ISLAMIC REMEMBRANCE OF GOD:
THE PERPETUAL PRAYER
So remember the Name of your Lord
and devote yourself with a complete devotion - Koran
73:8
*************
Remember Allah, the One, the Everlasting
Refuge.
Remembrance of God is the essence of
Islam. The whole reason the Islamic religion exists is to
bring human beings back to a remembrance of God. The very
reason that God sends mankind prophets and revelations is to
bring human beings back to a remembrance of Him.
Islam sees the human condition as one of
amnesia and forgetfulness. Man is ever prone to forget God
and therefore to lose connection with his Creator and
Sustainer. Man is prone to become distracted by the lure of
the world of flux in which he is immersed. He quickly
entertains self-delusions and forgets that his whole life is
under God's command and that he owes every breath he takes
to God and God alone.
Forgetfulness is the bedrock of sin and
the matrix of darkness. It is forgetfulness that creates our
separation from God when, in reality - if we were but aware
of it - God is ever-present, immanent and in-dwelling. We
dally and fumble in the past and in the future while God is
here now, immediate, real, not remote and abstract as we
imagine.
The message of the prophets to mankind is
to climb free of the mire of forgefulness, awake from the
sleep of self-alienation, and to remember God at the centre
of our lives and beings. This simple act places all other
things in perspective and is the key to happiness and a
meaningful life. In the Koran God promises that if we
remember Him he will remember us on the Day of Judgement.
Therefore remember Me, I will
remember you. - Koran 2:152
The Koranic word for remembrance is
"dhikr". Dhikr, Remembrance of God, is the Koran's central
theme. Indeed, the Koran refers to itself as Dhikr, a
reminder from God.
In the Koran Muslims are enjoined to
remember God by invoking His Name - Allah. The essential,
simplest prayer of Islam is the utterance of God's Name -
Allah. This is the most basic religious instinct of the
human soul - to call out to God by His Name. The Dhikr
(Remembrance) is nothing but the cry of the human soul for
its Creator and Sustainer. Allah! Allah! Allah!
As a spritual practise remembrance of
God, invoking His Name, is the sunnah (example) of the Holy
Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, for God instructed
him:
And do you [O Muhammad] remember your Lord
within thyself humbly and with awe, below your breath, at
morn and evening. And be not you of the neglectful. - Koran
7:205
**********
The following method of Dhikr
(Remembrance) is the basic, unadorned method used by Muslims
throughout the centuries and reduced to its simplest
elements in a modern format. It consists of the continuous
invocation of the Name of God, i.e. Allah. While the method
seems simple, the invocation of the Name is the basis of the
whole of Muslim piety and is a profound practise of devotion
and spiritual transformation.
Remember your
Lord much - Koran 3:41
BASIC
METHOD
1. Sit in any comfortable
position (facing any direction), feet firmly on the
floor.
2. Relax. Close your
eyes.
3. Listen to your
breathing. Turn your attention inwards.
4. Direct your attention
to the centre of your chest (your bosom). This is a point
midway between your breast-bone and the pit of your throat
and midway between your two shoulders. Identify this point
as your centre.
5. Keeping your mouth
closed, begin repeating the Divine Name - Allah, Allah,
Allah... inwardly, under your breath, situating it in the
centre of your chest (your bosom). Imagine it as a slow,
steady chant in a soft, quiet voice. Move your attention
from your breath to this internal chant.
6. Remain relaxed and
keep doing this. Every time other thoughts intrude into your
mind slowly re-establish your concentration, maintain the
Divine Name - Allah, Allah, Allah..., situating it in the
centre of your chest (bosom).
***********
THE DIVINE PRESENCE
Whenever you are invoking the Divine Name
you should make yourself consious of the Divine Presence,
the in-dwelling of God in all things, including in yourself.
You can reflect on the following verses of the Holy
Koran:
He [Allah] is nearer to him [man] than
is his jugular vein. - 50:16
He [Allah] is with you wheresoever you
be. - 57:4
God is with us, but we forget Him. To
remember Him is to realise His Presence.
ATTITUDE OF SUBMISSION
You should approach the practise of Dhikr
with an attitude of humility and submission. As stated
above, the Dhikr is nothing but the cry of the human soul
for its Creator and Sustainer. So let your heart cry out. It
is a certain fact that to Allah you and all things return.
When you invoke His Name put yourself in His hands and
entrust your soul to Him.
QIBLA
The Dhikr invocations can be done facing
in any direction. But it is better to face in the direction
of the holy Qibla, i.e. towards the Kaaba in Mecca. The
Qibla - and the Kaaba - are the outer, geographical
correlatives of the inner heart of the soul, the sacred
centre. Keep turning your heart to God. When your heart
strays, turn it back again.
OPEN EYES
You can modify the Dhikr method given
above by invoking the Name with your eyes open. This is in
fact better. Concentrate your gaze upon a fixed point
directly before you and keep returning your focus to this
point as your eyes begin to wander.
INVOKING ALOUD
Quiet, inner invocation is better than
invoking aloud but sessions of vocalized invocation will
help to reinforce the silent invocation. It is usual to
begin invoking aloud quietly and slowly, to gradually
increase the pace and volume, and then to return to quiet
and slow at the end. You can set aside sessions for
vocalized invocation alone or it can be done in groups. It
is permissible to use a drum (but no other instruments) to
accompany vocalized Dhikr.
