Mustafa Khattab – Istikhara
AI: Summary ©
The concept of Istikhar is discussed, emphasizing the importance of praying for it and not just waiting for everything to happen. People often use negative experiences when praying for it, and negative language to describe emotions and actions. The importance of praying for guidance in Islam is emphasized, and negative emotions can be directed at others. The Turkish Quran is used as an example of how people use negative language to describe emotions and actions.
AI: Summary ©
So, how many of you have have heard
about Istikhar?
Do you know what Istikhar means? Raise your
hand if you know the answer.
I know.
You have a sister?
Yes. Yes. You.
Istikhara is basically when
you put all your tawakkal in Allah, and
you do it in a prayer kind of,
so you just make dua. Yes. Excellent. But
when do you do it?
When do you do Istikhara?
After school the same day. No. No.
It?
Not what time, but
when can you do it?
Why do you need Istikhar? Why do you
need Istikhar?
K. Thank you. Last, someone else?
Yes?
So, we need guidance from Allah. Exactly. I
sent like, we need guidance from Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
So you plan to join a school,
or you're planning to travel or to buy
a laptop or an iPhone, something. You wanna
do something,
but you don't know what to do and
which, you know, or which, way to go,
then this is the time you pray to
Istikhara for Istikhara to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
I gave a Khubba many, weeks ago,
but I wanna remind you of what I
said basically.
Before Islam and even till this day, a
lot of people do certain things to make
a decision or to choose something.
So before Islam, for example, they will bring
a bird,
and they will throw it up in the
air. If it goes to the right, then
I'm gonna go ahead and do it. If
it goes to the left, it's a bad
omen. I'm gonna do something else. Right? Throw
up in the air. Right? Good. Left, bad.
But what if it went straight up? They
didn't say in the stories. We don't know.
Other things.
Sorry?
So if it went up and then
it went it went up and then it
went a little bit
Eventually it has to go, you know, right
or left. It can't go all the way
to the moon, you know. Why?
So this is one way. Another way,
in the story of Suratah when the prophet
was was doing Hijra from Makkah to
Madinah, exactly.
They would basically
bring 3 pieces of wood,
and they were right, do it, and the
second one, don't do it. The third one
is blank.
So and they will pick 1.
So if it says do it,
this is what Sarafa did basically. If it
says do it, you will go behind the
Prophet
and if it says don't do it, he
would stop.
Every single time when he picked the thing,
they call it Aslam and Araby,
it says don't do it.
He said okay, no, I I have to
do it again. He tried several times and
every single time it says don't do it,
don't go behind him. He said you know
what, my Gods don't know anything, and he
decided to go behind the Prophet
regardless, and,
maybe you know the rest of the story,
it's a long story.
So this is another way.
A third
way,
this is something that actually people do tell
this day
by
looking at the stars,
they call it the zodiac signs.
If you are born in a certain month,
right? So say for example,
my,
zodiac sign is is Cancer because I'm I'm
born in July.
So I get the paper and it says,
for example, something will happen and I go
for it. If it is something positive, I
do it. If it's something negative, I don't
do it. Right? Tell these days people do
it all the time, especially back home. They
buy the paper, the la haram should happen,
you know, and they take a look.
But again what they do because no one
knows alwai, the unseen, except Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. No one knows what will happen tomorrow
except Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Even in the weather forecast, they make mistakes
all the time.
Like they tell you it's gonna rain in
the afternoon, no rain.
They say it's sunny tomorrow, and the birds
are singing, the sun is shining, you go
out the flood of Nur. Right?
They are not accurate all the time. Sometimes
they are, but sometimes they are not, but
what they do basically they rely on the
signs of Allah, you know, the speed of
the wind, and there's certain natural signs they
take into consideration when they give you, the
news. But basically,
in in zodiac
signs, they give you some general terms which
are true for everyone. So say, for example,
you are born
in August. You get your the paper, and
it tells you people are born who are
born in this month, they expect a big
amount at the end of the month.
This is your salary.
Or if they say,
next week, you would be paying lots of
money, and this happens to be the 1st
week of the month,
turns out you have to pay your rent,
your bills,
certain things.
