Salat al-Istikharah,“The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to teach his companions to make Istikharah in all things, just as he used to teach them Surahs from the Qur’an. He (SAW) said: ‘If any one of you is concerned about a decision he has to make, (or in the version narrated by Ibn Mas’ood as: ‘if any one of you wants to do something…) then let him pray two rak’ahs of non-obligatory prayer and say (after the Salah)
Translation:“O Allah, I seek Your counsel by Your knowledge and I seek Your assistance by Your power and I ask You from Your immense favour, for verily You are able while I am not, and verily You know while I do not, and You are the knower of the Unseen. O Allah, if You know this affair ( mention affair here ) to be good for me in relation to my religion, my life and aftermath, my present and future, then decree it and facilitate it for me, and bless me with it, and if You know this affair to be ill for me concerning my religion, my life and end, my present and future, then remove it from me and remove me from it, and decree for me what is good, whatever it may be, and make me satisfied with it.”
What is ISTIKHARA,“Istikharah is a word which means asking Allah to help one make a choice, meaning choosing the best of two things where one needs to choose one of them.”
Conditions of the Salat al-Istikharah,
One must perform ablution before entering into any salat and so ablution must be performed before doing Salat al-Istikharah.
With the salat completed one should immediately say the supplications al-Istikharah.
Istikharah is done when a decision, is to be made in matters which are neither obligatory nor prohibited. So one does not need to do Istikharah,for deciding whether he should go for hajj or not. Because if he is financially able to do it then hajj is obligatory and he does not have a choice.
But Istikharah, can be done in all kind of other permissible matters, where a choice needs to be made such as buying something, permissible, taking a job, or choosing a spouse, etc.
Method of the Salat al-Istikharah,
Muhammad said, “If one of you is concerned about some practical undertaking, or about making plans for a journey, he should perform two cycles (rak’atain) of voluntary prayer.”
Then with all sincerity recite the following Du’a.
اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْتَخِيرُكَ بِعِلْمِكَ وَأَسْتَقْدِرُكَ بِقُدْرَتِكَ، وَأَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ فَضْلِكَ الْعَظِيمِ، فَإِنَّكَ تَقْدِرُ وَلاَ أَقْدِرُ وَتَعْلَمُ وَلاَ أَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتَ عَلاَّمُ الْغُيُوبِ، اللَّهُمَّ إِنْ 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 أَرْضِنِي بِهِ
“Allahumma innee astakheeruka bi ilmika wa-astaqdiruka biqudratika wa-as’aluka min fadhlika al-adheem. Fa innaka taqdiru walaa aqdiru. Wa ta’lamu walaa a’alamu wa anta allaamul ghuyoob. Allahumma in kunta ta’lamu anna haadhal-amr khayrun liy fiy deeniy wa-ma’aashiy wa-‘aaqibat amriy, faqdur hu liy wa- liy thumma baarik liy feehi. Wa in-kunta ta’lamu anna haadhal amr sharrun liy fiy deeniy wa-ma’aashiy wa-‘aaqibat amriy. Fa asrifhu ‘annee wa-srifni ‘anhu. Wa aqdur lial khayra haythu kaana thumma a-rdhiniy bihee”
Translation of Du’a :O Allah! Behold I ask You the good through Your Knowledge, and ability through Your Power, and beg (Your favour) out of Your infinite Bounty. For surely You have Power; I have none. You know all; I know not. You are the Great Knower of all things.
O Allah! If in Your Knowledge this matter be good for my faith (Deen), for my livelihood, and for the consequences of my affairs, then ordain it for me, and make it easy for me, and bless me therein. But if in Your Knowledge, this matter be bad for my faith (Deen), for my livelihood, and for the consequences of my affairs, then turn it away from me, and turn me away therefrom, and ordain for me the good wherever it be, and cause me to please with it.
Istikhara Dua in Urdu: Istikhara Prayer is the prayer to request Allah swt to guide us as Allah swt is the only one who knows what is the best for us. As mentioned in Holly Quran “And it is very possible that you dislike something whereas it is good for you; and (similarly) it is very possible that you like something whereas it is bad for you”. (Baqarah 216).
For Urdu speakers Dua Istikhara Urdu translation is illustrated below:
One must have complete certainty in whatever Allah has decided, and be pleased that Allah would do only what is good for His servants. Now this is the real analysis of our belief and Emaan in Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala).
One must have complete certainty in whatever Allah has decided, and be pleased that Allah would do only what is good for His servants. Now this is the real analysis of our belief and Emaan in Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala).
