The word · Worship
صَلاةُ الاسْتِخارَة
Salat al-Istikharah
Two voluntary rak'ahs followed by a supplication asking Allah to choose the better of two paths.
Also written · Istikhara · Istikhaarah · Istekhara · Estekhara · Isthikara · prayer for guidance · Dua istikhara · Salatul istikhara
The meaning
What Salat al-Istikharah means in Islam
The word means asking for the good. The Prophet taught it for ordinary decisions, and it is prayed once you already have an inclination, not instead of thinking and asking advice. A common misunderstanding is that it must produce a dream or a sign; it does not. You pray, you decide, and you trust the outcome you are given.
Evidence · Sunnah · Established in the authentic Sunnah
Read beside it
Words that sit beside it
- SalahThe formal Muslim prayer, performed five times a day at set times, facing Makkah.الصَّلاة
- NiyyahThe intention in the heart that turns an ordinary act into an act of worship.نِيَّة
More from Worship
- AdhanThe call announcing that a prayer time has entered, given aloud before each obligatory prayer.أَذان
- HalqShaving the head after the rites, which releases the pilgrim from the state of ihram.حَلْق
- KaffarahA fixed expiation owed for certain deliberate breaches, heavier than simply making the act up.كَفّارَة
- Qada (making up worship)Performing an obligatory act of worship after its proper time has passed, to make it up.قَضاء
- SawmFasting: abstaining from food, drink and intimacy from true dawn until sunset, with intention.صَوْم
- Tamattu'One of the three ways to perform hajj: umrah first, then leaving ihram, then hajj from Makkah.تَمَتُّع