The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to teach his Companions the prayer for guidance in all matters, just as he taught them a chapter of the Qur'an. He said:

The reciter: He said: .

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. We have previously spoken about the name of Allah, al-Qadir (the All-Powerful), and clarified what it indicates regarding power. It has been established for us that al-Qadir is one of the general names, and that power is an essential attribute with which Allah has always been and will always be described. The occurrence of the thing over which power is exercised does not necessitate the occurrence of the power itself, because Allah has always been and will always be described with it. Just as the occurrence of the known does not necessitate the occurrence of knowledge, and the occurrence of the heard does not necessitate the occurrence of hearing. Allah has always been and will always be the All-Hearing; He has always been and will always be the All-Knowing. But what occurs is the thing heard, or the thing known, or the thing over which power is exercised. This is unlike the action attributes, for the attribute itself occurs. The descent to the lowest heaven when one-third of the night remains: when is this action? It occurred when one-third of the night had passed, when the remaining third was left, the descent occurred, and then after that, when the dawn appeared, the descent ended. The creation of the heavens and the earth in six days, then He rose above the Throne: when did the rising above the Throne occur? After the creation of the heavens and the earth. Good. When did the speech occur? After the coming of Musa. So the action attributes are renewed in their individual instances, but their essence is ancient; Allah the Exalted has always been and will always be the Doer of actions, but the individual instances of these actions are what occur. If we said that no action can occur from Allah, it would follow that He is devoid of actions, and this is a great deficiency.
As for the essential attributes, they do not occur; Allah has always been and will always be described with them, such as knowledge, power, hearing, and sight. But what occurs is the created thing, the known, the heard, the seen, the thing over which power is exercised, and the like. This does not mean that power is renewed, or hearing, or sight. If someone asks: What do we say about the saying of Allah the Exalted: until We know? We say the answer to this is that knowledge is of two kinds: prior knowledge, which He, Glorified and Exalted is He, knows that this thing will happen, and subsequent knowledge, which He, Glorified and Exalted is He, knows that it has happened. And this knowledge is what the reward and punishment are based upon. It is clear then that the renewal is not for the knowledge, but for the known, and the connection of knowledge to the known differs before its existence and after its existence. For this reason, some scholars said: "until We know" means the knowledge of manifestation. And this is the meaning of what we said. And some of them said: "until We know" means knowledge upon which reward and punishment are based. And this is also the meaning of what we said. May Allah have mercy on you. Then he mentioned the hadith of Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah (may Allah be pleased with him), and in its chain there is a point, which may be rare in existence, namely that a person narrates a hadith to someone else, meaning he does not direct the delivery of the hadith to him, but directs it to another, and he narrates it from him. And that is in his saying: "I heard Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir narrating to 'Abd Allah ibn al-Hasan, who said: Jabir informed me." Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir is narrating to whom? To 'Abd Allah ibn al-Hasan. And Ibn Abi al-Mu'awiyah transmitted it from Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir, even though the hadith was directed to 'Abd Allah ibn al-Hasan. And this is rare; the norm is that the narrator narrates the hadith from the one to whom it was directed. But there is no harm in a person, if he hears another person narrating to another, that he transmits it from him, even if the address was not directed to him, especially in matters of religious law.
