Dhikr (Remembrance of Allah)

Book 035, Number 6471:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying that Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, thus stated: I am near to the thought of My servant as he thinks about Me, and I am with him as he remembers Me. And if he remembers Me in his heart, I also remember him in My Heart, and if he remembers Me in assembly I remember him in assembly, better than his (remembrance), and if he draws near Me by the span of a palm, I draw near him by the cubit, and if he draws near Me by the cubit I draw near him by the space (covered by) two hands. And if he walks towards Me, I rush towards him.

Meaning of Thikir

Plant example (i.e. Fruit)

Ibn Taimiyaa wrote, "Remembrance of Allah is to the heart what water is to fish. What happens to a fish when it is taken out of water?"

Remembrance of Allah is sustenance for both the heart and the spirit. If the servant is deprived of it he becomes like a body which has been deprived of food.

Much like our bodies need food, explain that spirit needs food as well. We aren’t guaranteed Jann’a just because we are Muslims; explain working for it.

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."

Book 035, Number 6505:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) as saying Allah has mobile (squads) of angels, who have no other work (to attend to but) to follow the assemblies of Dhikr and when they find such assemblies in which there is Dhikr (of Allah) they sit in them and some of them surround the others with their wings till the space between them and the sky of the world is fully covered, and when they disperse (after the assembly of Dhikr is adjourned) they go upward to the heaven and Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, asks them although He is best informed about them: Where have you come from? They say: We come from Thine servants upon the earth who had been glorifying Thee (reciting Subhan Allah), uttering Thine Greatness (saying Allah o-Akbar) and uttering Thine Oneness (La ilaha ill Allah) and praising Thee (uttering al-Hamdu Lillah) and begging of Thee. Be would say: What do they beg of Me? They would say: They beg of Thee the Paradise of Thine. He (God) would say: Have they seen My Paradise? They said: No, our Lord. He would say: (What it would be then) if they were to see Mine Paradise? They (the angels) said: They seek Thine protection. He (the Lord) would say: Against what do they seek protection of Mine? They (the angels) would say: Our Lord, from the Hell-Fire. He (the Lord) would say: Have they seen My Fire? They would say: No. He (the Lord) would say: What it would be if they were to see My Fire? They would say: They beg of Thee forgiveness. He would say: I grant pardon to them, and confer upon them what they ask for and grant them protection against which they seek protection. They (the angels) would again say: Our Lord, there is one amongst them such and such simple servant who happened to pass by (that assembly) and sat there along with them (who had been participating in that assembly). He (the Lord) would say: I also grant him pardon, for they are a people the seat-fellows of whom are in no way unfortunate.

Light Example

Explain how unappreciative some people are and how they don’t like talking about deen or Allah for that matter.

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)

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'."

Book 035, Number 6506:

Qatada asked Anas which Supplication Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) frequently made. He said: The supplication that he (the Holy Prophet made very frequently is this:" O Allah, grant us the good in this world and the good in the Hereafter and save us from the torment of Hell-Fire." He (Qatada) said that whenever Anas had to supplicate he made this very supplication, and whenever he (intended) to make another supplication he (inserted) this very supplication in that.

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 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."

Book 035, Number 6508:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: He who uttered these words:" There is no god but Allah, the One, having no partner with Him. Sovereignty belongs to Him and all the praise is due to Him, and He is Potent over everything" one hundred times every day there is a reward of emancipating ten slaves for him, and there are recorded hundred virtues to his credit, and hundred vices are blotted out from his scroll, and that is a safeguard for him against the Satan on that day till evening and no one brings anything more excellent than this, except one who has done more than this (who utters these words more than one hundred times and does more good acts) and he who utters:" Hallowed be Allah, and all praise is due to Him," one hundred times a day, his sins are obliterated even if they are equal to the extent of the foam of the ocean.

Book 035, Number 6509:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: He who recites in the morning and in the evening (these words):" Hallowed be Allah and all praise is due to Him" one hundred times, he would not bring on the Day of Resurrection anything excellent than this except one who utters these words or utters more than these words.

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)

Book 035, Number 6528:

Abu Musa reported that he (and his other companions) were climbing upon the hillock along with Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and when any person climbed up, he pronounced (loudly):" There is no god but Allah, Allah is the Greatest." Thereupon Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) said: Verily, you are not supplicating One Who is deaf or absent. He said: Abu Musa or Abdullah b Qais, should I not direct you to the words (which form) the treasure of Paradise? I said: Allah's Messenger, what are these? He said:" There is no might and no power but that of Allah."

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.

The one more distinguishing feature of the supplications taught by Muhammad (may peace be upon him) is that these are all permeated with the spirit of social fellowship. That is why most of the supplications have been expressed in the form" We" and Us".

Volume 8, Book 75, Number 333:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah's Apostle said, "When it is the last third of the night, our Lord, the Blessed, the Superior, descends every night to the heaven of the world and says, 'Is there anyone who invokes Me (demand anything from Me), that I may respond to his invocation; Is there anyone who asks Me for something that I may give (it to) him; Is there anyone who asks My forgiveness that I may forgive him?' "

Volume 8, Book 75, Number 335:

Narrated Shaddad bin 'Aus:

The Prophet said, "The most superior way of asking for forgiveness from Allah is: 'Allahumma anta Rabbi la ilaha illa anta. Khalaqtani wa ana 'abduka, wa ana 'ala 'ahdika wa Wa'dika mastata'tu abu'u Laka bi ni 'matika wa abu'u Laka bidhanbi; faghfirli fa'innahu la yaghfiru-dh-dhunuba ill a ant a. A'uidhu bika min sharri ma sana'tu.' If somebody recites this invocation during the night, and if he should die then, he will go to Paradise (or he will be from the people of Paradise). And if he recites it in the morning, and if he should die on the same day, he will have the same fate."

The Qur'an is also the best means for bringing the servant nearer to his Lord, Glorious and Exalted is He. Khabab ibn al-Arat said to a man, "Draw closer to Allah as much as you can, and remember that you can do so by no means more pleasing to Him than using His own words."

Volume 8, Book 75, Number 341:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The people said, "O Allah's Apostle! The rich people have got the highest degrees of prestige and the permanent pleasures (in this life and the life to come in the Hereafter)." He said, "How is that?" They said, "The rich pray as we pray, and strive in Allah's Cause as we do, and spend from their surplus wealth in charity, while we have no wealth (to spend likewise)." He said, "Shall I not tell you a thing, by doing which, you will catch up with those who are ahead of you and supersede those who will come after you; and nobody will be able to do such a good deed as you do except the one who does the same (deed as you do). That deed is to recite 'Subhan Allah ten times, and 'Al-Hamdulillah ten times, and 'AllahuAkbar' ten times after every prayer."

Advise about reading qur’an.