Malfuzat - Volume IX — Page 290
Malf uza t - English translation of Urdu Volume 9 290 ‘cautionary’ Prayer. Such people are caught up in doubt. Their Friday Prayer is lost in doubt and their Z uhr Prayer is the same. Neither this nor that was attained. The essential point is to observe the Friday Prayer, but there is no need for the caution- ary Prayer. 1 8 June 1907 (At the time of ‘A s r) The Importance of Istikh a rah The Promised Messiah as said: These days most Muslims have abandoned the Sunnah [Practice] of Istikh a rah whereas the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, used to perform the Istikh a rah with respect to any upcoming matter. This was also the practice of the Salaf S a li hi n [Righteous Predecessors; i. e. the first three generations of Muslims]. Given the abounding atmosphere of atheism, people commence a project feeling so proud of their learning and wisdom, but then they sustain a loss due to their lack of knowledge of factors completely hid- den from view. In fact, this practice of Istikh a rah was initiated in place of those awful customs that the idolaters carried out 1. Badr, vol. 6, no. 23, p. 8, dated 6 June 1907