Mustafa Khattab – Istikhara The Prayer For Guidance
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the history and use of Islam, including its use as a means to guide people and avoid dangerous heart surgery. They emphasize the importance of asking for help from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and not relying on people for guidance. They also discuss the use of zodiac signs to indicate when people are trying to get something, dressing up as a cow, not doing any public declination or requesting help, and praying for the right things, such as not praying for things that don't make sense and not praying for things that don't make sense.
AI: Summary ©
I bear witness that there's none worthy of
our worship except Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And
I bear witness that Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
Peace be upon him is the seal of
the prophets and the final messenger
to all of humanity.
Whoever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guides, there is
none to misguide, and whoever Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala leaves astray, there is none to guide
aright.
So the story, this is a true story
from a Muslim country,
that, there was a couple, they have a
baby, a newborn baby, and the doctor told
them,
your son is born, and and, he has
irregular heartbeats.
And we need to do a surgery. It's
in a Muslim country. So,
the family was, like, they didn't know what
to do. It's a small baby
and heart surgery, it's dangerous, and they are
afraid. You know how our people think back
home. So, they were terrified, they were confused,
they didn't know what to do. So one
of the doctors told them, okay, you're a
Muslim, why don't you pray istikhara?
Pray to Allah
to guide you, because you don't know what
to do. Do the surgery
operation or no?
So that night they prayed, and they prayed,
and,
in the morning by the time they took
the decision they spoke to the doctor, and
the doctor said we're gonna do another, check
to examine the baby to see if everything
is good, and they realized that the heartbeats,
became normal.
So, Alhamdulillah, there was no need for the
surgery, it was only a matter of time.
And this happened also in our case when
my daughter was born, the irregular heartbeats and
after some time everything was good. Alhamdulillah,
no problem.
But this, the point is,
we don't know everything, and Allah
knows everything.
We are poor, and Allah
is rich. We are miskeen, we are weak,
and Allah
Allah is the most powerful. Sometimes you cannot
make a decision on your own.
So you have to get help from someone.
And there's no one you can ask for
help except Allah
We say it every day, 17 times in
our salah. Iyakanahudu
wa Iyakanastay.
You are the only one we worship,
and you are the only one we ask
for help. We say it 17 times, twice
Fajr.
Fajr.
Salatul Fajr. Twice Fajr. 4 Asr.
3 Malay 4 Isha.
17 times, but most of the time we
just say it routinely, but we don't mean
it.
If something bad happens, we don't ask Allah,
we just ask someone. So Allah
is the only one who can help, you
know, can help you. Most of the time
when you ask people for help,
they will tell Allah is Sa'ed, that Allah
will help you. So you might as well
ask Allah
directly and not relying on the people.
There's nothing wrong, of course, if someone has
a medical problem, they need to go to
the doctor, or they can borrow money from
a Muslim friend if they are in need.
But you have to keep in mind that
Allah is the one who helps you, through
these people. They are just the means, but
Allah
is a razzab. He is the one who
is taking care of you.
I do a lot of counseling, and people
come to me almost on a daily basis,
and I've noticed recently, because schools are coming,
and some people want to get married, and
they come asking for, like, advice. What can
I do? Do I go to University of
Toronto, or should I go to Edmonton or
Vancouver?
Should I marry this sister? Should I travel
to another city for work? And I tell
them you don't need to come to me,
you just need to ask Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. I'm no one.
So I direct them toward istikhara.
Before Islam, people had different ways to make
decisions.
Some of them is mentioned in hadith and
in the tayrat, the Prophet said, la Tayrah
tafil Islam. What they used to do basically
before Islam in the Jahiliyyah,
if they wanted to make a decision,
they would bring a bird,
and they will throw the bird in the
air. If it goes to the right, or
this way, Khalas, this is good, if it
goes to the left, this is wrong, I
can't do it. So this is one way,
a tayra.
Another way in Islam,
Surah al Ma'idawahintastaa.
Simu bil Aslam, it's one of the prohibited
things in Islam. So what they did basically,
they add like a cup,
and they have 3 pieces of wood,
and on one piece they said, Do it.
The second one says, Don't do it. The
third one,
nothing. Like, don't do anything.
