IX.
QUESTIONS ON DHIKR
(REMEMBRANCE
OF ALLAH)
"Salafis" accuse
us of deviation and heresy because we sit and recite dhikr -- loud or silently -- together: the kalima tayyiba,
and astaghfirullah, and the Fatiha
and other Suras, and salawat on the Prophet, and la ilaha illallah,
and Allah's beautiful Names. Some of them object because it is loud and they
claim it should be silent; others object because it is silent and they claim it
should be loud; others object because it is in a group and it should be done
individually; others object because they claim our emphasis on dhikr is excessive and we should raise
funds or study or hold conferences or make jihad
instead; others object because some people are affected by the dhikr so as to sway or move this way or
that instead of sitting still, so they want everyone to sit absolutely still;
others object because we sometimes perform dhikr
in dim surroundings rather than in a glaring light; others object to reciting
the name ALLAH by itself and claim it is an innovation, so that we should only
say: YA Allah. Finally, they also accuse us of innovation and misguidance
because we sometimes use dhikr-beads
which we carry in our hands. What is the position of Ahl al-Sunna on all these points?
DHIKR IS THE GREATEST OBLIGATION
AND
A PERPETUAL DIVINE ORDER
Dhikr of Allah is the most
excellent act of Allah's servants and is stressed over a hundred times in the
Holy Qur'an. It is the most praiseworthy work to earn Allah's pleasure, the
most effective weapon to overcome the enemy, and the most deserving of deeds in
reward. It is the flag of Islam, the polish of hearts, the essence of the
science of faith, the immunization against hypocrisy, the head of worship, and
the key of all success.
There
are no restrictions on the modality, frequency, or timing of dhikr
whatsoever. The restrictions on modality pertain to certain specific obligatory
acts which are not the issue here, such as Salat.
The Shari`a is clear and everyone
knows what they have to do. Indeed, the Prophet said that the People of Paradise will only regret one thing: not
having made enough dhikr in the world! Are not those who are making up
reasons to discourage others from making dhikr
afraid of Allah in this tremendous matter?
Allah says in His holy Book: "O Believers, make
abundant mention of ALLAH!" (33:41) And He mentions of His servants
"Those who remember their Lord standing, and sitting, and lying on their
sides" (3:191), in other words at all times of the day and night. He said: "The creation of heaven and earth
and the changes of night and day are signs for people who have wisdom: --
consider who is described as having wisdom -- Those who remember (and recite
and call) Allah standing up, sitting, and lying on their sides"
(3:190-191). `A'isha said, as narrated
by Muslim, that the Prophet mentioned/remembered Allah at all times of the day
and night.
The Prophet said: "If your hearts were always in the
state that they are in during dhikr, the angels would come to see you to
the point that they would greet you in the middle of the road." Muslim
narrated it. Imam Nawawi in his Sharh sahih muslim commented on this
hadith saying: "This kind of sight is shown to someone who persists in
meditation (muraqaba), reflection (fikr), and anticipation (iqbal)
of the next world."
Mu`adh
ibn Jabal said that the Prophet also said: "The People of Paradise will
not regret except one thing alone: the hour that passed them by and in which
they made no remembrance of Allah." Narrated by Bayhaqi in Shu`ab
al-iman (1:392 #512-513) and by Tabarani. Haythami in Majma` al-zawa'id
(10:74) said that its narrators are all trustworthy (thiqat), while
Suyuti declared it hasan in his Jami` al-saghir (#7701).
Allah
placed His remembrance above prayer in value by making prayer the means and
remembrance the goal. He said:
·
"Lo!
Worship guards one from lewdness and iniquity, but verily, remembrance of Allah
is greatest/more important." (29:45)
·
"He
is successful who purifies himself, and remembers the name of his Lord, and so
prays." (87:14-15)
·
"So
establish prayer for My remembrance." (20:14)
Ibn
Hajar in his Fath al-bari (1989 ed. 11:251) relates Qadi Abu Bakr Ibn
al-`Arabi's explanation that there is no good deed except with dhikr as a precondition for its
validity, and whoever does not remember Allah in his heart at the time of his sadaqa
or fasting, for example, then his deed is incomplete: therefore dhikr is the best of deeds because of
this.
Dhikr is, therefore, something of
tremendous importance. Abu Hurayra said
that the Prophet said, Peace be upon him: "The earth and everything in it
is cursed, except for dhikr and what
attends dhikr, and the teacher and
the student." Narrated by Tirmidhi who said it is hasan, Ibn Majah
who said the same, Bayhaqi, and others. Suyuti cites it in al-Jami`
al-saghir from al-Bazzar's similar narration from Ibn Mas`ud and he
declared it sahih. Tabarani also narrated it in al-Awsat from Abu
al-Darda'.
By
the words "the world and everything in it" is meant here all that
claims status or existence apart from Allah, instead of in Him. In fact, all
creation does dhikr because Allah
said that all creation does praise to Him constantly, and tasbih is a
kind of dhikr. Allah said of the Prophet Yunus, when the whale
swallowed him: "Had he not been one of My glorifiers (musabbihin),
he would have remained inside the whale's stomach until Judgment
Day." (37:143-144)
The hadith of the Prophet just cited also stresses the
importance of following a teacher of knowledge, without which one incurs curse
instead of blessing. This is what Abu Yazid al-Bistami meant when he said:
"Whoever has no shaykh, his shaykh is shaytan." It is
confirmed by two other hadiths of the Prophet:
·
Abu
Bakrah said: I heard the Prophet say: "Become a learned person (`alim),
or a student of knowledge (muta`allim), or an auditor of knowledge (mustami`),
or an amateur of knowledge (muhibb), but do not be the fifth one for you
will perish." al-Haythami said in Majma` al-zawa'id (1:122):
"Tabarani narrated it in al-Mu`jam al-saghir (2:9), al-Mu`jam
al-awsat, and al-Mu`jam al-kabir, also al-Bazzar [in his Musnad],
and its narrators are considered trustworthy." It is also narrated by Abu
Nu`aym in Hilyat al-awliya' (7:237) and al-Khatib in Tarikh Baghdad
(12:295). Sakhawi said in al-Maqasid al-hasana (p. 88 #134): "Ibn
`Abd al-Barr said: The fifth one is enmity towards the scholars and contempt of
them, and whoever does not love them shows contempt for them or is on the brink
of having contempt for them, and there lies destruction." See Ibn `Abd
al-Barr's Jami` bayan al-`ilm wa fadlih (1:30).
