90 – Ḥammād narrated from Ibrāhīm, from ʿAlqamah, from ʿAbd Allāh (may Allah be pleased with him): “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to teach us the istikhāra (prayer for guidance) regarding affairs just as he would teach us a surah from the Qur’an.”

In another version he said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ remarked: “When any one of you intends a matter, let him perform ablution, then pray two units that are not part of the obligatory prayers, after which he should say:

‘O Allah, I seek Your counsel by virtue of Your knowledge, I seek ability by virtue of Your power, and I ask You of Your bounty. For You are able and I am not; You know and I do not; and You are the Knower of the unseen.

O Allah, if this matter is good for me in my livelihood and good for me in the outcome of my affair, then facilitate it for me and bless it for me.’

An additional narration adds: ‘But if some other course is better for me, then decree for me the good wherever it may be, and make me content with it.’