The Ruling on the Hadith: "Whoever commits a sin and then purifies himself..."

Question:
From Jeddah, the National Guard. This is a message sent by a brother of ours from there, (E. M. F.), who has five questions. In his first question, he asks: Is the hadith narrated by Ahmad regarding the prayer of need authentic or not?

Answer:
Yes, Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) and others narrated it with a valid chain from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and from al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: or as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said. This is authentic and established. It is one of the causes of forgiveness if one commits a sin and does something that Allah dislikes, then purifies himself and prays two rak'ahs, the prayer of repentance, and asks his Lord and seeks His forgiveness, he is likely to be granted repentance, as Allah promised him that. Yes.

The presenter: So this is the hadith of the prayer of need.

The Shaykh: That is it.

The presenter: May Allah reward you.

The Shaykh: It is also called the hadith of the prayer of istikharah, and it is also called the prayer of need; because istikharah is for matters that concern a person, so it is prescribed for him to pray two rak'ahs and seek Allah's choice in that matter.

The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.