·
The
Prophet said: al-baraka ma` akabirikum, "Blessing is with your
elders." Narrated by Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, al-Hakim who said it is
sahih, and Ibn Daqiq al-`Eid confirmed him. Another narration has: "When
the young teach the old, then blessing has been lifted." See Sakhawi's al-Maqasid
al-hasana (p. 158-159 #290).
The
one who engages in dhikr has the
highest rank of all before Allah. The people
who call on Allah without distraction have been mentioned in Qur'an, as well as
the effect that calling has on their hearts: "In houses which Allah has
allowed to be raised to honor and for His Name to be remembered in them; He is
glorified there day and night by men whom neither trade nor sale can divert
from the rememberance of Allah" (24:36-37), and: "Those who believe,
and their hearts find satisfaction in the rememberance of Allah: By remembering
Allah, truly satisfaction comes to the heart" (13:28).
During
the night of Isra' and Mi`raj, the Prophet was taken up to a point
where he heard the screeching of the Pens (writing the divine Decree). He saw a
man who had disappeared into the light of the Throne. He said: "Who is
this? Is this an angel?" It was said to him, no. He said: "Is it a
Prophet?" Again the answer was no. He said: "Who is it then?"
The answer was: "This is a man whose tongue was moist with Allah's
remembrance in the world, and his heart was attached to the mosques, and he
never incurred the curse of his father and mother." Shaykh Muhammad `Alawi
al-Maliki cited it in his collated text of the sound narrations on that topic
entitled al-Anwar al-bahiyya min Isra' wa mi`raj khayr al-bariyya.
In Ahmad, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah, and Ibn Hibban declared
it fair (hasan): A man came to the Prophet and said, "O Rasulallah,
the laws and conditions of Islam have become too many for me. Tell me something
that I can always keep (i.e. in particular, as opposed to the many rules and
conditions that must be kept in general)." By reading that the man said
there were too many conditions to keep, one must understand that he was unsure
that he could keep them all. He wanted something that he would be sure to
uphold. The Prophet said: "(I am advising you in one thing:) Keep
your tongue always moist with dhikrullah."
It
is well-known in Islam that the best work in the path of Allah is jihad. Yet the Prophet, Peace be upon
him, placed dhikr even above jihad in the following authentic
hadiths.
Abu
al-Darda' narrates: The Prophet once asked his companions: "Shall I tell
you about the best of all deeds, the best act of piety in the eyes of your
Lord, which will elevate your status in the Hereafter, and carries more virtue
than the spending of gold and silver in the service of Allah or taking part in jihad and slaying or being slain in the
path of Allah? The dhikr of
Allah." Related in Malik's Muwatta', the Musnad of Ahmad,
the Sunan of Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, and the Mustadrak of Hakim.
Al-Bayhaqi, Hakim and others declared it sahih.
Abu
Sa`id narrates: The Prophet was asked, "Which of the servants of Allah is
best in rank before Allah on the Day of Resurrection?" He said: "The
ones who remember him much." I said: "O Messenger of Allah, what
about the fighter in the way of Allah?" He answered: "Even if he
strikes the unbelievers and mushrikin with his sword until it broke, and
becomes red with their blood, truly those who do dhikr are better than him in rank." Related in Ahmad,
Tirmidhi, and Bayhaqi.
`Abd
Allah ibn `Umar said that the Prophet used to say: "Everything has a
polish, and the polish of hearts is dhikr of Allah. Nothing is more
calculated to rescue from Allah's punishment than dhikr of Allah."
He was asked whether this did not apply also to jihad in Allah's path,
and he replied: "Not even if one should ply his sword until it
breaks." Bayhaqi narrated it in Kitab al-da`awat al-kabir as well
as in his Shu`ab al-iman (1:396 #522), also al-Mundhiri in al-Targhib
(2:396) and Tibrizi mentions it in Mishkat al-masabih, at the end of the
book of Supplications.
Meanings of Dhikr
The word dhikr has
many meanings. It means:
- Allah's Book and its
recitation;
- Prayer;
- Learning and teaching: The
author of Fiqh al-sunna said in his chapter on dhikr:
Sa'id
ibn Jubayr said, "Anyone engaged in obeying Allah is in fact engaged in the
remembrance of Allah." Some of the earlier scholars tied it to some more
specified form. `Ata said, "The gatherings of dhikr are the gatherings where the lawful and the prohibited things
are discussed, for instance, selling, buying, prayers, fasting, marriage,
divorce, and pilgrimage."
Qurtubi
said, "Gatherings of dhikr are
the gatherings for knowledge and admonition, those in which the Word of Allah
and the Sunna of His Messenger, accounts of our righteous predecessors, and
sayings of the righteous scholars are learned and practised without any
addition or innovation, and without any ulterior motives or greed."
- Invocation of Allah with
the tongue according to one of the formulas taught by the Prophet or any other
formula;
- Remembrance of Allah in
the heart, or with both the heart and the tongue.
We
are concerned here with the last two meanings, that of mention of Allah, as in
the verse, "The believers are those who, when they hear Allah mentioned,
their hearts tremble" (8:2), and the Prophet's
saying in Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah from Ibn Jubayr: "The best dhikr
is La ilaha illallah." The Prophet did not say, "the
best dhikr is making a lecture"; or "giving advice"; or
"raising funds." We are also concerned here with the meaning
of remembrance through the heart, as in the verse: "The men and women who
remember Allah abundantly" (33:35). The Prophet both praised and explained
what is in the latter verse when he said, as it is related in Muslim, "The
single-hearted are foremost." When he was asked, "O Messenger of
Allah, who are the single-hearted?" he replied, "The men and women
who remember Allah abundantly." The Prophet further elucidated the role of
the heart in effecting such remembrance when he said to Abu Hurayra: "Go with these two
sandals of mine and whoever you meet behind this wall that witnesses that
there is no god except Allah with certitude in his heart, give him glad
tidings that he will enter Paradise." (Narrated by Muslim.)
