Istikhara is the prayer Muslims turn to when they need Allah’s guidance in a decision — big or small. This guide gives you the full dua in Arabic, its transliteration and meaning, and a clear, step-by-step method for praying it correctly. Every hadith-based claim below is marked with a numbered citation — see the Sources & References list at the end for the full reference and link.
This is the exact wording taught by the Prophet ﷺ to his companions, as recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari [1,2]:
اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْتَخِيرُكَ بِعِلْمِكَ، وَأَسْتَقْدِرُكَ بِقُدْرَتِكَ، وَأَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ فَضْلِكَ الْعَظِيمِ، فَإِنَّكَ تَقْدِرُ وَلَا أَقْدِرُ، وَتَعْلَمُ وَلَا أَعْلَمُ، وَأَنْتَ عَلَّامُ الْغُيُوبِ، اللَّهُمَّ إِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا الْأَمْرَ (وتسمي حاجتك) خَيْرٌ لِي فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي، فَاقْدُرْهُ لِي وَيَسِّرْهُ لِي، ثُمَّ بَارِكْ لِي فِيهِ، وَإِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا الْأَمْرَ شَرٌّ لِي فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي، فَاصْرِفْهُ عَنِّي وَاصْرِفْنِي عَنْهُ، وَاقْدُرْ لِيَ الْخَيْرَ حَيْثُ كَانَ، ثُمَّ أَرْضِنِي بِهِ.
(Where the dua says “this matter,” you silently or verbally name your specific decision – for example, a job offer, a marriage proposal, or a move to a new city.)
Allahumma inni astakhiruka bi’ilmika, wa astaqdiruka bi qudratika, wa as’aluka min fadlika al-‘azim.
Fa innaka taqdiru wa la aqdiru, wa ta’lamu wa la a’lamu, wa anta ‘allamu al-ghuyub.
Allahumma in kunta ta’lamu anna hadha al-amra (mention your need here) khayrun li fi dini wa ma’ashi wa ‘aqibati amri, faqdurhu li wa yassirhu li, thumma barik li fihi.
Wa in kunta ta’lamu anna hadha al-amra sharrun li fi dini wa ma’ashi wa ‘aqibati amri, fasrifhu ‘anni, wasrifni ‘anhu, waqdur li al-khayra haythu kana, thumma ardini bihi.
“O Allah, I seek Your guidance by virtue of Your knowledge, and I seek ability by virtue of Your power, and I ask You for Your great bounty.
You have power, and I have none. And You know, and I do not know. You are the Knower of the unseen. O Allah, if in Your knowledge this matter (mention your need) is good for me in my religion, my livelihood, and the outcome of my affairs, then ordain it for me, make it easy for me, and bless me in it. And if in Your knowledge this matter is bad for me, for my religion, my livelihood, and the outcome of my affairs, then turn it away from me, and turn me away from it, and ordain for me the good wherever it may be, and make me content with it.
Notice the structure of the dua: you first acknowledge that Allah knows what you don’t, and has power over what you don’t. Then you ask Him — twice, for each possible outcome — to bring about whichever path is genuinely good for you, and to remove you from whichever path is genuinely bad, wherever the good may lie.”
Istikhara (“seeking what is good”) is a two-rak’ah voluntary prayer followed by a specific dua asking Allah to guide you toward whichever outcome is genuinely best for your religion, your life, and your hereafter — and to turn you away from whichever is not.
In short: make wudu, pray two rak’ahs of voluntary prayer, and after finishing recite the dua below while keeping your specific decision in mind. You do not need to see a dream or receive any dramatic sign afterward — you’ll find the full explanation of what actually happens further down this page.
The word istikhara comes from the Arabic root kh-y-r, meaning “to seek what is good.” In Islamic practice, it refers to asking Allah to guide you toward the better of two or more permissible options when you are genuinely unsure which path to take.
The practice is a recommended, voluntary act of worship — not an obligation. Its direct basis comes from a hadith narrated by Jabir ibn Abdullah (RA), who said the Prophet ﷺ used to teach the companions istikhara for all matters, just as he taught them chapters of the Qur’an [1,2].
Principles like consulting others (shura) and placing trust in Allah after taking action (tawakkul) are part of the broader Islamic approach to decision-making, and istikhara fits naturally within that mindset — but these Qur’anic principles are general guidance, not direct textual evidence for the specific two-rak’ah prayer and dua described here; that evidence comes from the hadith itself.
