Salahtul Istikhara

The Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam has said:
"If one of you is concerned about some practical undertaking, or about
making plans for a journey, he should perform two Raka'aats (cycles)
of voluntary prayer." Thenhe should say the following Du'aa:
اللَّهمَّ إنِّي أستَخيرك بعلمكَ، و أستقدرك بقُدرتك، و أسْألك مِن فضلك العظيم،
فإنّك تَقْدر و لا أقْدِر، و تعلم و لا أعلم، و أنت علاَّمُ الغُيوب.
اللَّهمَّ إنْ كنتَ تعلم أنَّ هذا الأمْرِ خيرٌ لي في ديْني و معَاشي و عاقِبة أمري
– او قال عاجِل أمري و آجِله –
فاقْدِرْهُ لي و يسِّرْه لي ثمَّ بارِك لي فِيه،
و إن كنتَ تعلم أنَّ هذا الأمرِ شرٌّ لي في دِيني و معآشِي و عاقبةِ أمْرِي
– او قال في عاجِل أمرِي وآجِله –
فاصْرِفْه عَنِّي، و اصْرفْنِي عَنه، و اقْدِر لِيَ الخيْرَ حَيْثُ كان
ثُمَّ ارْضِنِي بِه.
Oh Allah! I seek Your guidance by virtue of Your knowledge, and I seek
ability by virtue ofYour power, and I ask You of Your great bounty.
You have power; I have none. And You know; I know not. You are the
Knower of hidden things.
Oh Allah! If in Your knowledge this matter is good for my religion,my
livelihood and my affairs, immediate and in the future, then ordain it
for me, make it easy for me, and bless it for me. And if inYour
knowledge this matter is bad for my religion, my livelihood and my
affairs, immediate and in the future, then turn it away from me, and
turn me away from it. And ordain for me the good wherever it may be,
and make me content with it.
Salatul Istikhara
We all turn to Allah during times when we are in need, and one ofthe
most common methods and reasons for turning to Him is to seek His
guidance through the Salaah of Istikhara.
Istikhara, in reality, means "to seek goodness from Allah" according
to some Ulamaa and according to some it is "to seek guidance from
Allah". Whichever meaning wetake, it is a prayer and supplication
which is made by a believer to His Lord to help him in the time of
need and confusion.
However, it is also a known fact that many people experience confusion
about this particular prayer. The main reason for the occurrence of
confusion is because the person who is offering this prayer is
expecting divine guidance from Allah Ta'ala and therefore has this
belief in this heart that whatever result and path he is shown to take
will be the correct path and the most beneficial path for him chosen
by Allah Himself.
However, when people offer this prayer, it is witnessed that the
confusion of a person is not removed. Furthermore, the path that one
appears to have been told to take is sometimes not a smooth and clear
path; instead, the person apparently faces more difficulty in taking
that path.
It is for this reason that it is vital to clear a few misconceptions
and furthermore present a wonderful insight of a great scholar from
the followers of Imaam Shafi'ee Rahimahullah.
First View
The first and most common view of Istikhara is that it is a prayer
through which one seeks the guidancefrom Allah Ta'ala. It is a prayer
that removes the confusion a person is experiencing in a matter he
wishes to undertake; be that matter should you marry this certain
person? Should you attend this graduate school? Should you take this
job offer or that one?
Therefore, the person who performs this prayer does so in orderto seek
guidance from Allah Ta'ala and hopes that his heart will be inclined
towards one of the two matters thusenlightening him as to what
decision to make.
However, as mentionedbefore, we sometimes see that we do not receive
any sort of inclination after the Istikhara, or that once the decision
is made we go through difficulties in the option we followed due to
the Istikhara.
Explanation
Primarily, it should be understood that, according to this view, we
are seeking Allah's complete knowledge toguide us and therefore we
should understand that whatever path we take is the right path for us
and no matter what apparent difficulties we go through there is some
benefit for us within this path that Allah has inclined our hearts
towards.
Furthermore, if we feel that there is no inclination towards a certain
matter then thescholars have mentioned that we should perform the
prayer several times until we do receive an answer from Allah Ta'ala.
Second View
Istikhara rather than being a prayer for guidance it is a supplication
(Du'aa) to Allah Ta'ala and a prayer to seek goodness from Him. It is
through this prayer that a person asks AllahTa'ala to put goodness in
whatever he decidesto do and a supplication to Allah asking Him to
guide him towards that in which there is goodness for him and keep him
away from that which has no goodness for him.
(The explanation of theImam that is given is very lengthy and takes a
great effort to explain. Alhumdulillah Iam in the process of
completing the translation of this article which I will post in the
near future, Insha Allah.)
In brief, the scholar mentions that if one is to believe that this
prayer is that of guidance that it deems necessary to believe that
Allah's guidance is always correct as He has complete knowledge.
However, we see many a times that the confusion still remains after
the prayer and therefore it means that the promisefrom Allah was not
fulfilled and through Istikhara one did not achieve what one was
promised; and it is impossible for Allah to command of somethingand
then not have that order achieve its results.
Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi recalls one pious saint from the Shafi'ee
group (which the author cannot recall) who mentioned an amazing
insight about Salaat-ul-Istikhara. Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, after
mentioning this scholar's amazing explanation, says himself that he is
more inclined towards the Shafi'ee explanation of Istikhara and that
this is the more correct opinion.
Explanation
With this view if we take into account the above issues and confusion
that often occurs, the confusions still remaining and facing
difficulties in thepath the one took, we can say that Istikhara isa
Du'aa and all Dua'aas are accepted by Allah but it is not necessary
that it be in this world or immediately. Therefore, not receiving
clarification would mean that Allah has accepted our Dua'aas (as He
has promised to do so) but He has not answered it immediately, or that
Hewill give us a greater reward for this supplication in the
Hereafter.
Similarly, if we face difficulties in a chosen path it could have the
same explanation as above or that Allah will shortly give us goodness
in the matter we have chosen.
Benefits of this Second View
If one takes this secondview into account then one will be able to
make use of worldly means in able to make his decision and remove his
confusion regarding the matter. Istikhara will be a supplication from
Allah Ta'ala to help him in hisdecision and to give him goodness it
whatever he chooses todo, whilst taking aid from the mediums will help
resolve his confusion and assist him in making a decision.
Conclusion
We have been instructed by the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam to
perform the Istikhara prayer whenever we make decisions in our life,
especially when we make some major decisions in life. Therefore, we
should always make an effort to perform this prayer of Istikhara,
whether we see it as a way in receiving guidance or whether we perform
it as a supplication.
Furthermore, we should always use the mediums that Allah has placed in
this world to aid us with removing our confusions. The world has been
referred to as "Darul Asbaab" (the place of mediums) and it is the
wisdom of Allah that in order to acquire anything or even receive
anything from Him we need to use themeans and mediums that Allah has
placed within this world.
Finally, we should always trust in the decisions that we take through
the guidance of Allah and those that we take after supplicating to
Him; Hismercy is infinite and though Allah may shower His mercy with
delay upon us, throughHis own wisdom, but He will surely guide us and
aid us through those matters that we have taken with hope of His help
and guidance. As the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam advised us in
the final words of the Du'aa,"and make me content with it", we should
remain content with the decision we took with trust in Allah.
May Allah bless us with divine guidance from Himself and may He give
us the understanding to makethe correct decisions and may He put
goodness in whatever He chooses for us to do.