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Proper Way Of Doing the Istikharah

How to do the Istikharah Prayer ?



Question

I have joined a course but as it progressed I felt uneasy about it and wanted to quit. However, I performed the Istikharah in order to be sure. That night my sleep was very restless and even troubled by nightmares. I thought that was the indication and I continued with the course, but again felt troubled with it. I performed the Istikharah a week later, and again I had restless sleep. Could you please explain the reason for this and what it means?

Answer

People tend to think that the Istikharah should be performed before going to bed and that the answer is shown to them in their sleep. There is no indication in Hadith that this is so. The Istikharah has nothing to do with sleep. It can be performed at any time, and the answer does not come to you in your sleep, through a dream.
The Istikharah is a prayer, seeking God's help in deciding one's course of action concerning any matter one is facing. It is done by praying two rak'ahs of voluntary prayer and following that with a supplication in which one says the following:

My Lord, I seek Your guidance according to Your knowledge and seek the help of Your power, for You are powerful and I am not, and You know while I do not. You are certainly the One who knows what lies beyond the reach of human perception. My Lord, if You know that this matter (here we mention the matter in question) is good for me in my faith and life, in the short and long terms, then facilitate it for me and make it easy for me to have it and bless it for me. But if You know that this matter (here we name the matter again) is bad for me in my faith and life, in the short and long terms, then turn it away from me and turn me away from it. Facilitate for me what is good, whatever it may be, and make me content with it.
When we have done this, we should be certain that God would choose what is best for us. We leave matters to resolve themselves easily and smoothly. Whatever comes handy and easy we should take. It is not necessary that we see a clear indication, either during sleep or when we are awake. We may have a good piece of advice from someone we consult, or we may find things moving in a particular direction.

In the case the reader is asking about, it may happen that he goes to the organizers of the course and request to quit, and they accept that easily, refunding the fees he paid and settling the matter directly. He should know that this is what God has chosen for him. On the other hand, if the organizers show him that it is very difficult for him to quit and that it would require some hard choices, he may consider that staying in the course is the better alternative God has chosen for him. There may be other ways in which his line of action may be indicated for him.
I may tell my reader that I do not know the reason for his sleepless nights after performing the Istikharah. May be he was too anxious to find out the result. It might have been impressed on him that he would find out during his sleep and he was full of expectations, like a student who expects to receive the results of his final exams the following morning.

Istikharah Prayer - How It Functions

http://www.ourdialo gue.com/answers/ articles. php?action= show&showarticle= 3558

 

Question

If one performs the Istikharah and repeats it the following day but sees nothing in his dream to indicate a choice, then a couple of days later something happens either in a dream or in reality clearly indicating a choice, should this be treated as a response to the Istikharah?

Answer

It is not necessary that one sees anything in a dream to indicate a choice after performing the Istikharah prayer. Nor is it recommended to repeat the Istikharah. When you perform this prayer, appealing to God for guidance, you should be certain that God would choose the best option for you. You entrust your problem to Him and He will help you. The help comes in making a certain choice easier for you.

You should not push things into a certain direction; rather, you should let them happen, and whatever comes easy is God's choice for you, which you should happily accept. I will give you an example of a case I know. A relative of mine wanted to buy a house in his home country. After agreeing the price with the vendor, he did the Istikharah. The following day, he gave instructions to his bank to transfer the money, but the transfer did not go through because of a mistake he did. He repeated the instructions, but this time a mistake by someone else meant that the bank could not transfer the funds. That was enough indication for him to realize that God chose for him not to buy that house, causing an impediment to the sale going smoothly. The man withdrew from the deal.

Multilevel Marketing

Adil Salahi, Arab News

http://arabnews. com/?page= 5&section=0&article=98996&d=27&m=7&y=2007

Question

I would like to know whether Islam permits the sort of business which is called multilevel or network marketing. Could you please explain the Islamic view.

Answer

I visited the website you have mentioned in your message, and I read what you have written about the working of the plan. I cannot understand the intricacies of the plan. The website seems to encourage people to join, promising much income, yet it does not tell how the money is to be generated. There are many enterprises that seem to encourage different plans and ways of marketing products. I am wary of giving an opinion on any of these without understanding it fully. This one I cannot understand. It seems to promise very high prospects, without telling you anything about pitfalls, or how you could make a loss. Therefore, if I were you, I would steer away from it.

Performing Prostration While Reading the Qur'an

 

http://arabnews. com/?page= 5&section=0&article=97811&d=22&m=6&y=2007

Question

Could you please give a list of the Qur'anic verses when a prostration is recommended? What happens if we read these verses and not perform a prostration?

Answer

There are 15 verses in the Qur'an that mention prostration before God Almighty as a good action by God-fearing believers. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to perform such a prostration when we read or listen to any of these verses, whether during prayer or in any situation.

Some scholars are of the view that even if one has not performed ablution, one should prostrate oneself. These verses are given here, starting with the Arabic title of the surah which is followed by two numbers, the first indicating the surah, and the second indicating the verse,:

Al-Araf 7: 206; Al-Raad 13: 15; Al-Nahl 16: 50; Al-Isra 17: 109; Maryam 19: 58; Al-Hajj 22: 18 & 22: 77; Al-Furqan 25: 60; Al-Naml 27: 26; Al-Sajdah 32: 15; Saad 38: 25; Fussilat 41: 38; Al-Najm 53: 62; Al-Inshiqaq 84: 21 and Al-Alaq 96: 19.

If you do not perform a prostration when you read or listen to any of these verses, you have done badly because you miss out on the reward of performing a prostration for God. You incur no sin and violate no divine order.


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