Istikhara issue

[psyah]

Re: Istikhara issue

@my21098

The way to do istikhara is two nafl and that istikhara dua. But the part of doing it before sleeping is not mentioned in the Hadith. It is possible that a dream can be a clue, but it isnt necassary. What happens that you keep on doing it untill there is a feeling from inside you that automatically forces you to do or avoid the thing for which you are doing istikhara. Like I want to write a novel, but I dont know whether I should or not. So I do istikhara and give the keys to Allah. I do it for a while and see where I am being pulled, whther I am beeing pulled to write a book or not write a book. If there is no feeling then I think you lack Taqwa or Trust in Allah. So when you do it, put your full trust in Allah, and Insha Allah you might get an answer in one day.

Peace my21098

Let me explain it again because I still feel that there is some confusion from your latest post. This I want to write a novel but don’t know whether I should or not is a case of indecisiveness … it is not something that istikhara is requried for.

Consider a family have been on holiday and their return flight is the following day … istikhara is about doing the prayer the night before “that you **will **be travelling the following day” and you seek initially protection and safety in this venture, but also to cover you from another angle you seek guidance from Allah (SWT), that if it is not right for you to be travelling tomorrow then for it to be put in your heart that it is not right.

The way to make your choices is by following this pattern:

a) Ask yourself why you want or don’t want to do the act in question.
b) Ask yourself is it the only way to achieve this?
c) Ask is it halal/haram to do this?
d) Ask will you be hurting the feeling of others by doing this?
e) By now you should know whether your action is valid to take … however, if you can’t evaluate the validity then ask a person who is knowledgeable or a friend who understands the people and circumstances affecting the decision.
f) Take the advice of the person and do istikhara on that basis.

In istikhara - first you take the action and then you seek Allah’s (SWT) council in the matter. The Arabic that you read clearly states that if the matter is good for you then for it to be made easy and if it is bad for you then for it to be made difficult to achieve. As you take steps towards your decision if it is one where there is no concern then you will probably never know so you should continue doing it … it is not necessary to get a warm fuzzy feeling, but if it happens then that is good. The reason why it is not necessary is because you have already determined in steps a) to f) that it is jaiz and halal to do it.

On the other hand if you get a bad feeling or if things are slowing you down then think about it carefully and evaluate whether these were normal or whether they seem to be showing you not to go down that path … when you are convinced that something is not right - slow down in doing that action and gradually become convinced and then stop it.

This feeling or no feeling blaming it on taqwa is not the case … a person who chooses to do istikhara has already made a conscious choice of involving Allah (SWT) in their decisions. Istikhara is not like a crystal ball … it is far more subtle than that …

We should do istikhara at least for every major change of circumstance - for example new job, new home, travel … Not asking whether we should or not … but say "we have done what we can to be true to Islamic laws and we now going to do so and so, please Guide us in our decisions, by making the path to realising out intent easy if it is good, and making us realise we should not be taking that path if it is bad for us.