Dhikr may sometimes mean both
inner remembrance and outward mention, as in the verse "Remember Me, and I
shall remember you" (2:152) when it is read in the light of the hadith qudsi, "Those that remember
Me in their heart, I remember them in My heart; and those that remember Me in a
gathering (i.e. that make mention of Me), I remember them (i.e. make mention of
them) in a gathering better than theirs." We return to the explanation of
that important hadith further below. Suffice it to say that, broadly speaking,
there are three types of dhikr: of the heart, of the tongue, and of the
two together.
Ibn
Hajar in Fath al-Bari (1989 ed. 11:251) explained that what is meant by dhikr
in Abu al-Darda's narration of the primacy of dhikr over jihad is the complete
dhikr and consciousness of Allah's
greatness whereby one becomes better, for example, than those who battle the
disbelievers without such recollection.
In
another hadith narrated by Bukhari, the Prophet compared doers of dhikr among non-doers, to those who are
alive among those who are dead: mathalu al-ladhi yadhkuru rabbahu wa
al-ladhi la yadhkuru rabbahu mathalu al-hayyi wa al-mayyit. (Book of da`awat
ch. 66 "The merit of dhikrullah") Ibn Hajar comments it thus
in his Fath al-Bari (1989 ed. 11:250):
What
is meant by dhikr here is the utterance of the expressions which we have
been encouraged to say, and say abundantly, such as the enduring good deeds -- al-baqiyat
al-salihat -- and they are: subhan allah, al-hamdu lillah, la ilaha
illallah, allahu akbar and all that is related to them such as the hawqala
(la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah), the basmala (bismillah
al-rahman al-rahim), the hasbala (hasbunallahu wa ni`ma al-wakil),
istighfar, and the like, as well as invocations for the good of this
world and the next.
Dhikrullah also applies to
diligence in obligatory or praiseworthy acts, such as the recitation of Qur'an,
the reading of hadith, the study of the Science of Islam (al-`ilm), and
supererogatory prayers.
Dhikr can take place with
the tongue, for which the one who utters it receives reward, and it is not necessary
for this that he understand or recall its meaning, on condition that he not
mean other than its meaning by its utterance; and if, in addition to its
utterance, there is dhikr in the heart, then it is more complete; and if
there is, added to that, the recollection of the meaning of the dhikr
and what it entails such as magnifying Allah and exalting Him above defect or
need, it is even more complete; and if all this takes place inside a good deed,
whether an obligatory prayer, or jihad,
or other than that, it is even more complete; and if one perfects one's turning
to Allah and purifies one's sincerity towards Him: then that is the farthest
perfection.
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi said:
"What is meant by the dhikr of the tongue is the
expressions that stand for tasbih, tahmid, and tamjid --
exaltation, praise, and glorification. As for the dhikr of the
heart, it consists in reflection on the proof-texts that point to Allah's
essence and His attributes, on those of the obligations including what is
enjoined and what is forbidden so that one may examine the rulings that pertain
to them, and on the secrets of Allah's creation. As for dhikr of the limbs, it consists in their being
immersed in obedience, and that is why Allah named prayer: "dhikr"
when He said: "When the call is proclaimed on Jum`a, hasten earnestly to the dhikr of Allah" (62:9).
It is reported from some of the Knowers of Allah that dhikr has seven
aspects:
·
dhikr
of the eyes, which consists in weeping (buka');
·
dhikr
of the ears, which consists in listening (isgha');
·
dhikr
of the tongue, which consists in praise (thana');
·
dhikr
of the hands, which consists in giving (`ata');
·
dhikr
of the body, which consists in loyalty (wafa');
·
dhikr
of the heart, which consists in fear and hope (kawf wa raja');
·
dhikr
of the spirit, which consists of utter submission and acceptance (taslim wa
rida')."
Loudness in dhikr
The Prophet praised a man
who was awwah -- literally: one who says ah, ah! -- that is: loud
in his dhikr, even when others censured him. Ahmad narrated with a good
chain in his Musnad (4:159) from `Uqba ibn `Amir: "The Prophet said
of a man named Dhu al-bijadayn: innahu awwah, He is a man who
says ah a lot. This is because he was a man abundant in his dhikr
of Allah in Qur'an-recitation, and he would raise his voice high when
supplicating."
Allah
said of the Prophet Ibrahim: "Verily, Ibrahim is awwah and halim"
(9:114, 11:75), that is, according to Tafsir al-jalalayn: "Crying
out and suffering much, out of fear and dread of his Lord." [halim =
merciful, gentle.] The Prophet prayed to be awwah in the following
invocation: rabbi ij`alni ilayka awwahan, "O Allah, make me one who
often cries out ah to you." Narrated by Tirmidhi (book of da`awat
#102, hasan sahih), Ibn Majah (Du`a' #2), and Ahmad (1:227) with
a strong chain [Yahya ibn Sa`id al-Qattan < Sufyan al-Thawri < Shu`ba
< `Amr ibn Murra < `Abd Allah ibn al-Harith < Taliq ibn Qays al-Hanafi
< Ibn `Abbas] with the following wording:
The
Prophet used to supplicate thus: "O my Lord! help me and do not cause me
to face difficulty; grant me victory and do not grant anyone victory over me;
devise for me and not against me; guide me and facilitate guidance for me; make
me overcome whoever rebels against me; O my Lord! make me abundantly thankful
to You (shakkaran laka), abundantly mindful of You (dhakkaran laka),
abundantly devoted to You (rahhaban laka), perfectly obedient to You (mitwa`an
ilayka), lowly and humble before You (mukhbitan laka), always
crying out and turning back to You (awwahan muniban)!...."
Gatherings of Collective,
Loud Dhikr
The hadith qudsi already quoted, "Those that remember Me in a
gathering," makes gatherings of collective, loud dhikr the gateway
to realizing Allah's promise "Remember Me, and I shall remember
you." It is no wonder that such
gatherings receive the highest praise and blessing from Allah and His Prophet,
Peace be upon him, according to many excellent and authentic hadiths.
