Ammon – Istikharah is the prayer a Muslim prays when he needs to make a decision on a worldly matter. Although there is no specific time to perform the istikharah prayer, the best time to perform it is in the last third of the night, as it is said that the virtue of responding at this time was repeated in the Sunnah of the Prophet.
It is advised to perform the Istikharah prayer before or after consulting others, and it can be performed at any time a person desires. The Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: “If one of you is concerned about a matter, let him pray two rak’ahs other than the obligatory prayer.” Thus, the two rak’ahs are the two rak’ahs of istikhara.
As for the disliked times to perform the Istikharah prayer, it is disliked for a person to perform it after the Fajr prayer and after the Asr prayer, unless he has a necessity that calls for that.
The way to perform the Istikharah prayer is for a person to pray two rak’ahs, and recite in the first rak’ah Surat Al-Fatihah and Surat Al-Kafiroon, and in the second rak’ah, Surat Al-Fatihah and Surat Al-Ikhlas. After completing the prayer, the person says the supplication of Istikharah, which is mentioned in the Sunnah of the Prophet.
Istikharah prayer carries several benefits for believers, such as increasing their closeness to God, contentment with God’s will, seeking God’s help and relying on Him, obtaining reward and reward, and other spiritual and psychological benefits.
Finally, it is worth noting that praying istikharah is an application of the Sunnah of the Prophet and that it reflects the importance of prayer in Islam and its role in the lives of believers.
