Allah,
the Exalted, ordered that He should be
remembered a lot. Describing the wise
men and women who ponder His signs, the
Qur'an mentions, "those who
remember Allah standing, sitting and on
their sides,'' Qur'an 3.191 and
"those men and women who engage
much in Allah's praise. For them has
Allah prepared forgiveness and a great
reward.'' Qur'an 33.35 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."
When
asked how much zhikr one should do to be
considered as one of "those who
remember Allah much," Ibn Al-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 Quranic
verses 'Ali b. Abi Talha relates that
Ibn 'Abbas said, "All obligations
imposed upon man by Allah are clearly
marked and one is exempted from them in
the presence of a genuine cause. The
only exception is the obligation of
zhikr. 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,' in the morning, during the day,
at sea or on land, on journey 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."
Sa' id b.
Jubair 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 zhikr are the gatherings
where the lawful and the prohibited
things are discussed, for instance,
selling, buying, prayers, fasting,
marriage, divorce, and pilgrimage."
Al-Qurtubi said, "Gatherings of
zhikr are the gatherings for knowledge
and admonition, those in which the Word
of Allah and the sunnah of His
Messenger, accounts of our righteous
predecessors, and sayings of the
righteous scholars are learned and
practiced without any addition or
innovation, and without any ulterior
motives or greed."
The
purpose of zhikr 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.'' Qur'an
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.'' Qur'an 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
zhikr 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.'' Qur'an 7.205
This
verse indicates that doing zhikr 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." This
hadith underlines the love and awe a
person should feel while engaged in
zhikr.
A part of
this etiquette is the requirement that a
person wishing to do zhikr be clean in
body and dress, and smell sweet and
fragrant. This will give him a fresh
zeal and he will feel invigorated. One
should face the qiblah during zhikr, for
the best assemblies are those that face
the Ka'bah.
Joining
the assemblies or circles of zhikr is a
commendable practice as shown by the
following hadith: Ibn 'Umar reported,
"The Prophet, peace be upon him,
said, 'When you pass by a garden of
Paradise, avail yourselves of it.' The
Companions asked, 'What are the gardens
of Paradise, O Messenger of Allah? ' The
Prophet, peace be upon him, replied,
'The assemblies or circles of zhikr.
There are some angels of Allah who go
about looking for such assemblies of
zhikr, and when they find them they
surround them'."
Muslim
reports that Mu'awiyyah said, "The
Prophet, peace be upon him, went out to
a circle of his Companions and asked,
'What makes you sit here?' They said,
'We are sitting here in order to
remember Allah and to praise Him 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, peace be upon him,
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'."
Abu Sa'id
Al-Khudri and Abu Hurairah reported that
the Prophet, peace be 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."
Qatadah
reported that Anas ibn Malik said,
"The Prophet, peace be upon him,
said, 'When a human is laid in his grave
and his companions return and he hears
their footsteps, two angels will come to
him and make him sit and ask him,
"What did you say about this man,
Muhammad, may peace be upon him?"
He will say, "I testify that he is
Allah's servant and His Messenger."
Then it will be said to him, "Look
at your place in Hell-Fire. Allah has
exchanged for you a place in Paradise
instead of it".' The Prophet, peace
be upon him, added, 'The dead person
will see both his places. As for a
non-believer or a hypocrite, he will
respond to the angels, "I do not
know, but I used to say what the people
used to say ! " It will be said to
him, "Neither did you know nor did
you seek guidance from those who had
knowledge." Then he will be hit
with an iron hammer between his two
ears, and he will cry and that cry will
be heard by all except human beings and
jinns'." (Bukhari and Muslim)
Abu
Hurairah reported that the Prophet,
peace be upon him, said, "When a
servant of Allah utters the words la
ilaha illa'Allah (there is none worthy
of worship except Allah) sincerely, the
doors of heaven open up for these words
until they reach the Throne of Allah, so
long as its utterer keeps away from the
major sins.'' (Tirmizhi, who says it is
a hasan gharib hadith)
Abu
Hurairah also reported that the Prophet,
peace be upon him, said, "Renew
your faith." "How can we renew
our faith?" they asked. The
Prophet, peace be upon him, replied,
"Say always, 'La ilaha
ill-Allah'.'' (Reported by Ahmad with a
sound chain of authorities)
Jabir
reported that the Prophet, peace be upon
him, said, "The best remembrance of
Allah is to repeat La ilaha ill-Allah
and the best prayer is alhamdu li-Allah
(All Praise is due to Allah).''
