Dhikr (Remembrance of Allah)
InshaAllah I would like to talk about the importance of Dhikr or the rememberance of Allah (SWT) in our lives. But first i would like to very briefly touch upon a concept in the Hadith of the Rasul (PBUH) which says:
"Take benefit of five before five: your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before you are preoccupied and your life before your death.'"Sahih - Narrated by Ibn Abbaas
Most if not all of us here are University students and if not before, should now be realizing the importance of time in our lives. If any of us just think back to when we were kids we would realize the immense difference of relatively how much time we had back then and how little we have now. And using that same analogy we can forsee how little we will have in the future after graduation, if we decide to go to grad-school, when we get married, when the bills pile up, when the kids start popping out left and right inshaAllah. We will then realize and say as many of us might be saying today, "Why didn't i take advantage of that time do so many of the things which could so greatly have benefitted me today. Because when participating in any activities becoming a more well-rounded person just comes with the territory...obviously we have to carefully choose what those activities are, but non-the-less you will become more well rounded. So if we look at our lives today and clearly there is evidence of this feeling of nastalgia for our past and a regret for not taking advantage of certain things, then what about when we get older and older and the lack of these things actually directly affect our lives, say when our health decays (la samah Allah). And what about when we die? You know when people are talkin about their past they often say, I remember it like it was yesterday. Just think, one moment ago you were just getting ready for a spelling test in fourth grade, or a qur'an class in second grade where the teacher was going to ask you to recite surat al-fatiha. Seriously think about this, it was as if it was yesterday or even closer.
The Qur'an says:
"One day He will gather them together: (It will be) as if they had tarried
but an hour of a day: they will recognise each other: assuredly those will
be lost who denied the meeting with Allah and refused to receive true
guidance" Surat Yunus aya 45
So time is very important and i am definitely reminding myself before anyone else about this. So now what do we do with this time? What is our objective?
Allah says
"51:56 I have only created Jinns and men, that they may serve Me."
As this ayah says, which is many of you may have heard over and over before our purpose in this life is to serve Allah. Another ayah describes the life of this world.
"57:20 Know ye (all), that the life of this world is but play and amusement,
pomp and mutual boasting and multiplying, (in rivalry) among yourselves,
riches and children.
If you think about it, that's all that this life is. A game, a competition, so like the hokey pokey if we all play by the rules we all win. If we digress and break the rules, we are warned of a terrible punishment and subhanAllah Allah calls them Losers in the Quran, may Allah protect all of us from being a part of those people. But in this game of life there are people who can win even more than others by going the extra mile while having the proper intentions.
The ayah goes on to say:
Here is a similitude: How rain and the growth which it brings forth,
delight (the hearts of) the tillers; soon it withers; thou wilt see it grow
yellow; then it becomes dry and crumbles away. But in the Hereafter is a
Penalty severe (for the devotees of wrong). And Forgiveness from Allah and
(His) Good Pleasure
(for the devotees of Allah.. And what is the life of this world, but goods
and chattels of deception? "
Dhikr
So we know what the life of this world is all about, it's to be servants to Allah, and we must always compete in good deeds. In order to do so, we must be reminded, either by our own imaan and taqwa, that can be elaborated on later. But there are those who forget where they came from and who they are, I don't mean what country or neighborhood they're from but where they essentially came from. When Allah created us He then through His divine speech however that may have been asked us "Alastu bi rabikum" "Am i not your Lord" and we all replied "Yes". Belief is an essential part of us all, and we are all born with the belief in God. But there are times when man forgets for some reason or another about Allah and denies His existence, and the Qur'an expresses this. When i first read this ayah it really hit me, i had to sit and think about it for a bit it was a real reality check.
Qur'an Surat al-Nahl
Khalaqa alinsana min nutfatin faitha huwa khaseemun mubeen
"He has created man from a sperm-drop and behold this same man becomes an open disputer"
SubhanAllah, Allah is putting everybody in check with this ayah. He shoots us down and reminds us to watch out before we think we're all that and that nobody can stop us, and before we start trying to think we dont need Allah. This ayah is saying remember where you came from, you're nothing, you were just a little microscopic being, and now you think you're the man and you have the nerve to challenge the creator of the realm in which you live. I could go on expressing how deep this ayah is but i will conclude with a couple ayat from Surat Ya Sin
Qur'an Surat Ya Sin
(36:68) "If We grant long life to any, We cause him to be reversed in
nature: Will they not then understand?"
36:69 We have not instructed the (Prophet) in Poetry, nor is it meet for
him: this is no less than a Message and a Qur'an making things clear:
36:70 That it may give admonition to any (who are) alive, and that the
charge may be proved against those who reject (Truth).
36:71 See they not that it is We Who have created for them - among the
things which Our hands have fashioned - cattle, which are under their
dominion?
36:72 And that We have subjected them to their (use)? of them some do carry
them and some they eat:
36:73 And they have (other) profits from them (besides), and they get (milk)
to drink. Will they not then be grateful?
36:74 Yet they take (for worship) gods other than Allah, (hoping) that they
might be helped!
36:75 They have not the power to help them: but they will be brought up
(before Our Judgment-seat) as a troop (to be condemned).
36:76 Let not their speech, then, grieve thee. Verily We know what they hide
as well as what they disclose.
36:77 Doth not man see that it is We Who created him from sperm? yet behold!
he (stands forth) as an open adversary!
36:78 And he makes comparisons for Us, and forgets his own (origin and)
Creation: He says, "Who can give life to (dry) bones and decomposed ones (at
that)?"
36:79 Say, "He will give them life Who created them for the first time! for
He is Well-versed in every kind of creation!-
36:80 "The same Who produces for you fire out of the green tree, when
behold! ye kindle therewith (your own fires)!
36:81 "Is not He Who created the heavens and the earth able to create the
like thereof?" - Yea, indeed! for He is the Creator Supreme, of skill and
knowledge (infinite)!
36:82 Verily, when He intends a thing, His Command is, "be", and it is!
36:83 So glory to Him in Whose hands is the dominion of all things: and to
Him will ye be all brought back.
Allahuma innaka afuwun tuhibul afwa fa3fu 3ana
Allahuma adina fidunya hasana wa fil akhirati hasana wa kina adhab al nar
Oh Allah please guide us all on the straight path and never let us stray.
Oh Allah please guide us to having strong iman and taqwa
Oh Allah please forgive us all for all of our sins and protect us from
returning to them
Oh Allah please protect us from the Torture of the Grave and the torture of
Yowm al Hashr and the Tortures of Jahannam
Oh Allah please grant us all with Jannat al-Firdous al A'la
Oh Allah please grant us all some of your infinite mercy for we are nothing
but your servants and you are the one who is truly in control of everything
Wa Sali wa salim 'ala sayyidina Muhammadin wa 'ala allihi wa sahbihi
ajma3een.