*Imām al-Tirmidhī narrates from Sa’d ibn Abī Waqqās (Allāh be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:
“From the felicity of the son of Ādam is in him abundantly performing istikhāra to Allāh and being content with what Allāh wills. And from the misfortune of the son of Ādam is in him abandoning performing istikhāra to Allāh and being angry at what Allāh wills.”
*Imām al-Bukhārī narrates that Jābir (Allāh be pleased with him) said that “the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ would teach us how to perform istikhāra for all matters just like he would teach us a chapter of the Qurān. He would say:
When any one of you intends to do something then he should perform two non-obligatory units of prayer (i.e. nafl) and then say:
اللَّهُمَّ إنِّي أَسْتَخِيرُكَ بِعِلْمِكَ، وَأَسْتَقْدِرُكَ بِقُدْرَتِكَ، وَأَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ فَضْلِكَ الْعَظِيمِ فَإِنَّكَ تَقْدِرُ وَلا أَقْدِرُ، وَتَعْلَمُ وَلا أَعْلَمُ، وَأَنْتَ عَلامُ الْغُيُوبِ
اللَّهُمَّ إنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا الأَمْرَ خَيْرٌ لِي فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي فَاقْدُرْهُ لِي وَيَسِّرْهُ لِي ثُمَّ بَارِكْ لِي فِيهِ
وَإِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا الأَمْرَ شَرٌّ لِي فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي فَاصْرِفْهُ عَنِّي وَاصْرِفْنِي عَنْهُ وَاقْدُرْ لِي الْخَيْرَ حَيْثُ كَانَ ثُمَّ رَضِّنِي بِهِ
“O Allāh! I seek guidance from you through Your knowledge. And I seek ability from You through Your power. And I ask You from Your immense bounty. Indeed, You have power and I am powerless. You have knowledge and I do not know. And You are the Knower of the unseen.
O Allāh! If You know that this matter is good for me in my religion and my life and my ultimate affair (or he said my immediate and eventual affair), then decree it for me, make it easy for me, and then bless me in it. And if You know that this matter is bad for me in my religion and my life and my ultimate affair (or he said my immediate and eventual affair), then divert it from me and divert me from it. And decree good for me whenever it may be and then make me content with it.” (then he should mention his need).
*It is narrated in the Sunan of Imām al-Tirmidhi that when the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ would want to do something he would say,
اللَّهُمَّ خِرْ لِي وَاخْتَرْ لِي
“O Allāh choose and select for me.”
This does not contradict [the reciting of] the first supplication, rather he ﷺ would supplicate with that also.
*It is recommended to; begin and end the istikhāra supplication with the praise of Allāh, with blessings and salutations upon the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ, to face the Qibla as per the Sunnah of supplication, to recite Sūrah al-Fātiha and Sūrah al-Kāfirūn in the first unit, and to recite Sūrah al-Fātiha and Sūrah al-Ikhlās in the second unit.
A group of the hadīth scholars and sūfis (Allāh be pleased with them) recommend that in the first unit before reciting Surah al-Kāfirūn, they should recite the following ayah from Sūrah al-Qasas:
وَرَبُّكَ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَآءُ وَيَخْتَارُ ۗ مَا كَانَ لَهُمُ ٱلْخِيَرَةُ ۚ سُبْحَـٰنَ ٱللَّهِ وَتَعَـٰلَىٰ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ
وَرَبُّكَ يَعْلَمُ مَا تُكِنُّ صُدُورُهُمْ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ
وَهُوَ ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ لَهُ ٱلْحَمْدُ فِى ٱلْأُولَىٰ وَٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ ۖ وَلَهُ ٱلْحُكْمُ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ
“And your Lord creates whatever He wills, and chooses; they do not have any power to choose; Purity and Supremacy are to Allāh above their ascribing partners (to Him). And your Lord knows what is hidden in their breasts, and what they disclose. And He is Allāh – there is no God except Him; only His is the praise in this world and in the Hereafter; and only His is the command, and it is towards Him that you will be returned.” 1
And in the second unit before reciting Sūrah al-Ikhlās they should recite the following āyah from Sūrah al-Ahzāb:
وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلَا مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَى ٱللهُ وَرَسُولُهُۥٓ أَمْرًا أَن يَكُونَ لَهُمُ ٱلْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ ۗ وَمَن يَعْصِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَـٰلًا مُّبِينًا
“And no Muslim man or woman has any choice in the affair, when Allāh and His Noble Messenger have decreed a command regarding it; and whoever does not obey the command of Allāh and His Messenger, has indeed clearly gone very astray.” 2
The Imām, al-Shaykh Ibn Arabī (Allāh be pleased with him) said: “He should do that (i.e. the istikhāra in the aforementioned manner) for every important need he wishes to implement. Then he should start doing that thing and if Allāh considers that thing to be good for him, He will make the means of attaining it come easy until he attains it. Thus, the final outcome will be praiseworthy. But if something from the means of attaining it become difficult for him, and attaining it does not come easy, then he should not oppose the Divine decree. He should know that if Allāh considered that thing good for him then the means of attaining it would not be difficult. And he should know that Allāh Most High has chosen for him to leave that thing, so he should not feel hurt about that. And the outcome of leaving it will be praiseworthy.”
Imam al-Nawawi (Allāh be pleased with him) said, “When he has performed the istikhāra, he should continue on and proceed after that with whatever Allāh opens up his chest to. And Allāh knows best.”
If something is still not clear to him, he should repeat it (the istikhāra). It has been narrated by al-Daylami and Ibn as-Sunni from Anas (Allāh be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: “O Anas! When you intend a matter, then perform istikhāra to your Lord about it seven times. Then look to what first comes to your heart, for indeed there will be goodness in it.”
