The Different Ways of Consulting Allah (Istekhāreh) in Islamic Culture

One of the widely spread and frequently practiced rituals in the Islamic society is consulting Allah or asking favour، a varied behavior in different forms with a long history in Islamic culture. The main forms of this ritual are transmitted but some of them are not. Accordingly، each of them has an origin and in the passage of time has changed. The variety of the forms of consulting Allah and their associated manner is so high that it is difficult to identify their common elements or find out the true nature of consulting Allah by referring to their shared constituents. Therefore، the main kinds of consulting Allah are presented in the form of narrations attributed to the Immaculate، peace be upon them، narrations which cannot be dated historically by the old method of the science of hadith. The present research by knowing the different forms of the ritual and evaluating the extant evidences of each form and defining criteria for classifying these forms has concluded a theory for the history of consulting Allah and its development throughout the history of Islamic culture and civilization. On the basis of this theory we will be able to determine the history of many narrations on consulting Allah. It seems that the different forms of consulting Allah in along period of time has developed from its simplest form، i. e. a simple prayer to request something to a complex behavior using different skills and various instruments.