Abdul Muqit Chowdhury :
‘Zikr’ means ‘remembrance’ and ‘Zikrullah’ means ‘remembrance of Allah’. According to the Holy Quran, it is the greatest spiritual virtue. It has special significance in the month of fasting. Because fasting enables the believers to
have continuous remembrance of Allah. It needs to be conscious about the ordained responsibility of abstaining from activities not approved by Allah.
Allah is the Creator of human beings and the natural phenomena. He has given us the faculties of hearing, sight, understanding and ability to speak and work. For everything we have, we should ‘remember’ Allah for His bounties and mercy on us and submit our highest praises. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the universe. The Holy Quran reveals : “Then do ye remember/Me; I will remember/ You. Be grateful to Me,/And reject not Faith.” (Sura Baqara 2 : 152, The Holy Quran : Translation and Commentary by A. Yusuf Ali)
Allama Yusuf Ali comments : “The word ‘remember’ is too pale a word for zikr, which has now acquired a large number of associations in our religious literature, especially Sufi literature. In its verbal signification it implies : to remember ; to praise by frequently mentioning; to rehearse; to celebrate or commemorate ; to make much of ; to cherish the memory of as a precious possession. In Sufi devotions zikr represents both a solemn ritual and a spiritual state of mind or heart, in which the devotee seeks to realise the presence of God. Thus there is zikr of the mind and zikr of the heart. For beginners the one may lead to the other, but in many cases the two may be simultaneous. There is a subtler distinction, between the zikr that is open, and the zikr that is secret, corresponding to the two doors of the heart, the fleshly and the spiritual.
In English some account (very imperfect) of zikr will be found in Hughes’s Dictionary of Islam , covering over 14 columns.
From here on to ii167 there is a great deal of mystic doctrine. That it is linked with the institution of the Qibla shows that the Qibla is itself connected with a great many root-ideas of the mystical interpretation of Unity.”
“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 God/Is the greatest (thing in life)/Without doubt. And God knows/The (deeds) that ye do”. (Sura ‘Ankabut 29: 45, Do)
Allama Yusuf Ali comments : “The tilawat of the Holy Quran implies : (1) rehearsing or reciting it, and publishing it abroad to the world ; (2) reading it to ourselves ; (3) studying it to understand it as it should be studied and understood (ii. 121) ; (4) meditating on it so as to accord our knowledge and life and desires with it. When this is done, it merges into real Prayer, and Prayer purges us of anything (act, plan, thought, motive, words) of which we should be ashamed or which would work injustice to others.
Such Prayer passes into our inmost life and being, for then we realise the Presence of God, and that is true zikr (or remembrance), for remembrance is the bringing to mind of things as present to us which might otherwise be absent to us. And that is the greatest thing in life. It is subjective to us : it feels our consciousness with God. For God is in any case always present and knows all.”
There are many other verses in the Holy Quran on remembrance of Allah in which Allah asks us to remember His name and devote ourselves whole-heartedly to Him. If we remember Allah, His assurance is that He will remember us.
Hazrat Abu Hurayra (Ra) narrated : “Rasulullah (Sm) said, there is a group of angels of Allah, who go on searching the people in the streets who remember Allah …. “(Bukhari and Muslim Sharif) This is a detailed Hadith, which concludes that those who are related with the remembrance of Allah, are not deprived of the blessings, mercy, forgiveness and salvation from Allah.
Hazrat Abu Musa (Ra) quoted Hazrat Muhammad (Sm) to have said, “The person who remembers his Lord and the person who does not remember, their example is like the living and the dead.” (Bukhari and Muslim Sharif).
‘Zikr’ means ‘remembrance’ and ‘Zikrullah’ means ‘remembrance of Allah’. According to the Holy Quran, it is the greatest spiritual virtue. It has special significance in the month of fasting. Because fasting enables the believers to
have continuous remembrance of Allah. It needs to be conscious about the ordained responsibility of abstaining from activities not approved by Allah.
Allah is the Creator of human beings and the natural phenomena. He has given us the faculties of hearing, sight, understanding and ability to speak and work. For everything we have, we should ‘remember’ Allah for His bounties and mercy on us and submit our highest praises. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the universe. The Holy Quran reveals : “Then do ye remember/Me; I will remember/ You. Be grateful to Me,/And reject not Faith.” (Sura Baqara 2 : 152, The Holy Quran : Translation and Commentary by A. Yusuf Ali)
Allama Yusuf Ali comments : “The word ‘remember’ is too pale a word for zikr, which has now acquired a large number of associations in our religious literature, especially Sufi literature. In its verbal signification it implies : to remember ; to praise by frequently mentioning; to rehearse; to celebrate or commemorate ; to make much of ; to cherish the memory of as a precious possession. In Sufi devotions zikr represents both a solemn ritual and a spiritual state of mind or heart, in which the devotee seeks to realise the presence of God. Thus there is zikr of the mind and zikr of the heart. For beginners the one may lead to the other, but in many cases the two may be simultaneous. There is a subtler distinction, between the zikr that is open, and the zikr that is secret, corresponding to the two doors of the heart, the fleshly and the spiritual.
In English some account (very imperfect) of zikr will be found in Hughes’s Dictionary of Islam , covering over 14 columns.
From here on to ii167 there is a great deal of mystic doctrine. That it is linked with the institution of the Qibla shows that the Qibla is itself connected with a great many root-ideas of the mystical interpretation of Unity.”
“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 God/Is the greatest (thing in life)/Without doubt. And God knows/The (deeds) that ye do”. (Sura ‘Ankabut 29: 45, Do)
Allama Yusuf Ali comments : “The tilawat of the Holy Quran implies : (1) rehearsing or reciting it, and publishing it abroad to the world ; (2) reading it to ourselves ; (3) studying it to understand it as it should be studied and understood (ii. 121) ; (4) meditating on it so as to accord our knowledge and life and desires with it. When this is done, it merges into real Prayer, and Prayer purges us of anything (act, plan, thought, motive, words) of which we should be ashamed or which would work injustice to others.
Such Prayer passes into our inmost life and being, for then we realise the Presence of God, and that is true zikr (or remembrance), for remembrance is the bringing to mind of things as present to us which might otherwise be absent to us. And that is the greatest thing in life. It is subjective to us : it feels our consciousness with God. For God is in any case always present and knows all.”
There are many other verses in the Holy Quran on remembrance of Allah in which Allah asks us to remember His name and devote ourselves whole-heartedly to Him. If we remember Allah, His assurance is that He will remember us.
Hazrat Abu Hurayra (Ra) narrated : “Rasulullah (Sm) said, there is a group of angels of Allah, who go on searching the people in the streets who remember Allah …. “(Bukhari and Muslim Sharif) This is a detailed Hadith, which concludes that those who are related with the remembrance of Allah, are not deprived of the blessings, mercy, forgiveness and salvation from Allah.
Hazrat Abu Musa (Ra) quoted Hazrat Muhammad (Sm) to have said, “The person who remembers his Lord and the person who does not remember, their example is like the living and the dead.” (Bukhari and Muslim Sharif).
