Istikhara (guidance prayer)

Domain XIII · Contemplative & religious disciplines

What it is

Istikhara (Arabic, "seeking what is good" or "asking God to choose the better") is a voluntary prayer a Muslim makes before a permissible decision whose right course is unclear: marriage, a job, travel, a move, a purchase. In the version followed it is two voluntary units of prayer (rak'ahs)…

Format

• The tradition does not set out phases in a therapeutic sense, and no source gives a session count or course length for therapy that includes istikhara. The practice itself has a recognisable sequence across the sources:
• Format in therapy: the client does istikhara at home, in their own time and tradition. In sessions the therapist (a) assesses what the practice means to the client, (b) supports the consultation stage with ordinary decision work, (c) helps the client reflect on what follows the prayer, and (d)…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• sleep loss, fear about the result, unusual perceptions, functional decline.
• compliance with the therapist instead of real choice; re-enactment of control.
• spiritual distress (feeling unheard by God), which may need the client's imam as well as you; perfectionism.
• depressive self-blame dressed as religious guilt; a crisis of faith the client wants support with, which is theirs to steer.
• the therapist acting as a religious authority (a dual role to avoid); a religious adviser who discourages needed treatment, which calls for a careful, respectful conversation led by the client's…

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.