Istikhara is not a replacement for doing your own research or asking people with relevant knowledge and experience for advice. The safest general guidance is simply this: gather the information you reasonably can, consult people whose judgment you trust, and pray istikhara — using it to seek Allah’s involvement in a decision you have already thought through, rather than as a substitute for thinking it through at all.
Istikhara can be prayed at almost any time of day or night, with the exception of the times when voluntary prayer is generally disliked or prohibited:
Outside of these windows, you can pray istikhara whenever the need arises. The last third of the night (during Tahajjud or Qiyam al-Layl) is generally considered an especially blessed time for voluntary prayer and dua of any kind — it’s a good time for istikhara too, but it isn’t a specific requirement or a uniquely prescribed “best time” for this particular prayer.
The most common and clearest approach — held by Ibn Baz, Ibn Uthaymeen, and the Standing Committee for Academic Research and Ifta, and described as the view of the majority of scholars — is to complete the two rak’ahs, say the salam, and then recite the istikhara dua afterward, since the hadith’s wording (“let him pray two rak’ahs… and then say”) suggests the dua follows the prayer[3].
That said, this isn’t universally agreed upon. Separately from istikhara specifically, some scholars — including Ibn Taymiyyah — held the general position that supplications at the end of a prayer are better said before the taslim (salam), while one is technically still inside the prayer[4].
Applying that general principle, some contemporary teachers extend it to the istikhara dua as well, treating recitation before salam as permissible too. Either approach is acceptable; reciting it after salam is simply the more commonly cited practice.
This is one of the most misunderstood parts of istikhara, so it’s worth being direct about it: you are not guaranteed a dream, a vision, or any particular feeling after praying istikhara. Nothing in the authentic hadith promises this.
According to Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta, “the result of the istikhara does not necessarily comprise seeing something [in a dream] or feeling pleased. The most important result of istikhara is whether or not a person is enabled to do a given matter.”[5]
In other words, if Allah makes the path forward easy, that ease is itself part of His answer. If instead you meet real, ongoing difficulty pursuing it despite genuine effort, that too may be part of the answer. Either way, after praying istikhara you are still expected to use sound judgment, take practical steps, consult others where helpful, and then commit to a decision and trust Allah with the result.
You may come across the idea that seeing white or green in a dream after istikhara signals a good outcome, while seeing red or black signals a bad one. This is a widely circulated popular belief, but it is not established in any authentic hadith — there is no reliable religious basis for a “color code” attached to istikhara [5].
If you do happen to see a dream, you’re free to reflect on it, but it should not be treated as a required or guaranteed part of the process.
Marriage is one of the most common reasons people turn to istikhara, and it works the same way here as with any other decision — it complements your own due diligence rather than replacing it.
As covered above, don’t expect a dream or a specific feeling to confirm the answer. If the path toward the marriage keeps opening up with reasonable ease, that’s generally a good sign in itself; if it keeps closing down despite genuine effort, that’s worth taking seriously too — but neither should be read as a mystical, one-time signal.
A few situations come up often enough to be worth addressing directly:
The Prophet ﷺ explicitly described praying two rak’ahs before the dua, so this remains the complete and recommended method [1,2].
That said, in a genuinely urgent situation, or for someone who is currently unable to pray, reciting the dua on its own is considered valid and better than not turning to Allah for guidance at all.
The same principle applies here as above: since she is unable to pray the two rak’ahs during this time, she may recite the istikhara dua on its own without the accompanying prayer.
Yes. There’s no requirement to recite it from memory. Reading it from a screen or paper is completely valid, and doing so is far better than avoiding istikhara because you haven’t memorized it yet.
Yes. If you’re not yet able to read the Arabic, reciting the English translation (or a translation in any language you understand) is valid.
Allah understands every language, and sincerity in your supplication matters more than the specific language it’s spoken in — though many people choose to work toward learning the Arabic wording over time, since these are the words the Prophet ﷺ himself taught.
This is a genuine point of scholarly disagreement, so it’s worth presenting both sides rather than picking one as the only correct answer.
Given this difference of opinion, the safer and more commonly practiced approach is for the person actually facing the decision to pray istikhara themselves whenever they are able to, while still welcoming the general dua and support of people close to them.
Separately — and this applies regardless of which scholarly view you follow — be cautious of anyone offering “istikhara readings” online or for payment, promising a definite yes-or-no answer about your future. Authentic istikhara is a private act of worship between you and Allah, not a service that produces a verdict on someone else’s behalf. Anything presented as fortune-telling or divination, paid or otherwise, falls outside what istikhara actually is.
