Is the prayer for guidance (istikharah) repeated more than once until the chest opens up?

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

The Shaykh : In my view, 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 for the heart to feel at ease or for it not to feel at ease. Rather, the matter is as explicitly stated in the hadith: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to teach us the prayer for guidance just as he taught us a chapter of the Qur'an. He would say: until the end of the supplication. Therefore, if one intends to do something, let him pray; this is what is obligatory for him. As for watching oneself to see if his chest opens or closes, all of these things have no basis in the Sunnah. Accordingly, there is no need to repeat it except in one case: if a person feels that after praying two rak'ahs and making that supplication reported from the Messenger (peace be upon him), he did not gather his heart, mind, and intellect in that prayer and that supplication. In this case, it is recommended (mustahabb) for him to repeat the prayer for guidance = -- ... By the safety of Allah, and upon you be peace --
= In a hadith or a narration from Ibn al-Zubayr, when we examine it from a jurisprudential perspective, it does not explicitly appear that he means by the prayer for guidance the legislated prayer; because in some hadiths, although their chains are weak: what is the beginning of the hadith? "No one who seeks guidance will be disappointed, no one who consults will regret, and no one who is moderate will be impoverished." So the intention here is not that the prayer for guidance is the prayer, but rather mere supplication. As also came in another hadith that the Messenger (peace be upon him) used to say: , so this is seeking guidance, but it is not the prayer for guidance mentioned in the previous hadith. Therefore, we cannot say that Ibn al-Zubayr performed the legislated prayer for guidance which requires praying two rak'ahs, and supplicating afterwards, then praying two rak'ahs and supplicating afterwards, then also praying two rak'ahs and supplicating afterwards, so that he would have six rak'ahs with six taslims, and three supplications. What comes to mind is that he does not intend this. Therefore, the ruling remains as it came in the hadith, without addition or repetition.
This is the answer.