Sunan Ibn Majah 1383

Ahmad ibn Yusuf al-Sulami narrated to us; Khalid ibn Makhlad narrated to us; Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi al-Mawal said: I heard Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir narrate from Jabir ibn Abdullah, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to teach us the prayer for seeking guidance (istikharah) just as he taught us a surah of the Qur’an. He would say: ‘When one of you is considering a matter, let him pray two rak‘ahs other than the obligatory prayer, then say: “O Allah, I seek what is good from You by Your knowledge, and I seek ability from You by Your power, and I ask You from Your immense bounty. You have power and I have none; You know and I do not know, and You are the Knower of the unseen. O Allah, if You know this matter”—and he names whatever the matter is—“to be good for me in my religion, my livelihood, and the outcome of my affair”—or he said, “good for me in my immediate and future affairs”—“then decree it for me, make it easy for me, and bless it for me. And if You know”—he said words like those he had said the first time—“that it is bad for me, then turn it away from me and turn me away from it, decree good for me wherever it may be, and then make me content with it.”’