You know from the story of Suraqa, when
he was after the Prophet in the hijrah,
and, you know, he had the Islam with
him, he was with his horse, trying to
get the 100 camels ransomed,
to attack the Prophet
or to bring him back to the people
of Mecca, alive or dead.
So he did the Islam,
to draw the lots. So he drew it,
and he said, don't do it.
He said, maybe my Islam are not accurate,
I'm gonna do it again.
Don't do it, don't do it, all the
time.
He said: You don't know nothing. It's 100
camels man. He threw the Islam and he
went after the Prophet anyway, and you know
the story in the books of Sira, he
couldn't do any harm to the Prophet
So Al Aslam. In our time,
we have the
the second Jahiliyyah.
So people try to do it in a
superstitious way.
And we have these beliefs and these practices
back home in my country, people do it
this way. One way,
is they use their flower, like this one.
Took me a long time to find 1
in our backyard.
So what they do, Oh, she likes me,
she doesn't like me, if he wants to
marry his sister, and the sister does the
same thing, he likes me, he doesn't like
me, right?
So this is one way people do it.
Muslims, and I've seen a lot of people
do it.
Another way, a lot of people rely on
the zodiac signs. In Abraaj, with Nizhul, Muqaddiq.
So they get the paper all the time,
and this is very popular back home. Like,
friends and family, they get the newspaper,
and and they look. The the first thing
they do, they go to the last page,
because this is where the zodiac signs are.
If it's a scorpion
or leo, whatever, the 12 zodiac signs.
And what they do basically, of course, this
is forbidden in Islam,
because they don't know. No one knows Al
Ghayb,
illAllah.
Right? No one knows the unseen except Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's one of the keys
of the unseen.
But what they do basically,
to fool
the masses and the gullible, what they do,
the naive people,
they give very generic terms.
Like they say for example, Masha'Allah, by the
end of the month you will get a
big amount.
And turns out this is your salary. It's
it's something that happens every month.
Or they will say they will say the
opposite.
But even a month, you would pay a
lot of money.
Turns out you pay your bills,
pay your rent,
this, shopping, whatever.
So they give you generic terms that are
true for almost everyone,
right? So this is not acceptable Islamically.
Another way
The palm reading, which is very popular back
hold,
it's here also sometimes,
people would take one look at the palm
of your hand and say well this will
happen and this. Well, I can take a
look at the palms of my hand, and
I can tell you a lot of things.
If you take a look at your the
palm of your hand, you can make anything
out of it, like the map of Mississauga.
Yeah, the 2 big lines, this is 401,
403, you can anything.
Well, my back home, I heard this once.
The Sheykh told him Masha'Allah, you're a good
guy. He said, Why? He said, Because on
one hand, in Arabic you see 81,
the number it's you can see it very
clearly. And on the other one you see
18.
And 18 or 81 minuteus 18 this is
63, this is the age, the you know,
this is how old the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam was when he died, so you are
a very good person.
Well, the problem is, everyone has the same
thing. We're talking about 7,000,000,000 people. Right? Doesn't
make any sense. So they fool, they fool
the masses.
Another way people do it, and I've seen
a lot of people do this, especially in
the Muslim community,
they would open the Quran,
and you take a look, just a random
page.
I'm sure I did it some some time
in my, Jahiliyyah years, when I was younger.
Right? If you want to do something, which
school to go to, if you want to
travel to this place, if you want to
do this, you'll open a random page, the
first eye that your eyes
see, if it's a positive thing you do
it if it's a negative thing you don't
do it so for example is Aker Misra
well it's a good thing.
Fatawwat kal Allah illnaqalal haqal Mubin
It's a positive thing so you go ahead
and do it If it's a negative thing,
You Ibrahimu 'Aaradan Hatha. Lurena Ladeena kavaru.
Jahannam, Oh, it's a bad thing, I don't
do it. Right?
So this is not acceptable because it is
not the right way, otherwise the
SAW himself would have done it. Right? And
I remember the story,
Kamfeeahadalal
naskampeimin nasilmodur. Is that ham min noi ham
minhagam, may be salushious to Farah, I catch
you Arab anhaaj.
Fa'kani give it Mushaf?
So this brother used to do the same
thing. It's a true story. So he used
to open the Mus'haf all the time, if
it is something positive he will do it,
if it's something negative he doesn't do it.
