Istikhara, number one, does not mean asking for information or begging for information at all. This is a completely misunderstood word. That thing which is asking questions or seeking information, that is described in Arabic as istikhbara. Khabaz means information and if you want to seek information, you will go into istikhbara. Istikhara is from khair, which means good, bhalai, excellence. Istikhara means to seek goodness from Allah. So positively, to accept positively an answer and to consider that this is just for a definite answer or guideline that you have gone to Allah, this is totally wrong. Istikhara never meant it and it does not mean it. What it means to achieve is this, that you will like to ask God for khair only after you have decided or you are almost decided.
Otherwise you will not go to Allah for asking that Allah should put khair in this act of mine. When you say, O God, please make this act good for me, that means you have almost decided to do that. This is why it is said, dar kare khair hajate heech istikhara nees. Those things which are good in themselves, for them there is absolutely no necessity for you to make istikhara. Istikhara means asking for goodness and if something is good, so saying prayer or something, do act of goodness to others, to show favours to others, all these things fall into the category of khair.
So some wise person has said, dar kare khair hajate heech istikhara nees. Istikhara is a misunderstood word. Istikhara should be made after you are almost inclined and from all that you can judge. You think that that certain thing is good for you. Then out of humility, out of this confession that although it appears to be good, it may not be good in the sight of Allah. You beg of Allah to put khair in it even if the khair did not belong to that thing. To make it good if it were not good. This is istikhara. Now it so happens that if you are innocently bent on doing something and you seek Allah’s favour to bestow goodness, and Allah knows that it is not good for you, and for some wisdom Allah also knows that it is not wise to make it good for him either.
In that case Allah sometimes shows him a dream to put him off that. And sometimes turns his heart away from such a thing. So that happens incidentally. Sometimes out of istikhara Allah further strengthens your faith in that thing and gives you strength of heart. And you are more determined than ever before that this is good for me and I am going to do it. And sometimes he shows you a dream in which you see the blessedness of that thing. So these things are just incidental. In itself istikhara does not mean asking of guidance from Allah. It means asking of khair, that is goodness from Allah.
