Zikr-Silent

“Bismillahir Rahmannir Raheem”Al-Hamdu Lillaahi Rabbil ‘Aalameen was Salaatu was- Salaamu ‘Alaa Sayidinaa Muhammadin wa Aalihi wa Asabihi Ajma ‘een (tauheed- risalat- ahkirat and islam-iman-ihsan)

SILENT OR LOUD ZIKR

Dhikr may sometimes mean both inner remembrance and outward mention, as in the verse “Remember Me, and I shall remember you” (2/152)

Allah says, “I am with My servant when he remembers Me. If he remembers Me in himself, I remember him in Myself. If he remembers Me in an assembly, I remember him in a better assembly than his.”
Thus, silent dhikr is differentiated from dhikr said outloud by His saying: “remembers Me within himself,” meaning: “silently,” and “in an assembly,” meaning “aloud.”

Three types of dhikr: of the heart, of the tongue, and of the two together.

“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)

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.”

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.

(Tirmidhi ,Ibn Majah) “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.”

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.

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.

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.

Allah says, “I am with My servant when he remembers Me. If he remembers Me in himself, I remember him in Myself. If he remembers Me in an assembly, I remember him in a better assembly than his.”

“remembers Me within himself,” meaning: “silently,” and “in an assembly,” meaning “aloud.”

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.

The best dhikr is the hidden dhikr, and the best money is what suffices.

Dhikr of the tongue with presence of the heart is preferable to dhikr of the heart [without].

Dhikr returns from the outward feature which is the tongue to the inward which is the heart, in which it becomes solidly rooted, so that it takes firm hold of its members. The sweetness of this is tasted by the one who has taken to dhikr with the whole of himself, so that his skin and heart are softened.

“In the heart of my believing servant.” The meaning of this is the heart’s rest brought about by His remembrance.

And when hearts are satisfied with the Truth, they turn to the highest ideals without being deflected by impulses of desire or lust.

The “softening of the heart” = consists in the sensitivity and timidity that come as a result of nearness and tajalli [manifestation of one or more divine attributes].

The “softening of the skin.” = ecstasy and swaying from side to side which result from intimacy and manifestation, or from fear and awe…..The exhortation provided by fear and awe brings forth tears and forces one to tremble and be humble.

The righteous believers (abrar) when they hear the Speech and dhikr of Allah the Exalted. “Their skins shiver” (39/23) …and then soften with their hearts and incline to dhikr of Him, as they are covered in serenity and dignity, so that they are neither frivolous, pretentious, noisy, or ostentatious.

If your heart is in a state of zikr =angels will greet you in the middle of the road

“This kind of sight is shown to someone who persists in meditation (muraqaba), reflection (fikr), and anticipation (iqbal) of the next world.”

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,

Silent dhikr is the dhikr of the servant who secludes himself away from people.

“Isolation is better than to be sociable in committing evil”

“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.”

The root of thought is the eye….. The medicine is to cut off the roots of these distractions and to shut up the eyes, to pray in a dark room, not to keep anything in front which may attract attention and not to pray in a decorated place. For this reason, the saints used to worship in dark, narrow and unspacious rooms.”

The importance of silent dhikr

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.

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.

…. 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).

… “The dhikr not heard by the Recording Angels equals seventy times the one they hear.” (Bayhaqi)

When I want to talk to allah I say prayers and when I want that he talk to me I recite quran- Hazrath Ali(ra)

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