In
Bukhari and Muslim: The Prophet said that Allah has angels roaming the roads to
find the people of dhikr, i.e. those
who say La ilaha illallah and similar
expressions, and when they find a group of people (qawm) reciting dhikr, they call each other and
encompass them in layers until the first heaven. (This is to say, an unlimited
number of angels are going to be over that group. He didn't say: "when
they find one person." Therefore it is a must to be in a group to get this
particular reward.) Allah asks His angels, and He knows already (but He asks in
order to assure it and make it understandable for us) "What are my
servants saying?" (He did not say "servant," but `ibadi,
"servants" in the plural.) The angels say: "They are praising
You (tasbih) and magnifying Your Name (takbir) and glorifying You
(tahmid), and giving You the best Attributes (tamjid)." (Can
you say that all this is a lecture or a study group? Can you say that this is
silent? Rather, this is saying "Alhamdulillah"
and all kinds of other dhikr.) Allah
says: "Have they seen Me?"
The angels answer: "O our Lord! They did not see You." He says:
"(They are praising Me without seeing Me,) what if they see Me!" The
angels answer: "O our Lord, if they saw You, they are going to do more and
more worship, more and more tasbih, more and more takbir, more
and more tamjid!" He says: "What are they asking?" Angels
say: "They are asking Your Paradise!" He says: "Did they see
Paradise?" They say: "O our Lord, no, they have not seen it." He
says: "And how will they be if they see it?" They say: "If they
see Paradise, they are going to be more attached and attracted to it!" He
says: "What are they fearing and running away from?" (When we are
saying, "Ya Ghaffar (O Forgiver), Ya Sattar (O
Concealer)," it means that we are fearing Him because of our sins. We are
asking Him to hide our sins and forgive us.) They say: "They are fearing
and running away from hellfire." He says: "And have they seen
hellfire?" They say: "O our Lord, no, they did not see
hellfire." He says: "And how will they be if they see fire and
hell?" They say: "If they see your fire, they are going to be running
from it more and more, and be even more afraid of it." (Now listen to this
carefully:) And Allah says: "I am making you witness (and does Allah need
witnesses? He needs no witness since He said: "Allah is sufficient as
witness" (4:79, 4:166, 10:29, 13:43, 29:52). Why make the angels
witnesses? Does Allah change His word? "Making you witness" here
means, "Assuring you") that I have forgiven them." (Why has
Allah forgiven them? Because, as the beginning of the hadith states, they are a
group of people reciting the Names of Allah and remembering Him with His dhikr.) One of the angels says: "O
my Lord, someone was there who did not belong to that group, but came for some
other need." (That person came for some other purpose than dhikr, to ask someone for something.)
Allah says: "Those are such a group that anyone who sits with them -- no
matter for what reason -- that person will also have his sins forgiven."
The late Imam Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad (d. 1416/1995) said
in his book Miftah al-janna (cf. transl. Mostafa Badawi, Key to the
Garden, Quilliam Press p. 107-108):
This
hadith indicates what merit lies in gathering for dhikr, and in everyone
present doing it aloud and in unison, because of the phrases: "They are
invoking You" in the plural, and "They are the people who sit,"
meaning those who assemble for remembrance and do it in unison, something which
can only be done aloud, since someone whose dhikr is silent has no need
to seek out a session in someone else's company.
This is further indicated by the hadith qudsi which runs:
"Allah says: I am to my servant as he expects of Me, I am with him when he
remembers Me. If he remembers Me in his heart, I remember him to Myself, and if
he remembers me in an assembly, I mention him in an assembly better than his..."
(Bukhari and Muslim) Thus, silent dhikr is differentiated fron dhikr
said outloud by His saying: "remembers Me within himself," meaning:
"silently," and "in an assembly," meaning
"aloud."
Dhikr
in a gathering can only be done aloud and in unison. The above hadith thus
constitutes proof that dhikr done
outloud in a gathering is an exalted kind of dhikr which is mentioned at
the Highest Assembly (al-mala' al-a`la) by our Majestic Lord and the
angels who are near to Him, "who extol Him night and day, and never
tire" (21:20).
The affinity is clearly evident between those who do dhikr in
the transcendent world, who have been created with an inherently obedient and
remembering nature, namely the angels, and those who do dhikr in the
dense world, whose natures contain lassitude and distraction; namely, human
beings. The reward of the latter for their dhikr is that they be
elevated to a rank similar to that of the Highest Assembly, which is a
sufficient honor and favor for anyone.
Allah
has bestowed a special distinction upon those who remember Him. Muslim and
Tirmidhi narrate on the authority of Abu Hurayra who said: "While on the
road to Mecca the Prophet passed on top of a mountain called Jumdan (=
frozen in its place), at which time he said: Move on (siru)! Here is
Jumdan Mountain: and the single-minded (al-mufarridun) are foremost.
They said: Who are the single-minded, O Messenger of Allah? He said: The men
and women who remember Allah unceasingly (al-dhakirun Allah kathiran wa
al-dhakirat)." Muslim related it in his Sahih, beginning of the book of Dhikr.
The mountain has overtaken the people because the
mountain is reciting dhikr also. Ibn
Qayyim al-Jawziyya in Madarij al-salikin explains that the term mufarridun
has two meanings here: either the muwahhidun, the people engaged in tawhid
who declare Allah's Oneness as a group (i.e. not necessarily alone), or those
whom he calls ahad furada, the same people as (single) individuals
sitting alone (in isolation). From this example it is evident that in the
explanation of Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya, sittings of dhikr can be in a group, and can be all alone. In another
explanation of mufarridun also cited by Ibn Qayyim, the meaning is
‘those that tremble from reciting dhikrullah,
entranced with it perpetually, not caring what people say or do about them.'
This is because the Prophet said: udhkur Allaha hatta yaqulu majnun
"Remember / mention Allah as much as you want, until people say that you
are crazy and foolish" (Narrated by Ahmad in his Musnad, Ibn Hibban
in his Sahih, and al-Hakim who declared it sahih); that is: do
not care about them!
The
mufarridun are the people who are really alive. Abu Musa reported,
"The likeness of the one who remembers his Lord and the one who does not
remember Him is like that of a living to a dead person." (Bukhari)
Ibn
`Umar reported that the Prophet said: "When you pass by the gardens of
Paradise, avail yourselves of them." The Companions asked: "What are
the gardens of Paradise, O Messenger of Allah?" He replied: "The
circles of dhikr. There are roaming
angels of Allah who go about looking for the circles of dhikr, and when they find them they surround them closely."
