In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.
Continuation on the Section Concerning the Prayer for Seeking God’s Choice
It is related that the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, used to teach his Companions to seek God’s choice as he taught them a sura of the Quran. It is related that he, may God bless him and grant him peace, would command them to perform two units for it and make the supplication after completing those two units with the salutation.
I consider it preferable for him to recite in the first unit the Opening of the Book, His words, exalted is He, “Your Lord creates what He wills and chooses. The choice is not theirs” [al-Qasas 28:68], and the sura “Say, O unbelievers.” In the second unit he recites the Opening of the Book and “Say, He is God, One.” After the salutation he makes the supplication transmitted for this purpose.
He does this for every important matter that he wishes to undertake and accomplish, then begins his task. If God’s choice in it is good for him, God makes its means easy for him until it comes about and its outcome is praiseworthy.
If some of its means prove difficult and it cannot be obtained easily, he should refrain from opposing the decree. He should know that if God’s choice in it had been good for him, its means would not have proved difficult. He thus knows that God
