The concept of istighfar and comparing of istighfar section of"Amal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah" of Imam an-Nasai and "al-Azkar" of an-Nawawi

Islam guides person to make suitable choices in line with the purpose of creation throughout his life and penetrade to all aspects of his behaviors; inside, outside, visible and unvisible sides. In this respect our religion provided us practical solutions in many matters, He did not just send the book and leave us alone, gave us opportunity to live together with his prophet who is example human model for all mankind and wanted us to be like him. When we look at his life, we can see how each and every moment of life is transformed into worship in the most efficient way. If we look at it from istighfar perspective, starting every work with prayer, giving place to prayer and remembrance in every situation, keep telling istighfar despite being sinless and advising us these prayers so many times show us the importance of forgiveness (istighfar) in our life. Prayer is the essence of servitude, istighfar is the essence of prayer. In our study we evaluate relating sections of two hadith prayer books that were written by our scholars who are aware of that. In the first part we tried to draw attention to the place of istighfar (asking for forgiveness) in the Quran, Sunnah, Sufism and İslamic Literature. In the second part we gave information about the authors Imam Nesâî and Imam Nawawi, all of their works and also their books 'Amelu'l-Yawm ve'l-Laylah and al-Azkâr. In the third part, we collected hadiths in these books that contain the word istighfar (asking for forgiveness), compared and evaluated these books from different angles. Both books are works that collect the dhikr and prayers in a single source used by the Prophet in his daily life, but there are many differences in the order and planning of the books. These differences are examined in detail in the comparison section. Within the scope of this work, it was aimed to draw attention to the meaning of the historical depth of istighfar (forgiveness) which started with the first human and to raise awareness on this issue. So it was explained the concept of istighfar (forgiveness) through the relevant hadiths and from the window of the works of scholars who were regarded as an authority in the Islamic religion. We compared and evaluated these two books of Imam Nesâî and Imam Nawawi who lived in different periods within the framework of the concept of forgiveness (istighfar). We also drew attention to periodic scientific and personal differences. Keywords: Hadith, lstighfar, Repentance, Prayer, Dhikr, Forgiveness