Tirmidhi narrated it (hasan gharib) and Ahmad.
Abu
Sa`id Al-Khudri and Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, peace by upon him,
said, "When any group of men remember Allah, angels surround them and
mercy covers them, tranquility descends upon them, and Allah mentions them to
those who are with Him." Narrated by Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ahmad, Ibn Majah,
and Bayhaqi.
Muslim,
Ahmad, and Tirmidhi narrate from Mu`awiya that the Prophet went out to a circle
of his Companions and asked: "What made you sit here?" They said:
"We are sitting here in order to remember / mention Allah (nadhkurullaha)
and to glorify Him (wa nahmaduhu) because He guided us to the path of
Islam and he conferred favors upon us." Thereupon he adjured them by Allah
and asked if that was the only purpose of their sitting there. They said:
"By Allah, we are sitting here for this purpose only." At this the
Prophet said: "I am not asking you to take an oath because of any
misapprehension against you, but only because Gabriel came to me and informed
me that Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, was telling the angels that He is
proud of you!" Note that the hadith
stated jalasna -- we sat -- in the plural, not singular. It
referred to an association of people in a group, not one person.
Shahr
ibn Hawshab relates that one day Abu al-Darda' entered the Masjid of Bayt al-Maqdis
(Jerusalem) and saw people gathered around their admonisher (mudhakkir)
who was reminding them, and they were raising their voices, weeping, and making
invocations. Abu al-Darda' said: "My father's life and my mother's be
sacrificed for those who moan over their state before the Day of Moaning!"
Then he said: "O Ibn Hawshab, let us hurry and sit with those people. I
heard the Prophet say: If you see the groves of Paradise, graze in them, and we
said: O Messenger of Allah, what are the groves of Paradise? He said: The circles
of remembrance, by the One in Whose hand is my soul, no people gather for the
remembrance of Allah Almighty except the angels surround them closely, and
mercy covers them, and Allah mentions them in His presence, and when they
desire to get up and leave, a herald calls them saying: Rise forgiven, your
evil deeds have been changed into good deeds!" Then Abu al-Darda' made
towards them and sat with them eagerly. The hafiz
Ibn al-Jawzi relates it with his chain of transmission in the chapter entitled:
"Mention of those of the elite who used to attend the gatherings of
story-tellers" of his book al-Qussas wa al-mudhakkirin (The
Story-tellers and the Admonishers) ed. Muhammad Basyuni Zaghlul (Beirut: dar
al-kutub al-`ilmiyya, 1406/1986) p. 31.
The
above shows evidence for the permissibility of loud dhikr, group dhikr, and
the understanding of dhikr as
including admonishment and the recounting of stories that benefit the soul. And
Allah knows best.
Types and frequency of Dhikr
Because dhikr is the life of the heart, Ibn Taymiyya is quoted by his
student Ibn Qayyim as saying that Dhikr
is as necessary for the heart as water for the fish. Ibn Qayyim himself wrote a
book, al-Wabil al-sayyib, on the virtues of dhikr, where he lists more than one hundred such virtues, among
them (Quoted in Maulana M. Zakariyya Kandhalvi, Virtues of Dhikr
(Lahore: Kutub Khana Faizi, n.d.) p. 74-76:
- It induces love for
Allah. He who seeks access to the love
of Almighty Allah should do dhikr
profusely. Just as reading and
repetition is the door of knowledge, so dhikr
of Allah is the gateway to His love.
- Dhikr involves muraqaba or meditation, through which one
reaches the state of ihsan or excellence, wherein a person worships
Allah as if he is actually seeing Him.
- The gatherings for dhikr are gatherings of angels, and
gatherings without dhikr are
gatherings of Satan.
- By virtue of dhikr, the person doing dhikr is blessed, as also the person
sitting next to him.
- In spite of the fact that dhikr is the easiest form of worship
(the movement of the tongue being easier than the movement of any other part of
the body), yet it is the most virtuous form.
- Dhikr is a form of Sadaqa -- charity. Abu Dharr al-Ghifari
said: "The Messenger of Allah said: "Sadaqa is for every
person every day the sun rises." I said: "O Messenger of Allah, from
what do we give sadaqa if we do not possess property?" He said:
"The doors of sadaqa are takbir (i.e. to say: Allahu
Akbar, Allah is Greatest); Subhan Allah (Allah is exalted high); al-hamdu
lillah (all praise is for Allah); La ilaha illallah (there is no god
other than Allah); Astaghfirullah (I seek forgiveness from Allah);
enjoining good; forbidding evil.... These are all the doors of sadaqah from you
which is prescribed for you, and there is a reward for you even in sex with
your wife." Narrated by Ahmad and Ibn Hibban, and there is something of
similar effect in Muslim.
All
words of praise and glory to Allah, extolling His Perfect Attributes of Power
and Majesty, Beauty and Sublimeness, whether one utters them by tongue or says
them silently in one's heart, are known as dhikr
or remembrance, of Allah. He has commanded us to remember Him at all times.
Allah says:
·
"O
you who believe! Celebrate the praises of Allah, and do so often; and glorify
Him morning and evening." (33:41-42)
If anyone remembers Allah,
He remembers that person:
·
"Remember
me, I shall remember you." (2:152)
Remembrance
of Allah is the foundation of good deeds. Whoever succeeds in it is blessed
with the close friendship of Allah. That is why the Prophet, peace be upon him,
used to make remembrance of Allah at all times. When a man complained,
"The laws of Islam are too heavy for me, so tell me something that I can
easily follow," the Prophet told him, "Let your tongue be always busy
with the remembrance of Allah." [Narrated by Ahmad with two sound chains,
also Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah through other chains, and Ibn Hibban who declared
it sahih as well as al-Hakim.]
Remembrance
of Allah is also a means of deliverance from Hell Fire. Mu'adh reported,
"The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, 'No other act of man is a more
effective means for his deliverance from the chastisement of Allah than the
remembrance of Allah." (Narrated by Ahmad.)
Ahmad
also reports that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "All that you say
in celebration of Allah's Glory, Majesty, and Oneness, and all your words of
Praise for Him gather around the Throne of Allah. These words resound like the
buzzing of bees, and call attention to the person who uttered them to Allah.