(Reported by Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, and
Al-Hakim, who considers its chain sound)
Abu
Hurairah reported that the Prophet,
peace be upon him, said, "There are
two phrases that are light on the tongue
but heavy on the scale of rewards and
are dear to (Allah) the Gracious One.
These are, subhanallah wa bi-hamdihi
(All Glory is to Allah and all Praise to
Him), and subhanallah al-azim (Glorified
is Allah, the Great).'' (Muslim, Bukhari,
and Tirmizhi) Abu Hurairah also reported
that the Prophet, peace be upon him,
said, "I love repeating subhanallah,
wal-hamdulillah, wa la-ilaha ill-Allah,
wa-Allahu akbar (Glorified is Allah, all
praise is due to Allah, and there is no
God but Allah, Allah is the greatest)
more than all that the sun shines
upon.'' (Muslim and Tirmizhi)
Abu Zharr
reported, "the Prophet, peace be
upon him, said, 'Shall I tell you the
words that Allah loves the most?' I
said, 'Yes, tell me, O Messenger of
Allah.' He said, 'The words most dear to
Allah are subhan-Allah wa bihamdihi
(Glorified is Allah with all praise due
to Him)'." This is narrated by
Muslim and Tirmizhi. In Tirmizhi's
version, we also find the following:
"The words most dear to Allah which
He has chosen for His angels are subhana
Rabbi wa bihamdihi, subhana Rabbi wa
bihamdihi (Glorified is my Lord with all
praise due to Him, Glorified is my Lord
with all praise due to Him)."
Jabir
reported that the Prophet, peace be upon
him, said, "Whoever says
Subhan-Allah-al-Azim wa bihamdihi
(Glorified is Allah, the Great, with all
praise due to Him), will have a palm
tree planted for him in Paradise.''
(Reported by Tirmizhi who considers it a
sound hadith.)
Abu Sa'id
reported that the Prophet, peace be upon
him, said, "Perform the enduring
goods deeds more frequently." The
asked, "What are these enduring
deeds?" The Prophet, peace be upon
him, replied, At-Takbir, (Saying Allahu
akbar i.e., Allah is the greatest) At-Tahlil,
(Saying la ilaha ill-Allah, i.e., there
is no god but Allah) At-Tasbih, (Saying
subhan-Allah meaning, Exalted and far
removed is Allah from any weakness) al-hamdu
li-Allah, (This means: All praise
belongs to Allah alone) and la hawla
wala quwwata illa billah. (There is no
power nor any authority except with the
permission of Allah) This is reported by
An-Nasa'i and Al-Hakim, who consider its
chain of authorities sound.
Abdallah
reported that the Prophet, peace be upon
him, said, "During the Night
Journey I met Ibrahim who said to me, 'O
Muhammad, convey my greetings to your
ummah, and tell them that the Paradise
is of pure land, its water is sweet, and
its expanse is vast, spacious and even.
And its plants are Subhan-Allah,
wal-hamdulillah, wala ilah illallah,
wa-Allahu akbar'.''
Samura
ibn Jundab reported that the Prophet,
peace be upon him, said, "The
dearest phrases to Allah are four:
Subhan Allah, (Glorified is Allah), al-Hamdulillah
(All praise be to Allah), Wa la ilaha
ill-Allah (There is no God but Allah),
and Allah-o-Akbar (Allah is the
Greatest). There is no harm in beginning
them in any order you choose while
remembering Allah.'' (Muslim)
Abu
Mas'ud reported that the Prophet, peace
be upon him, said, "If anyone
recites the last two verses of Surat al-Baqarah,
they will suffice for him,'' (Bukhariand
Muslim) that is, these two verses will
bring him a reward equivalent to that of
a night prayer, and will safeguard him
from any hurt during that night. Ibn
Khuzaimah in his Sahih has also
mentioned it under the chapter "The
Recitation of the Qur'an Equivalent in
Reward to a Night Prayer."
