Section: Man’s Need for Allah’s Choice and Decree

To sum up: if you yourself do not know what truly benefits you, cannot procure it, and do not desire it as you ought, then it is even more certain that other people neither know what is good for you, nor are able to secure it, nor really wish it for you. Allah—exalted is He—knows while you do not know, decrees while you cannot decree, and grants you out of His immense bounty. This is expressed in the supplication of istikhara: “O Allah, I seek the best outcome through Your knowledge, I seek ability through Your power, and I ask You from Your magnificent favor. Truly, You have power while I have none, You know while I do not know, and You are the Knower of the unseen.”