Is the prayer for guidance (istikharah) repeated more than once until the chest opens, or is it performed only once?

The questioner : Is the prayer for guidance (istikharah) repeated more than once until the chest opens, or is it performed only once? And you mentioned, O Shaykh, in *Al-Silsilah al-Sahihah*, in the first volume, the statement of Ibn al-Zubayr: "I sought guidance from my Lord three times, then I resolved on my matter. When three days had passed, He gathered His opinion to abrogate it" Question: Is this evidence for repeating the prayer for guidance more than once? Is it prescribed?

The Shaykh : What I see is that the original ruling regarding the prayer for guidance (istikharah) is that it is not to be repeated. The purpose of the prescribed prayer for guidance is not the tranquility of the heart or its lack thereof, but rather the matter is as explicitly stated in the hadith: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) taught us the entire prayer for guidance just as he taught us a chapter of the Qur'an. He said: up to the end of the supplication. Therefore, if one intends a matter, let him pray; this is what is obligatory upon him. As for watching oneself to see if his chest opens or constricts, these are all things that have no basis in the Sunnah. Accordingly, there is no need for repetition except in one case: if a person feels, after praying two rak'ahs and making that supplication reported from the Messenger (peace be upon him), that he was not gathering his heart, mind, and intellect in that prayer and that supplication, then in this case it is recommended (mustahabb) for him to repeat the prayer for guidance.
In a hadith or a narration from Ibn al-Zubayr, when we examine it from the jurisprudential aspect, it does not explicitly appear that he means by the prayer for guidance the prescribed prayer, because in some hadiths, even though they are weak in chain, what is the beginning of the hadith? So the intention here is not that the prayer for guidance is the prayer, but rather just the supplication. As also came in another hadith that the Messenger (peace be upon him) used to say: , so this is a prayer for guidance, but it is not the prayer for guidance mentioned in the previous hadith. Therefore, we cannot say that Ibn al-Zubayr meant the prescribed prayer for guidance that requires two rak'ahs of prayer and supplication afterwards, for he would pray two rak'ahs and supplicate afterwards, and then also pray two rak'ahs and supplicate afterwards, so he would have prayed six rak'ahs with six taslims and three supplications. It does not occur to one that he intends this. Therefore, the ruling remains as it came in the hadith, without addition or repetition. This is the answer.