/ˈɡʌɪd(ə)ns/

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْتَخِيرُكَ بِعِلْمِكَ وَأَسْتَقْدِرُكَ بِقُدْرَتِكَ، وَأَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ فَضْلِكَ الْعَظِيمِ، فَإِنَّكَ تَقْدِرُ وَلاَ أَقْدِرُ وَتَعْلَمُ وَلاَ أَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتَ عَلاَّمُ الْغُيُوبِ، اللَّهُمَّ إِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا الأَمْرَ خَيْرٌ لِي فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي فَاقْدُرْهُ لِي وَيَسِّرْهُ لِي ثُمَّ بَارِكْ لِي فِيهِ، وَإِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا الأَمْرَ شَرٌّ لِي فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي فَاصْرِفْهُ عَنِّي وَاصْرِفْنِي عَنْهُ، وَاقْدُرْ لِي الْخَيْرَ حَيْثُ كَانَ ثُمَّ أَرْضِنِي بِهِ

O Allah, verily I seek the goodness from You, through Your [Infinite] Knowledge, and I seek strength from You, through Your Divine Ability, and I seek from You, Your Infinite Grace. For indeed You’re completely able to do, while I simply cannot. You know everything, and I do not, and You know everything that’s unseen.. O Allah, if You know that this matter is good for me with regard to my religion, my livelihood and the end of my affair then decree it for me, facilitate it for me, and grant me blessing in it. And if You know that this matter is not good for me with regard to my religion, my livelihood and the end of my affair then turn it away from me and me from it; and decree for me better than it, wherever it may be, and make me content with it.

We often ask, what's the answer to our istikharah? While we are busy looking for the signs or interpreting the seemingly signs that may lead to the answer, we tend to overlook the gist of the prayer. 

We should be aware that anything we asked for, is for the benefit of our religion, our livelihood and the end of our affair. What happen next is of course insyaAllah. But we also have to remember. All those that has happened or deem to happen in the future, if it is contradictory to our answer of istikharah, it is for sure the best outcome for ourselves. Be it anything. Study, career, marriage etc if in the end everything did not work out as what we hoped for, there will be goodness in it. For Allah only wants the best for us. And the prayer that we made was to ask Allah to grant us the matter that is beneficial for us, not the one that we want.

May Allah always guide us and make us content with whatever the outcome is. Ameen ameen ameen.