Don't you wish to have someone there in the presence of Allah who would call
attention to you?"
The required amount of
dhikr is as much as possible
Allah ordered that He should
be remembered abundantly. Describing the wise men and women who ponder His
signs, the Qur'an mentions:
·
"Those
who remember Allah standing, sitting and on their sides," (3:191), and
·
"Those
men and women who engage much in Allah's praise. For them has Allah prepared
forgiveness and a great reward." (3:191, 33:35)
The
author of Fiqh al-Sunna mentioned that Mujahid explained: "A person
cannot be one of 'those men and women who remember Allah much' as mentioned in
the above verse of the Qur'an, unless he or she remembers Allah at all times,
standing, sitting, or lying in bed," and that when asked how much dhikr one should do to be considered as
one of "those who remember Allah much" (33:35), Ibn as-Salah said
that "much" is "when one is constant in supplicating, in the
morning and evening and in other parts of the day and the night as reported
from the Prophet, peace be upon him."
Concerning
the above Qur'anic verses `Ali ibn Abu Talha relates that Ibn `Abbas said,
"All obligations imposed upon man by Allah are clearly marked and one is
exempted from them only in the presence of a genuine cause. The only exception
is the obligation of dhikr. Allah
has set no specific limits for it, and under no circumstances is one allowed to
be negligent of it. We are commanded to "remember Allah standing,
sitting and reclining on your sides" (3:191), in the morning, during the
day, at sea or on land, on journeys or at home, in poverty and in prosperity,
in sickness or in health, openly and secretly, and, in fact, at all times
throughout one's life and in all circumstances."
We
see by the above evidence that there is no such thing as too much dhikr. The Prophet is related to say:
"He who loves something mentions it much." (Narrated by Abu Nu`aym in
the Hilya and Daylami in Musnad al-firdaws. Sakhawi cites it in al-Maqasid
al-hasana p. 393 #1050 and does not comment upon it.) We love Allah and His
Prophet, and therefore we mention Allah and His Prophet. No one may declare a
limit to such mention except those who do not have such love, such as the
enemies of Islam.
Imam
Ghazali said in the fortieth book of his Ihya' entitled "The
Remembrance of Death and The Afterlife" (p. 124 in the translation of T.J.
Winter, `Abd al-Hakim Murad):
It
is man's soul and spirit that constitute his real nature... Upon death his
state changes in two ways. Firstly he is now deprived of his eyes, ears and
tongue, his hand, his feet and all his parts, just as he is deprived of family,
children, relatives, and all the people he used to know, and of his horses and
other riding-beasts, his servant-boys, his houses and property, and all that he
used to own. There is no distinction to be drawn between his being taken from
these things and these things being taken from him, for it is the separation
itself which causes pain....
If there was anything in the world in which he had found consolation
and peace, then he will greatly lament for it after he dies, and feel the
greatest sorrow over losing it. His heart will turn to thoughts of everything
he owned, of his power and estates, even to a shirt he used to wear, for
instance, and in which he took pleasure.
However, had he taken pleasure only in the remembrance of Allah, and
consoled himself with Him alone, then his will be great bliss and perfect
happiness. For the barriers which lay between him and his Beloved will now
be removed, and he will be free of the obstacles and cares of the world, all of
which had distracted him from the remembrance of Allah. This is one of the
aspects of the difference between the states of life and death.
On
the same topic Imam Habib al-Haddad said (Key to the Garden p. 104):
Time
and days are a man's capital, while his inclinations, desires, and various
ambitions are the highway robbers. The way in which one profits on this journey
lies in succeeding in coming to Allah and in attaining everlasting happiness,
while one loses by being veiled from Allah, and being consigned to the painful
torment of the Fire.
For this reason the intelligent
believer transforms all his breaths into acts of obedience, and interrupts them
only with the dhikr of Allah.
The importance of silent dhikr
The author of Fiqh
al-sunna writes:
The
purpose of dhikr is to purify hearts
and souls and awaken the human conscience. The Qur'an says:
·
"And
establish regular prayer, for prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds,
and remembrance of Allah is the greatest thing in life, without doubt."
(29:45)
In
other words, the remembrance of Allah has a greater impact in restraining one
from shameful and unjust deeds than just the formal regular prayer. This is so
because when a servant opens up his soul to his Lord, extolling His praise,
Allah strengthens him with His light, increasing thereby his faith and
conviction, and reassuring his mind and heart. This refers to:
·
"those
who believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance of Allah,
for without doubt in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find
satisfaction." (13:28)
And
when hearts are satisfied with the Truth, they turn to the highest ideals
without being deflected by impulses of desire or lust. This underscores the
importance of dhikr in man's life.
Obviously it would be unreasonable to expect these results just by uttering
certain words, for words of the tongue unsupported by a willing heart are of no
consequence. Allah Himself has taught us the manner in which a person should
remember Him, saying:
·
"And
do bring your Lord to remembrance in your very soul, with humility and in
reverence, without loudness in words, in the mornings and evening, and be not
of those who are unheedful." (7:205)
This
verse indicates that doing dhikr in
silence and without raising one's voice is better. Once during a journey the
Prophet, peace be upon him, heard a group of Muslims supplicating aloud.
Thereupon the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "Give yourselves a
respite, you are not calling upon someone deaf or absent. Surely He Whom you
are calling upon is near you and He listens to all. He is nearer to you than
the neck of your mount." [Muslim]
This
hadith underlines the love and awe a person should feel while engaged in dhikr.
It
is related from Sa`d that the Prophet said: “The best dhikr is the hidden dhikr,
and the best money is what suffices.” Ahmad narrates it in his Musnad,
Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, and Bayhaqi in Shu`ab al-iman. Nawawi
said the hadith was not firmly established.
In the Fatawa fiqhiyya of al-Haytami (p. 48): He
was asked about Nawawi's saying at the end of the chapter entitled "Dhikr Gatherings" in his Commentary
on Sahih Muslim: “Dhikr of the
tongue with presence of the heart is preferable to dhikr of the heart [without].” Ibn Hajar said: “It is not because dhikr of the heart is an established
worship in the lexical sense [i.e. consisting in specific formulae] that it is
preferable, but because through it one intently means, in his heart, to exalt
and magnify Allah above all else. That is the meaning both of the
aforementioned saying of Nawawi and of the saying of some that "There is
no reward in dhikr of the
heart." By denying there is a reward in it, one means "There is no
reward in the words, which are not uttered"; and by establishing that
there is reward in it, one means "in the fact that the heart is
present," as we have just said. Consider this, for it is important. And
Allah knows best.”