The point of this hadith is his statement: Al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) possessed a deep understanding; he brought the hadith of istikhara to clarify that the names of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) encompass the meanings and attributes they indicate. For the chapter is titled: He is the One Able to send forth. "Al-Qadir" is an active participle, and the hadith of istikhara demonstrates His ability, showing that the names of Allah are not static names devoid of meaning, but rather derived names that carry the meaning from which they are derived, which is ability. And his statement: "Istikhara" means seeking the better of two matters. To seek istikhara is to ask Him for the better of the two matters. And his statement: This is a general statement intended to refer to the specific, meaning matters whose correct course is unclear to a person. As for what is not unclear, a person has no need for istikhara, because the person is determined and does not need to seek guidance. Therefore, if a person intends to travel to visit a relative, for trade, or something similar, and he is determined, there is no need for istikhara. Otherwise, we would say that a person is always praying the prayer of istikhara, because a person is always busy and concerned with matters. But the matters intended here are those whose correct course is not clear to a person, causing him to be perplexed. At that point, he has no recourse except to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And his statement: This supplication and praise of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) was made by Allah (Mighty and Majestic) a substitute for what was done in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. In the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, they sought rain by drawing lots, meaning they sought what was divided for them by means of lots, which are cups placed in a bag or something similar. One was written "Do it," the second "Do not do it," and the third had no writing. Then they would perform a ritual, and a person would draw one. If "Do it" came out, he would do it; if "Do not do it" came out, he would not do it; if the one with no writing came out, he would be in a state of suspension. Then he would either repeat the drawing of lots or leave the matter in doubt. But Allah the Exalted replaced this for people with this supplication. He said: Is it sufficient to replace these two rak'ahs with, for example, the rawatib or the sunnah of Dhuha? It is possible that it is sufficient due to his statement: It is also possible that an independent prayer is necessary, and the most cautious course is to pray an independent prayer. Then let him say, and the apparent meaning of the hadith is that this supplication is after the taslim, because it is not true that he has prayed two rak'ahs until he has completed them. He says: meaning I seek the better of the two matters according to what You know. I ask You for ability by Your ability, so it is seeking nearness to Allah through a means by ability, that He may enable him to do the matter. Because a person may be able to do something and the thing may happen for him, but he does not receive from Allah any favor or blessing in it, so he asks Allah for His favor. In this phrase, is there a "laf wa nashr" (repetition and expansion) in order or not? It is not in order, because in the first phrase, knowledge was mentioned before ability, and in the second phrase, ability was mentioned before knowledge. If it were a "laf wa nashr" in order, it would have started with knowledge before ability. He said: Which matter? The one in which he wants to seek Allah's guidance, then he names it specifically. This is the second object of "ta'allam" (You know). This is a doubt from the narrator: did he say "in the immediate and ultimate outcome of my affair" or did he say "in my religion, my livelihood, and the outcome of my affair"? Some scholars preferred the first due to its generality, and some preferred the second because the preceding immediate matter has already passed. But this last point is not a strong argument, because the intended meaning of "the immediate outcome of my affair" is not what has already passed, without doubt. His intended meaning of the immediate outcome of his affair is what comes immediately after the istikhara. If someone said that if a person combined these phrases in "the immediate and ultimate outcome of my affair, and my religion, my livelihood, and the outcome of my affair," if someone said he combines them, there is no harm, because in supplication, intention is required, or we say that the narrator's doubt implies that what is established from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is one of the two matters, and at that point, a person prefers what he sees as the stronger position and says it. We said that the first phrase, "in the immediate and ultimate outcome of my affair," is preferred due to its generality, because the word "my affair" means my concern, and it is general because it is a singular possessive. The second one, "my religion, my livelihood, and the outcome of my affair," has some detail. It has some detail and specification, so it does not have generality. But detail may be better in the context of supplication. He says: Three phrases: "Enable it for me" means by Your knowledge and will. "Make it easy for me" means so that there are no obstacles in it. Then "bless it for me" means make there be blessing for me in it. And blessing is broad, stable good, and its origin is from "barakah," which is the gathering of water, which is abundant and wide, and water remains and is stable. In some wordings, : meaning O my Lord, make me satisfied with it. This is a supplication that a person should, when he intends a matter and its correct course is unclear to him, pray two rak'ahs and seek Allah's guidance. If the matter becomes clear to him, well and good; if it does not become clear, he repeats the istikhara. Some scholars said: if it does not become clear, he should consult people of opinion, righteousness, and experience, and then either they approve of this or that. And others said: rather, consultation should be prioritized. And the correct view is that istikhara is prioritized, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So first, istikhara is prioritized. Then if the correct course becomes apparent to him, that is what is desired; otherwise, he repeats the istikhara a second time and consults people of experience, righteousness, and trustworthiness.