Hadith collections / Al-Kafi

Al-Kafi · Hadith 5

The Book of Prayer · Salah (prayer) for Istikharah (asking Allah to Choose for One What Is Good) · Volume 3, book 4, chapter 93, Hadith 5

Original Arabic text

5ـ عَلِيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنِ ابْنِ أَسْبَاطٍ وَمُحَمَّدِ بْنِ أَحْمَدَ عَنْ مُوسَى بْنِ الْقَاسِمِ الْبَجَلِيِّ عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ أَسْبَاطٍ قَالَ قُلْتُ لأَبِي الْحَسَنِ الرِّضَا (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ مَا تَرَى آخُذُ بَرّاً أَوْ بَحْراً فَإِنَّ طَرِيقَنَا مَخُوفٌ شَدِيدُ الْخَطَرِ فَقَالَ اخْرُجْ بَرّاً وَلاَ عَلَيْكَ أَنْ تَأْتِيَ مَسْجِدَ رَسُولِ الله (صلّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِه) وَتُصَلِّيَ رَكْعَتَيْنِ فِي غَيْرِ وَقْتِ فَرِيضَةٍ ثُمَّ لَتَسْتَخِيرُ الله مِائَةَ مَرَّةٍ وَمَرَّةً ثُمَّ تَنْظُرُ فَإِنْ عَزَمَ الله لَكَ عَلَى الْبَحْرِ فَقُلِ الَّذِي قَالَ الله عَزَّ وَجَلَّ وَقالَ ارْكَبُوا فِيها بِسْمِ الله مَجْراها وَمُرْساها إِنَّ رَبِّي لَغَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ فَإِنِ اضْطَرَبَ بِكَ الْبَحْرُ فَاتَّكِ عَلَى جَانِبِكَ الأيْمَنِ وَقُلْ بِسْمِ الله اسْكُنْ بِسَكِينَةِ الله و قِرْ بِوَقَارِ الله وَاهْدَأْ بِإِذْنِ الله وَلاَ حَوْلَ وَلاَ قُوَّةَ إِلاَّ بِالله قُلْنَا أَصْلَحَكَ الله مَا السَّكِينَةُ رِيحٌ تَخْرُجُ مِنَ الْجَنَّةِ لَهَا صُورَةٌ كَصُورَةِ الإِنْسَانِ وَ رَائِحَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ وَهِيَ الَّتِي نَزَلَتْ عَلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ فَأَقْبَلَتْ تَدُورُ حَوْلَ أَرْكَانِ الْبَيْتِ وَهُوَ يَضَعُ الأسَاطِينَ قِيلَ لَهُ هِيَ مِنَ الَّتِي قَالَ الله عَزَّ وَجَلَّ فِيهِ سَكِينَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَبَقِيَّةٌ مِمَّا تَرَكَ آلُ مُوسى‏ وَآلُ هارُونَ قَالَ تِلْكَ السَّكِينَةُ فِي التَّابُوتِ وَكَانَتْ فِيهِ طَشْتٌ تُغْسَلُ فِيهَا قُلُوبُ الأنْبِيَاءِ وَكَانَ التَّابُوتُ يَدُورُ فِي بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ مَعَ الأنْبِيَاءِ ثُمَّ أَقْبَلَ عَلَيْنَا فَقَالَ مَا تَابُوتُكُمْ قُلْنَا السِّلاَحُ قَالَ صَدَقْتُمْ هُوَ تَابُوتُكُمْ وَإِنْ خَرَجْتَ بَرّاً فَقُلِ الَّذِي قَالَ الله عَزَّ وَجَلَّ سُبْحانَ الَّذِي سَخَّرَ لَنا هذا وَما كُنَّا لَهُ مُقْرِنِينَ. وَإِنَّا إِلى‏ رَبِّنا لَمُنْقَلِبُونَ فَإِنَّهُ لَيْسَ مِنْ عَبْدٍ يَقُولُهَا عِنْدَ رُكُوبِهِ فَيَقَعَ مِنْ بَعِيرٍ أَوْ دَابَّةٍ فَيُصِيبَهُ شَيْ‏ءٌ بِإِذْنِ الله ثُمَّ قَالَ فَإِذَا خَرَجْتَ مِنْ مَنْزِلِكَ فَقُلْ بِسْمِ الله آمَنْتُ بِالله تَوَكَّلْتُ عَلَى الله لاَ حَوْلَ وَلاَ قُوَّةَ إِلاَّ بِالله فَإِنَّ الْمَلاَئِكَةَ تَضْرِبُ وُجُوهَ الشَّيَاطِينِ وَيَقُولُونَ قَدْ سَمَّى الله وَآمَنَ بِالله وَتَوَكَّلَ عَلَى الله وَقَالَ لاَ حَوْلَ وَلاَ قُوَّةَ إِلاَّ بِالله.

