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ٌRemembrance of Allah (dhikr) - Muslimah - 07-28-2003
Praise be to Allah and prayer and peace be upon His Messenger Mohamed the illiterate prophet.
I found that the last post took us to the topic of dhikr (remembrance of Allah).
Go to the last post on this page:
I thought thousand times before elaborating on this issue. I never claim myself to be a scholar capable of tackling such a crucial and vast topic in Islam. Yet I thought to myself that the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said convey after me even one Ayah. So I said to myself I will try my best with the close guidance and support of Allah to say what I know on this topic.
Remembrance of Allah which He classified in Quran as being “Recite what is sent of the Book by inspiration to thee, and establish regular Prayer: for Prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of Allah is the greatest (thing in life) Without doubt and Allah knows the (deeds) that ye do” (Quran 29 : 45). At the beginning of the Ayah, Allah commands us to recite the Quran which is one form of dhikr the best actually (if u want Allah to talk to u read the Quran if u want to talk to Him pray), then to establish prayer in order to help one stay away from sins, which is another form of dhikr of course. He concluded then by confirming that after doing this entire still Allah’s remembrance to His servants remains greater of course than ours. (The Arabic Ayah conveys this meaning with all due respect to the translator).
If u simply refer this to the hadeeth narrated by Abi Horaira that the Messenger of Allah said: "Allah may He be Glorified Say: I am up to My servant's expectation of Me, and I Am with him when he remembers Me, if he remembers me within himself I remember him within Myself, if he remembers me in a gathering I would remember him in a gathering better than the one in which he remembered me, if the servant comes close to me as much as an open hand, I would come close to him an arm's length (from elbow to hand), if he comes close to me an arms length, I would come close to him what equals the full arm's length, if he comes to me walking I would run toward him. To Him is all the credit ” (reported by Ahmed).
With a simple comparison we can easily conclude that the Ayah refers to the remembrance of Allah for us to be of course the greatest.
ٌRemembrance of Allah (dhikr) - Muslimah - 07-28-2003
The preceding Ayah is talking about the necessity of Salat (prayer) which involves several positions. In each of these positions we do a different remembrance of Allah. While the whole process of Salat is the best way for us to talk to Allah. In a hadeeth the Messenger of Allah says what means that when he encountered mischief he would hurry to seek salat. You would feel that u need to talk to your Lord freely after finishing prayer, you feel so close to Him, you talk with no reservation not fearing to express your weakness or sorrow. You are not ashamed to reveal your inner factors of distress. Matter of fact, you are the one who starts the meeting (Salat) by saying Allahu Akbar and you are also the one who ends it by saying As Salam Alykom. Allah Shall never tell u end up, or stop talking. On the contrary He very much Likes the servant who talks to Him all the time regarding anything. Anything no matter how trivial to you. Don't be shy just talk to Him ask Him about anything.
There is the remembrance of tongue of course, of heart of the senses and of the mind. Due to this Allah say in the Noble Quran:” Men who celebrate the praises of God, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides” (Quran 3:191)
“celebrate God's praises, standing, sitting down, or lying down on your sides” (Quran 4: 103).
In these two Ayahas Allah Helped us realize how important it is to maintain constant dhikr in all positions. For instance, when you are sleeping at night, if u wake up and turn around in bed, it is recommended to say "la ilaha ila Allah wahadhu la shareeka lahul molk walahul hamd yohey wa yomeet wahuwa a`ala kol shaye-en qadeer". If you get up, take ablution and pray two ra`aka that is even much better. So the dhikr can take the several forms, by the tongue while you are lying down, then u get up of course saying Alhamdulelah aldhy ahyana ba`ad ma amatana wa elyehinnshour, another form on a different position (standing up). Then you go for ablution which is also another form of dhikr. Come back to pray. While the senses would be remembering Allah each time they just reject doing Haram and seek only Halal. By this you have fulfilled the three positions as recommended in the ayah.
I have another point here, when u remember something or someone on a specific time, it carries an implication that u don’t maintain an on going remembrance. But when it comes to Allah, He deserves to be remembered all the time. The two previous Ayahs actually sums up this point. U remember Allah standing up which of course includes praying, or walking or just looking through the window watching the birds going back home in the same manner on the same time every day before maghreb. While if u refer to Quran, this specific time is one of the timings on which we are commanded to say سبحان الله وبحمده سبحان الله العظيم “Bear, then, with patience, all that they say, and celebrate the praises of thy Lord, before the rising of the sun and before (its) setting,” (Surat Qaf 50:39)
Now when a man loves a woman and vice versa, they usually spend nights thinking about each other, about the good times. In case one of them caused harm to the other, hours are spent to think how to make up, flowers and candy are offered to reconcile and every possible means of reassurance are sought in order to prove the sustainability of the relation. Oh how about the Creator, doesn’t Allah deserve all of this remembrance and efforts. We sure have good times to remember with Allah, how many times you were in serious trouble and He just found you a way out, sometimes without u asking. How many times a loved one was seriously ill and all of a sudden Allah’s Mercy worked miracles, how many times you were in a serious crisis and all those who can help just went away except for the Qader? I can go on forever. When the mother is delivering, He is the One who brings the baby out no one else, no matter how difficult the situation is. And in case you made a mistake, you sure need more than flowers, He is the Creator, usually you can not take the loved ones to blame you, how about Him? Oh can u take His blame? I think we can not. We need to repent the minute we realize we made a sin which confirms the constant mood of dhikr.
Therefore He deserves to be remembered standing up, sitting and lying down using the tongue by just uttering the different dhikr taught to us by the Messenger عليه الصلاة والسلام , the heart which must contain the feeling of closeness to Allah all the time, the senses which must observe Allah's rules not to be used in anything but Halal.
Now as we almost covered forms and positions, now how can we attain this capacity? Well matter of fact it needs training. In a hadeeth narrated by Mu`adh Ibn Jabal that the Messenger of Allah prayer and peace be upon him said:" One whose last words would be La Ilaha ila Allah shall enter jannah" (reported by Abi Daoud). We may say ok that is very easy Alhamdulelah we just would say it before death. But who can actually guarantee that it would be easy. In several cases people were absolutely incapable of saying it during their last moments. You know why? Because simply it needs training. Can you just go for a tennis match the minute someone asks you to go if you are not fit? Certainly not. You will probably fail after 10 minutes. Same thing is the remembrance of Allah. It needs that you maintain it in your heart (remembrance by heart) which may also be disapproving haram, hating for Allah's sake and so forth. You need to have your tongue used for the remembrance of Allah. For instance in case you face difficulty you would immediately say la hawala wala qowata ila billah. When someone asks how you are you would say Alhamdulelah no matter. You need to keep your tongue from talking about people (back biting). By this you would be fulfilling the commanded positions and forms of dhikr and be prepared Insh a Allah to say the Shahada before death.