Is the following supplication (du'a) correct: "O Allah, I seek Your forgiveness for every sin my body committed with Your well-being... O Revealer of all harm and affliction, O Knower of every secret and hidden thing, O Most Merciful of the merciful, I entrust my affair to Allah; indeed, Allah is All-Seer of His servants, and my success is only by Allah; upon Him I rely, and He is the Lord of the Great Throne"?

This supplication attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, has an unsound chain of narration; it is mu'dal (a type of weak hadith where two or more consecutive narrators are missing from the chain), and there is jahalah (unknown narrators) in its narrators. As for its meaning, the acceptance of istighfar (seeking forgiveness) and its effect do not require a specific formulation. Rather, it depends on the sincerity and remorse of the servant. If the effect is absent, it indicates a deficiency in the istighfar. And seeking forgiveness with this specific formulation sometimes, without believing it to be a sunnah (prophetic tradition), is permissible. A similar supplication has been narrated from some of the Salaf (early Muslims). The best form of istighfar is "Sayyid al-Istighfar" (the Master of Seeking Forgiveness), which was narrated by Al-Bukhari from the Prophet, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him: "O Allah, You are my Lord, there is no god but You. You created me, and I am Your servant, and I am abiding by Your covenant and Your promise as much as I can. I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I have done. I acknowledge Your blessings upon me, and I acknowledge my sins, so forgive me, for indeed, none forgives sins except You."