According to the Naqshbandi masters, dhikr in the heart is more useful for the murid or student
for it is more efficient in shaking the heart from indifference and awakening
it. Shah Naqshband said: "There are two methods of dhikr; one is silent and one is loud. I chose the silent one
because it is stronger and therefore more preferable."
Shaykh Amin al-Kurdi said in his book Tanwir al-qulub
(Enlightenment of Hearts) p. 522:
Know
that there are two kinds of dhikr:
"by heart" (qalbi) and "by tongue" (lisani).
Each has its legal proofs in the Qur'an and the Sunna. The dhikr by
tongue, which combines sounds and letters, is not easy to perform at all times,
because buying and selling and other such activities altogether divert one's
attention from such dhikr. The
contrary is true of the dhikr by
heart, which is named that way in order to signify its freedom from letters and
sounds. In that way nothing distracts one from his dhikr: with the heart remember Allah, secretly from creation,
wordlessly and speechlessly. That remembrance is best of all: out of it flowed
the sayings of the saints.
That is why our Naqshbandi masters
have chosen the dhikr of the heart.
Moreover, the heart is the place where the Forgiver casts his gaze, and the
seat of belief, and the receptacle of secrets, and the source of lights. If it
is sound, the whole body is sound, and if it is unsound, the whole body is
unsound, as was made clear for us by the Chosen Prophet.
Something that confirms this was narrated on the authority of `A'isha:
"Allah favors dhikr above dhikr seventyfold (meaning, silent dhikr over loud dhikr). On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will bring back human
beings to His account, and the Recording Angels will bring what they have
recorded and written, and Allah Almighty will say: See if something that
belongs to my servant was left out? The angels will say: We left nothing out
concerning what we have learnt and recorded, except that we have assessed it
and written it. Allah will say: O my servant, I have something good of yours
for which I alone will reward you, it is your hidden remembrance of Me."
Bayhaqi narrated it.
Also on the authority of `A'isha: "The dhikr not heard by the Recording Angels equals seventy times the
one they hear." Bayhaqi narrated it.
On Seclusion (khalwa,
`uzla)
Silent dhikr is the dhikr
of the servant who secludes himself away from people. Narrated Abu Sa'id
Al-Khudri: A bedouin came to the Prophet and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Who
is the best of mankind?" The Prophet said, "A man who strives for
Allah's Cause with his life and property, and also a man who lives (all alone)
in a mountain path among the mountain paths to worship his Lord and save the
people from his evil." (English Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 76, Number 501)
[Arabic: Ja'a a`rabiyyun ila al-nabi faqala ya rasulallahi ayyu khayru
al-nas? qala rajulun jahidun bi nafsihi wa malih...]
Abu
Sa`id al-Khudri said: I heard the Prophet say: "There will come a time
upon the people when the best property of a Muslim man will be his sheep which
he will take to the tops of mountains and to the places of rainfall to run away
with his Religion far from trials. (English Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 76, Number
502) [Arabic: ya'ti `ala al-nasi zamanun khayru mali al-rajuli al-muslim...]
Malik
narrates in his Muwatta': that Humayd ibn Malik ibn Khuthaym was sitting
with Abu Hurayra in his land of al-`Aqiq when a group of the people of Madina
came to him. They dismounted and came to him. Humayd said: Abu Hurayra said [to
me]: "Go to my mother and say to her: Your son sends his salam and asks you to send us a little
food." I went and she gave me three loaves of bread and some olive oil and
salt. I carried it to them. When I put it in front of them Abu Hurayra said:
"Allahu akbar. Praise be to
Allah Who has sated us with bread after the time when our only food was the two
black ones: water and dates." The people did not leave anything except
they ate it. When they went away, he said: "Son of my brother: be kind to
your sheep, wipe their mucus from them, improve their pastures, and pray in
their vicinity, for they are from the animals of Paradise. By the One in Whose
hand is my soul, there will soon come a time upon people when the flock of
sheep will be dearer to its owner than the sons of Marwan [= human
company?]."
Muslim
and Tirmidhi narrate on the authority of Abu Hurayra who said: "While on
the road to Mecca the Prophet passed on top of a mountain called Jumdan
(= frozen in its place), at which time he said: Move on (siru)! Here is
Jumdan Mountain: and the single-minded (al-mufarridun) are foremost.
They said: Who are the single-minded, O Messenger of Allah? He said: The men
and women who remember Allah unceasingly (al-dhakirun Allah kathiran wa
al-dhakirat)." Muslim related it in his Sahih, beginning of the book of Dhikr.
The
version in Tirmidhi has: The Prophet said: "The single-minded (al-mufarridun)
are foremost. They said: What are the single-minded? He said: Those who dote on
the remembrance of Allah and are ridiculed because of it (al-mustahtirun bi
dhikr Allah), and whose burdens the dhikr
removes from them (yada`u `anhum al-dhikru athqalahum), so that they
come to Allah fluttering (fa ya'tun Allaha khifaqan)."
al-Mundhiri
said in al-Tharghib wa al-tarhib [The Encouragement to Good and the
Discouragement from Evil]: "These are the ones who are fired up with the
remembrance of Allah (al-muwalla`un bi dhikrillah)."
Nawawi
writes in Sharh Sahih Muslim, Bk. 48, Ch. 1, Hadith 4: "Some
pronounced it mufridun (= those who isolate themselves)... Ibn Qutayba
and others said: The original meaning of this is those whose relatives have
died and they have become single (in the world) with regard to their passing
from them, so they have remained remembering Allah the Exalted. Another
narration has: They are those who are moved at the mention or remembrance of
Allah (hum al-ladhina ihtazzu fi dhikrillah), that is, they have become
fervently devoted and attached to His remembrance. Ibn al-`Arabi said: ‘It is
said that "a man becomes single" (farada al-rajul) when he
becomes learned, isolates himself, and concerns himself exclusively with the
observance of Allah's orders and prohibitions.'"