Published English translation

5. Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from his father from ibn Asbat and Muhammad ibn Ahmad from Musa ibn al-Qasim af-Bajafiy from Afi ibn Asbat who has said the following: “I said to abu al-Hassan al-Rida (a.s.), ‘I pray to Allah to keep my soul in service for your cause. Do you advise if I travel by land or by sea? Our road is very dangerous and frightening.’ The Imam said, ‘Travel by land but there is no offense, if you go to the Masjid of the Messenger of Allah; perform two Rak‘at Salah (prayer) in a time other than that for obligatory Salah (prayer). Thereafter ask Allah, one hundred times, to choose for you the best, then see what comes in your mind. If Allah has decided for you by sea, then say the words of Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Glorious, “He said, ‘Go onboard in the name of Allah who sets it afloat and anchors it down. My Lord is forgiving and merciful’” (11:41). If you find the sea turbulent then lean on your right side and say, “In the name of Allah, calm down with the serenity of Allah, rest by the dignity of Allah and quiet down by the permission of Allah. There is no means and power without help from Allah.’” “We then asked him, ‘What is al-Sakinah (serenity)?’ The Imam said, ‘It is a wind that comes out of paradise and has a face like the face of man and it has a fine fragrance. It is this wind that descended down to Ibrahim (Abraham) and circled around al-Bayt (Ka’bah) when he was placing the pillars.’ It was asked: ‘Is it of that which Allah, the Most Majestic, the most Glorious, speaks, “In it there is Sakinah from your Lord, and remainder of that which people of Moses left and so did people of Harun (Aaron) ’”(2: 246). The Imam said, ‘That al-Sakinah was in the Ark (chest) in which there was a tray wherein the hearts of prophets had been washed. And the Ark circled among the children of Israel with the prophets and then it came to us.’ He asked, ‘What is your Ark?’ We said, ‘It is the armaments.’ He then said, ‘You are right. That is your Ark.’ The Imam said, ‘If you travel by land, then say what Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Glorious, has said, “Free of all defects is the One who has made it subservient to us, otherwise, we could not reach it (our destination). To our Lord we all return.” (42:13-14) If any servant (of Allah) says it during his riding he will not, by the permission of Allah, fall off his camel or horse or get hurt.’ He then said, ‘When you come out of your home say, “In the name of Allah, I believe in Allah, I assign Allah as my attorney, there is no means and power without the help of Allah.” The angels strike the face of Satans and say to them, ‘He has spoken the name of Allah, believed in Allah and has assigned Allah as his attorney and has said, “There is no means and power without the help of Allah.’””

Narrator and transmission

See the transmission information preserved in the original source text.

Attributed scholarly assessments

Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: موثق

Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (5/452)

Assessment transcribed from the source's named scholar and reference. No new grading or consensus is asserted; differing entries remain separate.

Shaykh Baqir al-Behbudi: Catalogue non-inclusion note (not an authenticity grade)

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Kāfī

Source records non-inclusion in this scholar's selection; this is not itself a weak or authentic grade.

Source, rights, and attribution

dataset Name
Thaqalayn public library, via ThaqalaynAPI snapshot
source Url
https://thaqalayn.com/hadith/3/4/93/5
license
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
edition
Al-Kafi, volume 3, Thaqalayn digital edition / Muhammad Sarwar translation
imported At
2026-10-18T21:36:12.871Z
license Url
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
rights Statement Url
https://thaqalayn.com/terms
attribution
Source: Thaqalayn (Stichting Thaqalayn). Compiler: Shaykh Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-Kulaynī. Translation: Muhammad Sarwar. Data transport: MohammedArab1/ThaqalaynAPI. No endorsement implied.
translator
Muhammad Sarwar
source Revision
becbad600b693ce23735d7403c4126ce7c896d34
content Hash
24adea174b478fe031bdc1954092cc29cc80f9397cc4becf3226e873de9744f5
source File Hash
c1963d9c5ae304c52e135f93552237f5ab876e0b12123bbc2d513a90dbd36cc2
original Source Url
https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/1/4/93/5
changes
Arabic and English texts preserved verbatim from pinned snapshot. Compiler introduction excluded where present; references mapped to fields; assessment whitespace trimmed; source-supplied English sanad retained separately. Search normalization is not applied to displayed text. Snapshot URL's erroneous volume 1 segment corrected to volume 3 using the reviewed file/book/volume metadata and publisher chapter structure; original URL retained for audit.
verification Note
Publisher content rights, translator attribution and structural checks, with independent publisher-page spot checks—not scholarly authentication or printed-edition collation. Historical text and scholarly reference strings may contain source errors; they are not silently corrected. No full commentary prose or inferred narrator identity is added. Muʿjam coverage, where present, is only the supplied excerpt, not the complete work.