So the istikhāra is seeking the best choice in any given matter. It may be that Allāh Almighty unveils the best choice directly to your heart, such that your chest opens up to that matter. Or it may be that your heart does not incline to any of the possible options due to it being occupied with other matters, or due to a lack of time, or due to the absence of appropriate mechanisms to unveil your heart in relation to the matter you performed istikhāra to Allāh Almighty for. In such circumstances, it may be that Allāh Almighty discloses and unveils (the answer) to you in the world of sleep. It is for that reason the author of Shir’at al-Islām said in the section of the virtues of optional prayers, “It has been heard from the shaykhs that one should sleep in a state of purity and facing the Qibla, after having recited the mentioned supplication (of istikhāra). If during his sleep he sees white or green then that matter is good. And if he sees black or red then it is bad and he should avoid it.”
Al-Shaykh al-Akbar (Allāh be pleased with him) said: “The people of Allāh Almighty should perform the prayer of istikhāra every day at a set time which they appoint during the morning or evening. When they make the supplication after the salām, (i.e. after the two units of istikhāra prayer and they recite the supplication as transmitted in the previously mentioned hadīth), they say in the place in which the need is mentioned, (i.e. when he reaches the place in the supplication which says ‘O Allāh, if You know that this matter is good for me in my religion and my life’), he says (instead):
‘O Allah, if you know that everything I will be undertaking concerning myself and concerning others; and everything others will be undertaking concerning me, concerning my family, children, and whatever I possess; is good for me in my religion and my dunya – in my immediate affairs and those in the future – from this very moment I am in until the same time tomorrow; then make it easy for me, decree it for me, and make me content with it.
And if You know that everything I will be undertaking concerning myself and concerning others; and everything others will be undertaking concerning me, concerning my family, children, and whatever I possess – from this very moment I am in until the same time tomorrow – is bad for me in my religion and my dunya, in my immediate affairs and those in the future; then divert it from me and divert me from it, and decree good for me wherever it may be, and make me content with it.'”
(So the full supplication would be as follows):
اَللّهُمَّ إِني أَسْتَخِيرُكَ بِعِلْمِكَ
وَأَسْتَقْدِرُكَ بِقُدْرَتِكَ
وَأَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ فَضْلِكَ الْعَظيم
فَإنَّكَ تَقْدِرُ وَلاَ أَقْدِرُ
وَتَعْلَمُ وَلاَ أَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتَ عَلاَّمُ الْغُيوب
اللّهُمَّ إنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أنَّ جَمِيعَ ما أَتَحَرَّكُ فِيه فِي حَقِّي وَفِي حَقِّ غَيرِي
وَجَمِيعَ ما يَتَحَرَّكُ فِيه غَيرِي فِي حَقِّي وفي حقِّ أَهْلِي وَوَلَدِي وَما مَلَكَتْ يَمِينِي
خَيْرٌ لِي فِي دِينِي وَدُنْيايَ وَعاجِلِ أَمْرِي وَآجِلِهِ مِنْ ساعَتِي هٰذِهِ إِلَى مِثْلِها مِنَ الْيَومِ الْآخِرِ فَيَسِّرْهُ لِي وَاقْدُرْهُ لِي وَرَضِّنِي بِهِ
وَ إنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ جَمِيعَ مَا أَتَحَرَّكُ فِيهِ فِي حَقِّي وَفِي حَقِّ غَيْرِي
وَجَمِيعَ مَا يَتَحَرَّكُ فِيهِ غَيرِي فِي حَقِّي وَفِي حَقِّ أَهْلِي وَوَلَدِي وَمَا مَلَكَتْ يَمِينِي
مِنْ سَاعَتِي هٰذِهِ إلَى مِثْلِهَا مِنَ الْيَوْمِ اْلآخِرِ
شَرٌّ لِي فِي دِينِي وَدُنْيَايَ وَعَاجِلِ أَمْرِي وَ آجِلِهِ
فَاصْرِفْهُ عَنِّي وَاصْرِفْنِي عَنْهُ
وَاقْدُرْ لِيَ الْخَيْرَ حَيْثُ كَانَ ثُمَّ رَضِّنِي بِهِ
“O Allah, I seek guidance from you through Your knowledge. And I seek ability from You through Your power. And I ask You from your immense bounty. Indeed, You have power and I am powerless. You have knowledge and I do not know. And You are the Knower of the unseen.
O Allah, if you know that everything I will be undertaking concerning myself and concerning others; and everything others will be undertaking concerning me, concerning my family, children, and whatever I possess; is good for me in my religion and my dunya – in my immediate affairs and those in the future – from this very moment I am in until the same time tomorrow; then make it easy for me, decree it for me, and make me content with it.
And if You know that everything I will be undertaking concerning myself and concerning others; and everything others will be undertaking concerning me, concerning my family, children, and whatever I possess – from this very moment I am in until the same time tomorrow – is bad for me in my religion and my dunya, in my immediate affairs and those in the future; then divert it from me and divert me from it, and decree good for me wherever it may be, and make me content with it.“3
The Sheikh (Ibn Arabī) then said, “So if he does that, he will not undertake anything, nor will anything be undertaken (by others) in respect to him, except that there will be unquestionable good in that thing, whether through doing it or leaving it. I have tried and tested this.”
So it is necessary for you, my brother, to appoint a specific time at the start of the day, or after zuhr, or after maghrib, or after ishā, to perform the two units of istikhāra prayer followed by recitation of the aforementioned supplication. And you must consistently do that every single day, for indeed, there is great good in it. 4
Orthodox Muslim 