Gifts of Knowledge

Imām aṭ-Ṭabari said, “I prayed to Allah the Most High for guidance [istikhārah] to produce a book on tafsīr and asked Him for help on what I had intended to do—for three years—before I started on it, so He helped me.”
Muʿjam al-Udabā wa Irshād al-ʾArīb ilā Maʿrifatil-ʾAdīb, p. 2453.