So one time, he decided to buy a
donkey,
and
just like as usual he opened the Quran,
he saw an Ayah,
something positive, he went to the market and
he bought the donkey. When he came back
his, his, wife said okay, what is the
Ayah this time that motivated you to go
and buy the donkey? He said I opened
the random page, and the ayah said, We
will give you a brother to support you.
So I went to the market, and I
bought the donkey. Right? So that was the
sign for him. Nonsense! Right?
How did the Prophet SAWHANAN do it?
It's tikharah, because as I said, we are
human beings, we have limitations, and Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala is Al Kawi, Huwal Ali, Al
Khabeer, Al Thali, walanu fukara,
albuwafa,
almasakir,
al adillah.
So if you're if you are in a
difficult situation, you always need help from a
higher authority, someone stronger than you, someone more
knowledgeable
than you. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is
the most knowledgeable, and He is the most,
aware.
So the Prophet SAW Alaihi Wasallam, karna Rasool
Allah SAW Alaihi Wasallam, come up with sahab.
If the Prophet SAW Alaihi Wasallam was ever
concerned about anything, and he didn't know what
to do, the first thing he would do
salah, right away.
Give us comfort through salah.
It's a means of comfort because now you're
communicating with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. You ever
wondered why we call it salah? Because
in the Arabic language,
it means to connect.
And salah comes from this root word because
when you are in salah, salah means connection,
you are connected, you're communicating with Allah
directly, there is no one in between.
And you talk to Allah
in salah, everyone knows the hadith when you
say Alhamdulillah, Allah would say Hadidani Abdi, and
so on and so forth.
So the Prophet
would always
make Salah
to get help and assistance from Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala
So when do you need to do Istikhara?
Of course there's the Hadith in Sahih Bukhari
we'll get through it in some details inshallah
in just a couple of minutes
So, when do you need to do Istikhara?
Well, the scholars classify
every activity that we are involved in every
day into 3 types. The first one is
alfarr, something you have to do.
It's imperative that you do it, it's an
obligation.
So you don't do Istikhara
to see if you want to do salah
today or not.
Or, to see if you're gonna fast Ramadan
this year. No Istikhara. You don't do Istikhara
in front. Am I gonna give my Zakat
this year or not? No. You don't do
Istikhara.
Also, you don't do Istikhara in Haram things.
This is the second time. You don't do
Istikhara to rob a bank,
or to rob my neighbor because it's easier
No! You don't do istikhara in haram things,
right?
The third type which is, you can do
istikhara in, and this is the mumaha, the
permissible things. Like say for example, am I
going to go to Brock University, or I'm
going to go to McGill, or go to
this and that? You can do istikhar.
Am I going to marry this sister, or
no? You do istikhar.
You are thinking about starting a business,
you do istikhara. Right? Because it's permissible things,
or recommended things.
Say, for example,
this year, do I give my forbani, the
goat, or the sheep, or the cow? Do
I offer it, sacrifice it here in Canada,
or do I send it back home to
my poor people in Egypt, Pakistan, or Turkey,
Palestine?
You can't do Istikhara in these things, because
it's permissible.
Day to day activities, this is permissible. You
do Istikhara in these cases.
Some people think I I got, like a
question one time from one of the sisters,
I was in Edmonton.
She was going to do a tikharah, but
she was asking a sister what to do.
Like, she was going to a certain school,
or getting married to a certain person, and
she was asking someone, What do you think?
I don't know, I was not married before.
What do you think? Should I marry this
brother, or should I go to this school?
And the sister told her, It is haram
to ask people when you do Istikharah with
Allah. So when you do Istikharah, you don't
talk to the people.
And this is wrong. Doesn't make any sense,
because the Prophet SAWH Wasallam, who was always
in communication with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la,
he was receiving revelations, he was talking to
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la through Jibreel or
directly,
He was asking people from Ashura all the
time.
When
the people didn't listen to him. Or in
Rasulat Badr, or in digging the trees, Alhamdulillah.
He was asking people all the time. And
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is telling the Prophet
SAW directly in the Quran, washaawilunfilambr.
Bayida azamtakadawakkala
Allah. Allah is telling him, make Mashhurah with
the people, ask them.
Ask the people! The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
himself is being told in the Quran, if
you want to make a decision,
talk to the people.