PRAYER BEADS
You can employ a set of prayer beads to
assist with the Dhikr. Any set of prayer beads that you find
comfortable will do. The typical string of Muslim prayer
beads has ninety-nine (or thirty-three) beads.
HANDS IN PRAYER
You can, if you wish, raise your hands,
palms up, as if reading a book, in the Muslim position
called duwa. This, or the use of prayer beads, will prevent
you from falling asleep during Dkihr.
ABLUTIONS
It is good to wash according to the
method of Muslim ablutions (wudu) before a session of
Dhikr.
STRESS
Adopt the habit of returning to the Dhikr
whenever you are stressed or anxious or fearful or to combat
feelings of anger. The Dhikr is centering. Return to
God.
THE ABODE OF PEACE
You should associate the Dhikr with a
place or state of tranquility within yourself, your centre,
your heart (qalb). It is constant, steady, unperturbed,
ever-present, there - Allah, Allah, Allah... This is the
Abode of Peace of which the Koran speaks. Remembrance brings
tranquility to the heart of man, a single, steady devotion
to the One God, the Everlasting Refuge.
WALKING
You can adapt the Dhikr into a method of
walking prayer. Make it your daily habit to go for a long
walk. As you walk try to maintain the invocation in your
bosom. The sitting posture recommended in the instructions
above is just the beginning. The Koran enjoins us to
continue the invocation wherever we are.
Remember ALLAH, standing,
sitting, and reclining. - Koran 3:191, 4:103
IN THE WORLD
Return to the invocation of the Divine
Name at every opportunity during your daily life. There are
plenty of occasions during the day when we day-dream or have
nothing to do - fill these spare moments with the Dhikr
prayer. The method described above, where you invoke the
Name while sitting quietly, eyes closed, is only a
preparatory exercise. The proper mode of Dhikr is to
continue the internal invocation as you go about your daily
business, in all circumstances. This involves a certain
degree of detachment from the world, even as one engages
with the world. The ideal is to be "in the world but not of
the world." It is the Dhikr that is maintained in everyday
life that is most transforming. There is no need to retire
from the world. The Dhikr is a mode of prayer that can be
done in the midst of a busy life. There is no need that
anyone be aware you are doing this inner prayer. It is a
personal, inward invocation of God, established in your own
personal relation to God.
EXTRANEOUS TALK
Most people can make more daily
opportunities for the invocation of the Name by abandoning
the habit of extraneous talk. Talk less. Cultivate silence.
Similarly, escape from radio, TV, DVDs. Fill the silence
with the Name of God.
It is
reported - but Allah knows best - that the Prophet Muhammad
- may peace be upon him - said, "Do not talk for long
without remembering Allah, for talking much without
remembering Allah is hardness of the heart. The most distant
among man from Allah is one with a hardened heart."
WORK
The Dhikr is perfectly adapted to
accompany rhythmic forms of physical labour - chopping,
digging, sawing, hoeing. (The demise of such rhythmic forms
of labour after industrialization is the single greatest
reason for the decline of the Dhikr in the Muslim
world.)
CALLIGRAPHY
It is useful to place a calligraphy of
the Divine Name in Arabic in your house or some place where
you are likely to encounter it often. It then serves as a
reminder for the Dhikr. Whenever you see the Name of God
your heart responds by returning to the invocation of His
Name.
PERPETUAL
PRAYER
The ultimate objective of the Dhikr
invocations is to establish it as a perpetual prayer in your
heart. You must establish the inner recitation of the Name
as a permanent habit of mind. It is, as the sages of Islam
attest, the very best of habits.
The objective is to dedicate your every
heartbeat to Allah Almighty. This is the essence of
submission to God. Over time the invocation will become
automatic. You will find yourself doing it without thinking.
You will be able to return inwardly at any time and find the
Name of God beating with your heart in the centre of your
being.
But you will also find that your mind
will resist this. There is that nature within us - called
the nafs in Arabic - that loves to be scattered and lost in
forgetfulness. It is rebellious. You must overcome this
tendency and remain steadfast. Establish the Name of God in
your heart, constant, unerring, untiring.
It is a psychological fact that there is
a constant stream of nonsense and trivia floating through
our minds, idle chatter, boasts of the ego, petty
melodramas, self-indulgences, flotsom and jetsom. The Name
of God will silence this sewer of involuntary drivel that
has possession of our minds. This has a healing effect on
the mind. It brings peace.
Beyond that, you will encounter the
mysteries of the Name and discover that, once you actualise
its dwelling within you, it has the power to transform your
soul. The Dhikr is the key to gnosis, selfless knowledge,
the key to Reality and Truth.
Men who
remember ALLAH much and women who remember - ALLAH has
prepared for them forgiveness and a vast reward. - Koran
33:35
It is reported
- but Allah knows best - that a man said to the Prophet
Muhammad - upon whom be peace - "Messenger of Allah, the
laws of Islam are too much for me. Tell me something I can
cling to." He said, "Your tongue should remain moist with
the remembrance of Allah."
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