Abu Sa'id
reported that the Prophet, peace be upon
him, asked, "Can anyone of you
recite a third of the Qur'an during the
night?" The Companions considered
this rather difficult and they said,
"Who among us can do so, O Prophet
of Allah?" Thereupon the Prophet,
peace be upon him, said, "(Say:) He
is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the
Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor
is he begotten; and there is none like
unto Him.'' (The reference here is to
recitation of Surah 112 (Suratul Ikhlas)
of the Qur'an, which the Prophet, peace
be upon him, described as equivalent to
reciting one-third of the Qur'an. This
hadith is reported by Bukhari, Muslim,
and Nasa'i)
Abu
Hurairah reported that the Prophet,
peace be upon him, said, "Whoever
says, 'La llaha illa-Allahu wahdahu la
sharika lahu, lahul-mulku wa lahul-hamd
wa huwa 'ala kulli shai'in qadir' a
hundred times during a day will have a
reward equivalent to the reward for
freeing ten slaves. Besides, a hundred
good deeds will be recorded for him and
a hundred bad deeds of his will be wiped
off, and it will be a safeguard for him
from Satan that day until evening, and
no one will be better in deeds than such
a person except he who does more than
that.'' (Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmizhi,
Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah) In the version of
Muslim, Tirmizhi, and Nasa'i, we find
this addition: "And whoever says
subhan Allah wa bi-hamdihi a hundred
times during a day, will have all his
sins wiped off even if they were as
numerous as the foam on the surface of
the sea."
Anas
reported that he heard the Prophet,
peace be upon him, saying that Allah
says, "O son of Adam, whatever you
asked Me and expect from Me I forgave -
respecting that which you owed to Me -
and I don't care [how great this was]. O
Son of Adam, even if your sins pile up
to the sky and then you seek My
forgiveness I will forgive you, and O
son of Adam, even if you have an
earthful of sins but you meet Me without
associating any other thing with Me I
will forgive you.' (Reported by Tirmizhi,
who considers it a hasan sahih hadith)
Abdallah
b. 'Abbas said, "If one supplicates
without fail for forgiveness from Allah,
He finds a way out for him to get out of
every distress and difficulty, and gives
him sustenance through ways utterly
unthought of.'' (Reported by Abu Daw'ud,
Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, and Al-Hakim, who
says its chain of authorities is sound.)
Juwairiyah
(One of the wives of the Prophet, peace
be upon him) reported that one day the
Prophet, peace be upon him, left her
apartment in the morning as she was busy
observing her dawn prayer in her place
of worship. He came back in the forenoon
and she was still sitting there. The
Prophet, peace be upon him, said to her,
"You have been in the same place
since I left you?" She said,
"Yes." Thereupon the Prophet,
peace be upon him, said, "I recited
four words three times after I left you
and if these were to be weighed against
what you have recited since morning
these would outweigh them, and these
words are: Subhanallah wa bihamdihi 'adada
khalqihi wa rida' nafsihi wa zinata 'arshihi
wa midada kalimatihi (hallowed be Allah
and praise is due to Him to the extent
of the number of His creation and to the
extent of His pleasure and to the extent
of the weight of His Throne and to the
extent of ink used in recording words
for His Praise).'' (Reported by Muslim
and Abu Daw'ud)
Sa'd ibn
Abu Waqqas reported that once the
Prophet, peace be upon him, saw a woman
who had some date-stones or pebbles
which she was using as beads to glorify
Allah. The Prophet, peace be upon him,
said to her, "Let me tell you
something which would be easier and more
excellent for you than that." So he
told her to say instead Subhan-Allah 'adada
ma khalaqa fil-ard wa subhan Allah 'adada
ma khalaqa bayna zhalika wa subhan-Allah
'adada ma huwa khaliq wa Allahu akhar
mithla zhalik wa la ilaha illa-Allahu
mithla zhalik wa la hawla wa la quwwata
illa mithla zhalik (Glory be to Allah as
many times as the number of what He has
created in Heaven, Glory be to Allah as
many times as the number of what He has