A disaster will happen next week, and it
turns
out that your family wants to go on
vacation, you have to pay lots of money.
Right? So they speak about general terms,
and everyone can apply this statement to your
life, and you feel like it is true,
but they speak in general terms. So they
are not actually accurate, and we don't believe
in this stuff from an Islamic, perspective.
Another way,
people do the flower thing. You ever tried
it before?
Some people do it before they get married.
You know, she loves me, she doesn't love
me, all that stuff.
This is not acceptable Islamically. Why? Because
the flower doesn't know.
You make dua to Allah. Right?
Some people do it in another way. Can
someone give me a Muslim Quran?
That'll be one.
Thank you.
It's a Turkish Quran, but we'll use it.
It's Turkish.
Okay.
So what happens I've seen a lot of
people do this,
they open the Quran at the random page,
and if it says something positive you go
ahead and do it. Like if it talks
about Jannah,
okay I'm gonna go buy this house, or
I'm gonna go to this school, or I'm
gonna marry this girl. Right?
But if it says something negative, like if
it talks about Jahannam,
you gotta run fast. I'm not going I'm
not going to this school, I'm not buying
this house, I'm not marrying this man. Right?
Because if it talks about something fast. No.
No. If it's a sister doing it, not
me.
So,
if it is positive, they do it. If
it is negative, they don't do it. Some
people, especially back home, in our countries,
they go to a certain guy who claims
to be,
like,
a scholar
with superpowers
and direct connections. Right?
Right? The fortune tellers and stuff. They take
a look at your hand,
and they see,
we see here in Arabic you got, 18.
On the other side you see 81 in
Arabic.
You subtract the 18 from the 81, this
is 63.
This is the, how old the prophet
was when he passed away.
You're good men, we're good sister. Right?
But the problem is this is true for
every single one on the planet.
There's nothing unique about you. Right?
Just take a look at your hands, most
likely we'll see the same thing. 18 in
Arabic and 81 on the other hand.
Something else? I have 111.
Okay. 911.
I said 1. Okay. Okay.
But anyway,
But anyway,
people decide
You got 112.
Okay.
But anyway anyway,
people have different ways of deciding what to
do in the future,
and,
we know in Islam there is one way
to decide.
And this is called the Sakaara as the
sister said, because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala knows
what is best for you. So in this
case, you pray 2 rakam,
sunnah, and after the salah you say the
dua, either before salam or after salam, it
doesn't matter. You say, You Allah, You know
everything,
and I don't know. You have all powers,
and I'm powerless,
so please guide me
to choose this thing if it is good
for me. If I'm gonna go to this
school, or marry this person,
or buy this house or car,
or, you Allah, if you think this thing
is bad for me, keep me away from
it, and keep it away from me, and
give me what is best for me.
If you don't remember the whole thing, just
say, you Allah, guide me to choose the
right thing. Right? As simple as that. Why?
Because sometimes we think something is good for
us,
and it turns out to be very bad
for us. Sometimes we think something is good
for us or or actually bad for us,
and it turns out to be something
is good for us or or actually bad
for us, and it turns out to be
something good. So say for example, the example
I gave, last week. If you miss the
plane or you
miss your bus because you're
traveling, you're going to Ottawa or somewhere else,
when you miss the bus or the train,
you think this is the end of the
world for you. Yeah. This is very bad.
It turns out in the morning, when you
read the paper, the plane crashed.
Or the bus something terrible happened to the
bus and everyone on board died.
You never know.
Sometimes things seem bad, but they turn out
to be good. And vice versa, things look
good, but they turn out to be bad.
Sometimes you're desperate to buy a phone or
a computer, and it turns out to be
a disaster for you. Like it's super slow,
it explodes.
Right?
Or some people I know, some people they're
desperate to marry someone.
They're desperate to marry someone
because they think they love so you love
them so much, and this person is very
good. And when they marry them, it turns
out that this is the worst person in
the world.
You never know, So you always need to
pray to Allah
for guidance,
to make things easy for you, and to
guide you to what is best for you
in this dunya and in akhirah,
and, we'll answer your questions,
next time.
Bless you and your families and give us
the best in good lives.
Question.