَسْقُطُ مِنْ وَرَقَةٍ إِلَّا يَعْلَمُهَا وَلَا حَبَّةٍ فِيْ ظُلُمَاتِ الْأَرْضِ وَلَا رَطْبٍ وَلَا يَابِسٍ إِلَّا فِيْ كِتَابٍ مُبِيْنٍ

wa ʿindahu mafātiḥul ghaybi lā yaʿlamuhā illā huwa wa yaʿlamu mā fil barri wal baḥri wa mā tasquṭu min waraqatin illā yaʿlamuhā wa lā ḥabbatin fī ẓulumātil arḍi wa lā raṭbin wa lā yābisin illā fī kitābin mubīn

With Him are the treasures of the Unseen; no one knows them except Him. He knows whatever there is in land and sea. No leaf falls without His knowing it, nor is there a grain in the darkness of the earth, nor anything fresh or withered but it is in a manifest Book.[2]

In qunūt, this is recited:

اَللّٰهُمَّ إِنِّيْ أَسْأَلُكَ بِمَفَاتِحِ الْغَيْبِ الَّتِيْ لَا يَعْلَمُهَا إِلَّا أَنْتَ، أَنْ تُصَلِّيَ عَلَىٰ مُحَمَّدٍ وَآلِ مُحَمَّدٍ، وَأَنْ تَفْعَلَ بِيْ ___

allāhumma innī asʾaluka bimafātiḥil ghaybil latī lā yaʿlamuhā illā ant, an tuṣalliya ʿalā muḥammadin wa āli muḥammad, wa an tafʿala bī ___

O Allah! I ask You by the treasures of the Unseen that no one knows except You, to bless Muḥammad and the progeny of Muḥammad and to fulfil for me ___.

In the blank place, one should ask for his needs (ḥājāt) to be fulfilled and then recite:

اَللّٰهُمَّ أَنْتَ وَلِيُّ نِعْمَتِيْ وَالْقَادِرُ عَلَىٰ طَلِبَتِيْ، تَعْلَمُ حَاجَتِيْ فَأَسْأَلُكَ بِحَقِّ مُحَمَّدٍ وَآلِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَيْهِمُ السَّلَامُ، لَمَّا قَضَيْتَهَا لِيْ

allāhumma anta waliyyu niʿmatī wal qādiru ʿalā ṭalibatī, taʿlamu ḥājatī faʾasʾaluka biḥaqqi muḥammadin wa āli muḥammadin ʿalayhi wa ʿalayhimus salām, lammā qaḍaytahā lī

O Allah! You are the Patron of my blessings and the One Powerful to respond to my request. You know my needs, so I ask You by the right of Muḥammad and the progeny of Muḥammad, peace be upon him and them, to fulfil them for me.

He should then ask Allah the Exalted to fulfil his needs.