created on Earth, Glory be to Allah as
many times as the number of what He has
created between them, Glory be to Allah
as many times as the number of that
which He is creating, Allah is the most
great a similar number of times, praise
be to Allah a similar number of times,
and There is no god but Allah a similar
number of times, and there is no might
and no power except with Allah a similar
number of times).'' (Reported by the
Compilers of the Sunan and Al-Hakim, who
says it is a sound hadith according to
the criterion of Muslim)
Ibn 'Umar
reported that the Prophet, peace be upon
him, told them, "A servant of Allah
said 'My Lord! All praise is for You as
much as Your Glory and Sublime Majesty
rightly deserve. ' This was too much for
the two angels to record. They did not
know how to record it. So they soared to
the heaven and said, 'Our Lord! Your
servant has said something which we
don't know how to record?' Allah asked
them--and, of course, He knew what the
servant had said--'What did My servant
say?' They said, 'He has said, "My
Lord! All praise is for You as much as
Your Glory and Sublime Majesty rightly
deserve." Allah said to them, '
Write it down as My servant has said
until he should meet Me and I reward him
for it'.' (Reported by Ahmad and Ibn
Majah)
Yusairah
reported that the Prophet, peace be upon
him, commanded them (the emigrant women)
to be regular in remembering Allah by
saying, "Allah is the most
great," "Glory be to Allah,
the Holy," and "There is no
God but Allah," and never to be
forgetful of Allah and His Mercy, and to
count them on their fingers, for the
fingers will be questioned and will
speak. (Reported in the Sunan and by
Al-Hakim with a sound chain of
authorities)
Abdallah
b. 'Amr b. al-'As reported, "I saw
the Prophet, peace be upon him, counting
the glorifications of Allah on his right
hand's fingers.'' (Reported in the Sunan)
Abu
Hurairah reported that the Prophet,
peace be upon him, said, "If peopie
sit in an assembly in which they do not
remember Allah nor invoke a blessing on
the Prophet, it will be a cause of grief
for them on the Day of Judgment."
This is reported by Tirmizhi, who says
it is a sound hadith.
In the
version of Ahmad, however, we read,
"If people sit in an assembly in
which they do not remember Allah, it
will be a cause of sorrow for them, and
if a man is walking and does not
remember Allah, it will be a cause of
sorrow for him, and if a man lies down
on his bed and does not remember Allah,
it will be a cause of sorrow for
him." Another version says,
"It will be a sorrow for them, even
if they are given Paradise in
reward."
The
author of Fath al-'Allam says,
"This hadith proves that it is
incumbent on one to remember Allah and
invoke blessings on the Prophet while
sittmg in an assembly, for whether we
take the words 'cause of grief or
sorrow' to mean torment of fire or any
other chastisement, obviously a
punishment is incurred only when an
obligatory act is neglected or a
forbidden act is committed, and here it
is both the remembrance of Allah and the
invoking of blessings on His Prophet
that are apparently incumbent."
Abu
Hurairah reported that the Prophet,
peace be upon him, said, "If anyone
sits in an assembly where there is much
clamor and says before getting up to
leave, Subhanaka Allahumma wa bihamdika,
ashadu an-la illaha illa-anta,
astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayka (Glory be
to You, O Allah, and I begin with
declaring all praise is due to You, I
testify that there is no god but You; I
ask Your pardon and turn to You in
repentance), he will be forgiven any sin
that he might have committed while in
that assembly. (Tirmizhi and Al-Baihaqi,
(Kitab ad-D'wat Al-kabir))
It is
related that the Prophet, peace be upon
him, said, "The atonement for
backbiting [and slander] is to pray for
forgiveness of the person who was
slandered and to say, 'O Allah, forgive
us and him'."
The
preferable course in this regard is to
pray for forgiveness of the person who
was the target of the slander and to
mention his good qualities. This will
wipe off the effects of such backbiting,
and it is not necessary to announce such
a thing.
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