Make a Stikhara,
You Alisan Yastashir Al Maqluqeen Wa Astaghir Al
Khaled
So you make istikhara with Allah, and you
make mashura with your wife and the people
around you,
especially the people with knowledge, the people with
experience. You wanna go to the University of,
Toronto?
Talk to someone from there. Talk to a
professor, talk to a graduate.
Make a Istikhah, there's nothing wrong
So you talk to people with experience, so
you'll get the right naseehat in this case
So you do Istikhah in permissible things And
according to the hadith of the Prophet SAW
You pray 2 rakah, sunnah,
like you don't do istikhara after salatul fash
No, they have to be 2 rakah and
sunnah. Tuhayatul masjid,
sunnahuludu,
the 2 rakah before salah, any sunnah salah,
Then you do the Dua either before salam
or after. Both are acceptable. You can do
after,
or you can do before salam. Both are
good times for istikhara. We ask Allah Subhana
Wa Ta'la to give us the best in
this life, and the best in the life
to come, salAllahu walaikum.
Sometimes you are in a situation where you
have to make
a decision right away,
right?
So in this case, if you don't have
wudu or there is no chance you can
make salah the Arman says you can just
make the, make the dua and salah, so
you don't have to pray. Like, say for
example, someone, like some of the brothers, they
go home to get married, and they bring
their wives, and doing the papers and stuff,
it takes some time, and maybe they ask
the sister What do you think? She will
say Well, I need to do istikhara, but
she asked her, you know, this time of
the month, she can't pray, right? She's gonna
it's gonna take her a week or something,
and the brother can't wait to finish the
papers and stuff. Yes or no? So in
this case, she has to make a decision.
So in this case, she will just make
the dua,
You Allahu Muhammadu kadakatat the dua without the
salaf. In this case, it is permissible and
it is acceptable.
So the Prophet SAW Alaihi Wasallam said in
the Hadith
So this is the Hadith. So Jabir ibn
Abdullah has reported in Bukhay, it's an authentic
hadith He said the Prophet used to teach
us istighari in everything
Permissible things. Not the faray, not the, prohibited
things.
He would say, if someone wants to do
something, they pray Turakah Asunna, naf
Then, at the end, either before salaam or
after, they say You Allah, I ask You
with Your power, and I ask for Your
help, because You have the knowledge, and I
don't have the knowledge, and You know everything.
You Allah, if You know this thing,
my marriage to this person,
or my study at this school, or this
business is good for me in this world,
and the hereafter, in the next life, make
it easy for me. But if You think
that this is bad for me in this
duniya alilhaqah,
keep it away from me, keep me away
from it,
and may Qadah for me to give what
is good for me, and give me a
rida, satisfaction with it. Why? Because sometimes Allah
will give you something and you're not happy
with it. So you're asking Allah to give
you the right thing, and to give you
a riva,
satisfaction
with whatever Allah
gives you.
Why do we pray istighara anyway?
I'm gonna tell you, but I'll tell you
what happens after you do istighara. Sometimes, you
need to do istikhara during the day or
during the night, you can do istikhara 5
times, 70 times. There is no maximum for
istikhara.
There's no maximum. You can pray anytime
for istikhara from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So when you do Istikhara,
you do it basically for 2 things. Talavul
Khayr bin Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, that you
put your trust in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
in every step you take.
And you are trusting your affairs with Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, and this is a very
good thing.
Abdul Abani, you trust Allah with everything,
and Allah will take good care of you.
So when you do Istaghara,
sometimes you do Istaghara,
you you ask Allah, you ask the people,
you do everything, your due diligence, and it
turns out that this is something bad for
you.
So what do you do now? Now you
cleared
yourself before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You say,
Yeah Allah, I did everything, I did my
homework,
I made Istaghha with you, bashur all the
people, and it turned out bad.
So in this case, you are not accountable
in the eyes of Allah
So again, when you plan to do something,
do Istaghha,
and alhamdulillah, if it works, alhamdulillah, if it
doesn't work, try something else, but at the
end of the day, we put our trust
in Allah
and we hope that Allah
will give us success, tawfir, in everything we
say, and we do in this dunya, and
we ask Allah
to give us tawfir, and jannatul naibinafra.
The best in the life to come. You
Allah put us in the company of Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, the prophets and the
sahaba quram. Wassa Allahu maa rasaydum. Muhammadu wala
yasafir maima wala.