❷Guidance Prayer
(Salat Al-Istikhaarah)
Introduction:
Probably man
faces an important matter in life, in which he/she has no certain opinion, so
he/she becomes bewildered between acceptance and rejection and unable to make a
critical decision.
God says ﴾So flee to Allah. Indeed,
I am to you from Him a clear warner﴿
Chapter of Winds. Verse NO 50
He/she has only
to get rid of worry by performing ablution perfectly and then performing two
prayer units (guidance prayer) individually in which he/she recites, bows down,
and prostrates well.
After finishing this, he/she invokes Allah saying the text
of guidance invocation (Du'aa' Al-Istikhaarah).
Afterwards, Allah
helps him/her to accept this matter and makes it easy, or He puts obstacles and
hinders it due to a certain rationale that no one knows except Him.
God says ﴾Perhaps you hate a thing
and it is good for you, and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And
Allah knows, while you know not﴿
Chapter of the Heifer. Verse NO 216
¨Some
scholars prefer making guidance prayer the last thing a Muslim performs in his
day after night prayer, its Sunnah prayer, and Witr prayer.
Then
he goes to sleep reading Ayat Al-Kursi and Chapters of Daybreak and
Mankind.
As
a result, he gets up making the right decision.
─ It is important to give very careful consideration for
the matter so as not to blame the guidance prayer.
●Jabir ibn Abd Allah reported: The Prophet ﷺ used to
teach us the way of doing Istikhaarah (seeking guidance from Allah) in
all matters as he taught us Chapters of the Qur'an.
He said, “If anyone
of you thinks of doing anything, he should offer two prayer units other than
the obligatory prayer and say (after the prayer):
‘O Allah, I consult You through Your knowledge, I seek
strength through Your power, and I ask You of Your great bounty; for You are
Capable while I am not and You know and I do not. And You are the Knower of
hidden things.
O Allah, if You know that this matter (and name it) is good for me in respect of my religion, my livelihood,
the consequences of my affairs, and the sooner or the later of my affairs, then
ordain it for me, make it easy for me, and bless it for me.
But if You know
this matter (and name it) to be bad
for my religion, my livelihood, the consequences of my affairs, and the sooner
or the later of my affairs, then turn it away from me, and turn me away from
it. And ordain for me whatever is good for me, and make me satisfied with it.’”
Reference: Sahih
Al-Bukhari. Book 19, Hadith 45
