Istikhara: the prayer, the dua, and why it needs no dream

A misreading has grown up around istikhara so deep that many people now think the prayer is a way of receiving a dream. They pray, they wait to sleep, they look for a colour. The hadith that teaches the prayer says nothing about any of it.

What the Prophet ﷺ taught

Jabir ibn Abdullah reports that the Prophet ﷺ used to teach the Companions istikhara in all matters, as he taught them a surah of the Qur'an (Bukhari 1166, Bukhari 6382, Bukhari 7390; also Ibn Majah 1383 and Nasa'i 3253). The comparison with a surah is part of the text: this was taught carefully, word for word, as something to be learned.

The instruction is short. When one of you intends to do something, he prays 2 rak'ahs other than the obligatory prayers, and then says the dua. The narrator adds that he names his need. The Arabic of the dua is below, cut from the narration.

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْتَخِيرُكَ بِعِلْمِكَ وَأَسْتَقْدِرُكَ بِقُدْرَتِكَ، وَأَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ فَضْلِكَ الْعَظِيمِ، فَإِنَّكَ تَقْدِرُ وَلاَ أَقْدِرُ وَتَعْلَمُ وَلاَ أَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتَ عَلاَّمُ الْغُيُوبِ، اللَّهُمَّ إِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا الأَمْرَ خَيْرٌ لِي فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي ـ أَوْ قَالَ عَاجِلِ أَمْرِي وَآجِلِهِ ـ فَاقْدُرْهُ لِي وَيَسِّرْهُ لِي ثُمَّ بَارِكْ لِي فِيهِ، وَإِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا الأَمْرَ شَرٌّ لِي فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي ـ أَوْ قَالَ فِي عَاجِلِ أَمْرِي وَآجِلِهِ ـ فَاصْرِفْهُ عَنِّي وَاصْرِفْنِي عَنْهُ، وَاقْدُرْ لِي الْخَيْرَ حَيْثُ كَانَ ثُمَّ أَرْضِنِي بِهِ

The words fall into 3 movements, set out in the table.

Two details are worth noticing. The dua is conditional, so it does not claim to know which way the matter should go, and it ends with a request for contentment, not for certainty. The person who prays this has not been promised an answer in a form they can see. They have asked to be steered and to be at peace with the steering.

The phrase "in all matters" (Bukhari 6382) is wide, and scholars commonly set one limit on it: istikhara is for choices that are open to you. It is not asked about an obligation, which has to be done, or about a prohibition, which has to be avoided. Whether to take a job, to move to another city or to marry a particular person is the kind of question it is for. Whether to pray tomorrow is not a question at all.

What the text does not say

Here the popular practice and the narrations part company. Nothing in the narrations cited above says that a dream will follow, that one should sleep after the prayer, that a white or green image means yes and a dark one means no, or that the prayer must be repeated a number of times. We cannot show that any of these is wrong from the texts, and we cannot show that any is right either. They are additions, and their source is custom, not the hadith.

Istikhara and consultation

The Qur'an pairs seeking Allah with asking people. It tells the Prophet ﷺ to consult them in the matter, and then, once he has decided, to rely upon Allah (Qur'an 3:159). It describes the believers as those whose affair is a matter of consultation among themselves (Qur'an 42:38). The istikhara prayer and consultation are not rivals. One is addressed to Allah, the other to people who know the matter, and a careful decision uses both.

So the order we would suggest is the one the texts imply. Gather the facts. Ask someone who knows, and someone who cares about you. Pray the 2 rak'ahs and say the dua. Then go forward with the option that now seems sound, and treat what follows as your answer, both in events and in how settled you feel.

When a dream does come

It does happen that someone has a dream after istikhara. Treat it as you would any dream. Ask whether it is the kind that comes from Allah, from Shaytan, or from your own mind (see the three kinds of dreams), and follow the manners that go with each. Do not take it as a command. The principle is the one scholars apply to every dream, including the Prophet's: a dream does not make something lawful or unlawful, and it does not replace the Qur'an, the Sunnah or the advice of people who know. The adhan is the model case (see the dream behind the adhan). The dream was true, and it became law because the Prophet ﷺ confirmed it while awake.

If someone says that they saw the Prophet ﷺ telling them which choice to make, that dream does not decide the matter either, however sincere the dreamer (see seeing the Prophet in a dream). Hold the dream as a mercy to you, and decide as you would have decided without it.