then do so; if you do not, then once every Friday; if you do not, then once every month; if you do not, then once every year; if you do not, then once in your lifetime." Narrated by Abu Dawood and al-Tirmidhi (64). Ahmad did not authenticate the hadith narrated regarding it, and he did not view it as recommended. However, if a person performs it, there is no harm; for in supererogatory prayers (nawafil) and virtuous deeds (fada'il), the authenticity of the hadith is not a prerequisite (65).
Section: On the Prayer of Istikhara (Seeking Counsel): On the authority of Jabir bin Abdullah al-Ansari, who said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to teach us the Istikhara for all matters, just as he would teach us a surah from the Qur'an. He would say: "When one of you is concerned about a matter, let him pray two rak'ahs other than the obligatory prayer, then let him say: 'O Allah, I seek counsel from You by Your knowledge, and I seek ability from You by Your power, and I ask You from Your great bounty. For You have power and I have none, and You know and I do not know, and You are the Knower of the Unseen. O Allah, if You know that this matter is good for me in my religion, my livelihood (66), and the outcome of my affair'—or he said: 'in the immediate of my affair and its future—then ordain it for me, make it easy for me, and then bless me in it. And if You know that this matter is evil for me in my religion, my livelihood, and the outcome of my affair'—or he said: 'in the immediate of my affair and its future—then turn it away from me, and turn me away from it, and ordain (67) good for me wherever it may be, then make me content with it."
(64) Extracted by Abu Dawood in: The chapter on the prayer of Tasbih, from the Book of Voluntary Prayers. Sunan Abi Dawood 1/298. And al-Tirmidhi in: The chapter on what has been narrated regarding the prayer of Tasbih, from the Chapters of Witr. 'Aridat al-Ahwadhi 2/267. It was also extracted by Ibn Majah in: The chapter on what has been narrated regarding the prayer of Tasbih, from the Book of Establishing Prayer. Sunan Ibn Majah 1/443. (65) In the marginal note of [manuscript] M: "However, the verifying scholars (muhaqqiqun) stipulated three conditions for it: 1- That it not be severely weak. 2- That one does not believe in its authenticity when acting upon it, so that one does not attribute to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) what he did not do. 3- That it falls under a general principle; thus, what is invented in such a way that it has no basis is excluded. Hafiz Ibn Hajar said: The first is agreed upon, and the second and third are narrated from al-'Izz bin 'Abd al-Salam and Ibn Daqiq al-'Id. That which is weak according to Ahmad is like the 'hasan' (fair) according to others, so it does not include that which is severely weak. Written by Muhammad Rashid." (66) Omitted from the Original and A. (67) In the Original: "wa-aqdir" (and ordain).