There is no separate, authenticated “short version” of the istikhara dua that replaces the one taught by the Prophet ﷺ — the wording given earlier in this article is the complete, established formula[1,2], and it isn’t especially long once you’ve read it through a few times.
If you haven’t memorized it yet, you have reasonable options in the meantime: read it from your phone or a printed card during the prayer, or — if you’re in an urgent situation and don’t have access to the wording at all — sincerely ask Allah for guidance in your own words while you work on learning the full dua. What matters most is sincerity, not reciting from memory.
You’ll often see the claim that istikhara should be repeated exactly seven times. This comes from a separate narration attributed to Anas ibn Malik that hadith scholars including al-Nawawi, al-‘Iraqi, and Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani classified as having a very weak (da’if; in some assessments, “extremely weak”) chain of transmission — it is not part of the authentic Jabir ibn Abdullah hadith that forms the basis of the practice[9].
The authentic hadith doesn’t specify any fixed number[1,2]. In practice, this means you can pray istikhara once, or repeat it as many times as you need — over a single day or over a longer period — until you feel enough clarity or ease to move forward with a decision.
Beyond the specific decision at hand, istikhara builds a habit of turning to Allah before acting, placing trust (tawakkul) in His knowledge rather than relying purely on your own certainty. Many people describe a genuine sense of peace that comes simply from having asked — regardless of how the matter eventually unfolds.
You don’t need a complicated explanation for younger children — something as simple as, “When you’re not sure what to do, we ask Allah to help us choose,” introduces the concept in a way they can understand and gradually build on as they grow older.
Want to keep this close by — on your phone, printed out, or saved for later? This free printable guide includes everything on this page in one place: the full Arabic text, English transliteration, meaning, the step-by-step method, and the benefits of istikhara — designed to be easy to read during your prayer, whether you’re on your phone or holding a printed copy.
That simply means Allah has not yet placed a clear inclination in your heart. Keep praying istikhara, keep making dua, and continue weighing the matter with sound judgment — there is no reason to lose hope or assume something has gone wrong.
Yes. Praying istikhara for a decision you already lean toward still carries the blessing of seeking Allah's involvement in the outcome. The companions were known to make istikhara even for small, everyday matters.
No. Istikhara is a means of seeking Allah's blessing in a decision; it is not an obligation, and skipping it does not make a decision invalid or sinful.
No — istikhara is meant for permissible matters where you are genuinely undecided between two or more good options. It is not used to seek permission for something forbidden, nor for something you are already required to do.
At its core, istikhara isn’t about extracting a guaranteed answer from Allah before you’re willing to move forward — it’s about surrendering the outcome to Him after you’ve done your part. Make your intention sincere, do the research and consultation that’s within your ability, pray the two rak’ahs, recite the dua, and then take the next reasonable step with a settled heart. Whatever unfolds afterward, trust that you sought Allah’s involvement in it — and that, in itself, is the point.
Every numbered citation in this article corresponds to one of the sources below. Links were verified at the time of writing; scholarly fatwa sites occasionally restructure their URLs, so search the page title on the same site if a link ever breaks.
[3] IslamQA, “When to Say Du’a al-Istikharah?” — Ibn Baz, Ibn Uthaymeen, and the Standing Committee on reciting the dua after salam —
[4] troid.org, “Making Du’a and Dhikr at the End of the Prayer” — on the general position (including Ibn Taymiyyah’s) that end-of-prayer supplications may be said before taslim —
[6] IslamQA, “No One Can Pray Istikhaarah on Behalf of Another” — citing Ibn Uthaymeen, Liqa’ al-Bab al-Maftuh, no. 89
[8] IslamQA (Hanafi), Shaykh Faraz Rabbani, on asking someone else to perform istikhara on one’s behalf —
Discover the dua after eating in Islam with Arabic text, transliteration, and English meaning. Explore authentic Sunnah supplications, hadith references from Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, and Tirmidhi, scholarly differences in hadith grading, and the virtues of praising Allah after meals.
Istikhara is the prayer Muslims turn to when they need Allah’s guidance in a decision — big or small. This guide gives you the full dua in Arabic, its transliteration and meaning, and a clear, step-by-step method for praying it correctly. Every hadith-based claim below is marked with a numbered citation — see the Sources & References list at the end for the full reference and link.
The dua before eating is simple: Bismillah. This guide explains the hadith behind it, whether it is obligatory or Sunnah, the “Allahumma barik lana fihi” dua, and the popular wordings that have no sound source.
