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Is the phrasing "O Allah, if You know" as it appears in the Istikhara supplication correct, and is it permissible to say "if You know" to Allah Almighty?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The phrasing of the Istikhara supplication, "O Allah, if You know that this matter, etc." is not a doubt in Allah's knowledge. Rather, it is a doubt regarding the connection of that knowledge to good or evil in the matter being sought, and whether the good lies in performing it or abandoning it. The person performing Istikhara does not know the consequences of affairs and needs Allah to decree what is good for them. Therefore, they say, "And You know and I do not know, and You are the Knower of the unseen." Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar, Al-Tibi, and Al-Qari have mentioned this meaning, which is that the doubt lies in the object of knowledge, not in the essence of Allah's knowledge itself.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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