Mustafa Khattab – Istikhara Prayer for Guidance

So I hear a lot of questions about

salah and istikhal, asking the most kind of

Adam for guidance.

When it's content, they do what you have

to hear.

So linguistically,

istikhal, this concept in Islam means to ask

the most kind of our guidance.

Then he did it again, and he caught

it again. And the 3rd time, and, eventually,

he gave up, and he said to the

prophet, I'm not gonna do any harm to

you. And the prophet

gave him a pledge in writing that if

I ever come back to my bed, you'll

be safe and secure.

And And the story is beautiful. It's in

the books of Syria. You can check it

out. So this is one way to do

it.

The other way

that they did before Islam and all these

are superstitious

to these.

So

one way was to catch a bird, like

a pigeon or something, and you let it

fly. So if it goes to the right,

then you're gonna go ahead and do it.

If it goes to the left, you don't

do anything.

And they didn't say what if it goes

straight up.

See number 13, people still follow these superstitious

things to make decision.

Okay?

Nowadays, people do it a little bit differently,

and I'm talking about Muslims. So,

say, for example, if you wanna make a

decision and I'm talking about college students,

So for example, they read the paper, and

it tells them, for example,

you're gonna have a financial,

disaster disaster at the end of the month,

then it turns out to be the answer.

You're gonna pay your bills.

Next week because my flight was canceled. So

this is good news for

little brothers.

Something like this. The palm reading, so they

look at the lines in your palm and

they say, oh, I'm straight lines. You see,

vertical lines and horizontal lines. This is gonna

happen to you. And, indeed, all these are

superstitious beliefs

because no one knows Alayd, the unseen,

the unknown, except Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

It works sometimes,

but most of the time, it doesn't work.

It sometimes it's a coincidence,

and sometimes it just happened. Only Allah subhanahu

wa'ala knows. It's a test for some people.

And if it says something positive, like, in

the

if it's positive,

then okay. So I'm not gonna do it.

If it is if it says something negative,

like, jahannam

or pie sprit or something like this,

something

negative, then they do it. And I heard

this true story.

But you shouldn't do it, and you must

not do it in halal

things. But with a thing, like, a totally

glory thing, for example.

Permissible things like, if someone is getting married,

this is a permissible thing.

Recommended things. Like, say, for example, we have

some money for sadaqa

and you are thinking, should I give it

to this food or to the mosque or

where should I put it? So unique is

tafara, in this case, in recommended thing. It's

a good thing.

Okay? So, this is another example for something

in which is

is permissible.

The third type which is,

you cannot do istikhara to choose something Haram.

So what about if a sister wants to

do istikhara and she is in the height,

you know, during the time of the month

where she's not able to pray, the monthly

cycle and she won't she has to do

istikhara. Actually, she she won't buy a house

or a car, she want a child of

a ruin and she has to do istikhar.

So, there are the Masay in this case,

she would say the Dua, but she doesn't

have to pray because she's not, you know,

she doesn't have

the time after the sha'ud and before salah

is also a good time for Torah as

well. So it is acceptable in this case.

So you pray the 2 rakah, then you

say the dua, you say, oh, Allah,

I seek

guidance through your knowledge,

and I seek help through your might.

And you are the giver of all values.

O Allah,

Oh, Allah. You have all knowledge, and I

have none.

You have all power, and have none.

And below all things hidden. Oh, Allah. If

you know that this particular thing, marriage

or studying or travel is good for me

in this life or in the next life,

make it easy for me and bless it

for me and give it to God again.

But, oh, Allah, if you know that this

thing is not good for me in this

life or the next life, Keep it away

from me and keep me away from it,

and choose what is good for me and

listen for me.

So why does the Quran talk to them

say turn keep it away from me and

keep me away from it?

You. But, what about you? Maybe your your

love is still in your heart that you

are you are devastated.

So you're saying, oh, Allah, if you choose

something else from me, so keep it away

from me and keep me away from it

as well. And give me what is good

for me and took back at it. So

this is the way to do salah this

Allah Subhanahu wa'am. I think it was finished

with the

So what do you do after you pray?

Well, you go ahead with your plan.

Of course, as you said, you pray, you

also have a lot of guidance.

But you also ask people for the

So some of the scholars say it's a

it's a new thing. You will never fail

if you ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Adam

for guidance and you ask the people for

advice and you take your time and examine

the whole situation

further opinion. The, that was bad and also

when

he asked his wife,

what should I do? So there's nothing wrong

if you ask people for their advice as

well.

Then, initially,

you will see that the most common will

open your heart to do the things or

things are working out nicely for you. At

the end of the day, the most common

will give you whatever is good for you

and he will take away from you whatever

is bad for you. Because sometimes, he will

give you something that you don't like, but

it is the best for you. Because sometimes

he will give you something that you don't

like, but it is the best for you.

Or something that Allah will keep away from

you. Will go to love it, but it

is the

worst thing for you. So Allah subhanahu wa

ta'ala does what is best. So, eventually, you

do is to call asking the Allah subhanahu

wa ta'ala for his guidance. So, eventually, you

do is to call asking the

So eventually, you do is sika'a asking Allah

subhanahu wa'ala for his guidance, but most importantly,

if it doesn't work out or if you

make a mistake

doing it, then

you brought a thing.