Dhikr in isolation or seclusion (khalwa)
is corroborated by the hadith in Bukhari: "Seven people will be shaded by
Allah..." The seventh is: "A person who remembers Allah in seclusion (dhakara
Allaha khaliyan) and his eyes get flooded with tears."
In
Tirmidhi: `A'isha relates: "In the beginnings of Allah's Messenger's
Prophethood, at the time Allah desired to bestow honor upon him and mercy upon
His servants through him, he would not have any vision except it came to pass
as surely as the sun rises. He continued like this for as long as Allah wished.
Most beloved to him was seclusion (al-khalwa) and there was nothing he
loved more than to be alone in seclusion." Tirmidhi narrates it and said: hasan
sahih gharib. Bukhari and Muslim narrate something very similar through
different chains and the word khala' is used instead of khalwa.
Ibn
Hajar said in Fath al-Bari in the commentary on Bukhari's chapter on
seclusion:
Ibn
al-Mubarak relates in Kitab al-raqa'iq from Shu`ba from Khubayb ibn `Abd
al-rahman from Hafs ibn `Asim that `Umar said: "Take your part of fortune
from seclusion." And what a good saying is al-Junayd's saying, may Allah
grant us the benefit of his baraka: "Undergoing the difficulty of seclusion
is easier than mixing with society unscathed." al-Khattabi said in his
"Book of Seclusion" (Kitab al-`uzla): "If there were not
in seclusion other than safety from backbiting and the sight of what is
forbidden but cannot be eliminated, it would have been enough of an immense
good." Bukhari's title [Chapter on Seclusion As Rest From Keeping Company
Towards Evil] refers to the hadith cited by al-Hakim from Abu Dharr from the
Prophet with a fair (hasan) chain: "Isolation is better than to be
sociable in committing evil." However, what is usually retained is that it
is a saying of Abu Dharr or Abu al-Darda'. Ibn Abi `Asim cited it...
al-Qushayri said in his Risala: "The method of the one who enters
seclusion is that he must have the belief that he is keeping people from his
evil, not the reverse, for the former presupposes belittlement of himself,
which is the attribute of the humble, while the latter indicates that he
considers himself better than others, which is the attribute of the
arrogant."
Abu
Bakr ibn al-`Arabi writes in Sharh Sahih Tirmidhi, Book 45 (da`awat),
Ch. 4:
If
it is said that the times have become so corrupt that there is nothing better
than isolating oneself, we say: one isolates oneself from people in one's
actions, while he keeps mixing with them with his physical body, however, if he
cannot succeed, then at that time he isolates himself from them physically but
without entering into monasticism (ya`taziluhum bi badanihi wa la yadkhulu
fi al-rahbaniyya) which is condemned and rejected by the Sunna.
Dhikr with the name
"ALLAH"
Allah said in His Book:
"And mention the name of your Lord and devote yourself to Him with a
complete devotion" (73:8). Qadi Thana'ullah Panipati said in his Tafsir
Mazhari (10:111): "Know that this verse points to the repetition of
the name of the Essence (ism al-dhat)," that is: "Allah."
The same meaning is intimated also by the end of verse 6:91 in Surat al-An`am:
"Say ALLAH. Then leave them to their play and vain wrangling."
The
Prophet said: "The Hour will not rise before Allah, Allah is no
longer said on earth." And through another chain: "The Hour will not
rise on anyone saying: Allah, Allah." Muslim narrated both in his Sahih,
Book of Iman (Belief), chapter 66 entitled: dhahab al-iman akhir
al-zaman "The Disappearance of Belief at the End of Times."
Imam
Nawawi said in his commentary on this chapter: "Know that the narrations
of this hadith are unanimous in the repetition of the name of Allah the Exalted
for both versions, and that is the way it is found in all the authoritative
books." (Sharh Sahih Muslim, Dar al-Qalam, Beirut ed. vol. 1/2 p.
537)
Imam
Muslim placed the hadith under the chapter-heading of the disappearance of
belief (iman) at the end of times although there is no mention of belief
in the hadith. This shows that saying "Allah, Allah" stands for
belief. Those who say it show belief, while those who don't say it, don't show
belief. Therefore those who fight those who say it, are actually worse than
those who merely lack belief and do not say "Allah, Allah."
Nawawi
highlights the authenticity of the repetition of the form to establish that the
repetition of the words "Allah, Allah" are a sunna ma'thura
(practice inherited from the Prophet and the Companions) as it stands. Ibn
Taymiyya's claim that the words must not be used alone but obligatorily
in contruct, e.g. with a vocative form ("Ya Allah"), therefore
contradicts the Sunna.
It
is noteworthy that the Siddiqi translation of Sahih Muslim mistranslates
the first narration cited above as: "The Hour (Resurrection) would not
come so long as Allah is supplicated in the world" and the second as
"The Hour (Resurrection) would not come upon anyone so long as he
supplicates Allah." This is wrong as translations go, although it is right
as a commentary, since saying Allah, Allah is supplicating Him, as is
all worship according to the hadith of the Prophet: "Supplication: that is
what worship is." (Tirmidhi and others narrate it.) However, concerning
accuracy in translation, the word form highlighted by Nawawi must be kept
intact in any explanation of this hadith. It is not merely "supplicating
Allah." It is saying: Allah, Allah according to the Prophet's own
words.
One
who knows that the dhikr "Allah,
Allah" has been mentioned by the Prophet himself, is not at liberty to
muse whether it was used by the Companions or not in order to establish its
basis. It suffices for its basis to establish that the Prophet said it. And
yet, it is established that Bilal used to make the dhikr Ahad, Ahad while undergoing torture. Ibn Hisham says
in his Sira: Ibn Ishaq narrates [with his chain of transmission] saying:
"Bilal was a faithful Muslim, pure of heart... Umayya ibn Khalaf used to
bring him out in the hottest part of the day and throw him on his back in the
open valley and have a great rock put on his chest; then he would say to him:
You will stay here until you die or deny Muhammad and worship al-Lat and
al-`Uzza. He used to say while he was enduring this: Ahad, Ahad -- One,
One!" Ibn Hajar cites it in al-Isaba (1:171 #732).