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Dhikr
(Remembering Allah)
By
Khalid Baig
The shepherd was approached
by a lone traveler in the desert. "I am hungry and have ran out of food.
Could I milk one of your sheep?" The shepherd replied that he was not the
owner of the sheep and could not let anyone milk them without the owner's permission.
The owner would surely notice it and would not like it. The traveler had an
idea. "Why don't you sell one of them to me. When the owner asks, you can
tell him that a wolf killed it. Wolves attack the herds all the time. I'll satisfy
my hunger. You'll get the money. We'll both profit." The shepherd strongly
refused saying: "But what about Allah!" Strangely, the traveler was
pleased to hear that. "As long as there are people like you in this ummah,
wolves won't kill the lambs," he said.
The shepherd was, of course,
not aware that he was talking to the Ameer-ul-Momineen, Umar, Radi-Allahu unhu,
who kept his finger on the pulse of his ummah. It was the spontaneous, natural
reaction of a believer who remembered Allah. And the comment came from the person
who knew the value of that remembrance. Today we find wolves killing the lambs
everywhere. Corruption has become common place in most parts of the Muslim world.
Why? Because most of us have moved away from that remembrance that was the protection
against sin and corruption!
The journey of life is beautifully
described in the Qur'an as a constant toil, at the end of which we are going
to meet our Creator.
"O mankind,
Verily you are ever toiling on towards your Lord --painfully toiling-- and you
shall meet Him." [Inshiqaq 84:6].
The person who remembers
Allah, then, is the person who keeps his eyes on his destination. The journey
is arduous. The distractions are many. Satan and our own desires are constantly
trying to steer us away from our goal. But the stakes are extremely high. And
a vigilant and wise person will never lose sight of his destination. Such is
the person who remembers Allah all the time.
"Behold!
In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and
day, there are indeed Signs for men of understanding-- men who remember Allah
standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides." [Aal-e-Imran, 3:190-191].
This remembrance or dhikr
is itself the source of strength for the believer. According to one hadith qudsi,
Allah says: "I am with my servant as long as he remembers Me."
It is for this reason that
a distinction is made between other ritual acts of worship, and dhikr. We are
not required to engage in the former excessively. In fact we are cautioned against
that possibility. But we are asked to perform dhikr profusely --keeping our
heart and tongue busy in that remembrance -- all the time. We simply cannot
overdo it. In fact Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, said: "Those
who enter paradise will not be sorry for anything they did in this life, except
the moments they spent without the remembrance of Allah."
But how can we remember
Allah when we cannot see Him and cannot even visualize His Person? There are
two answers. First, we look at His creations, for the creation reminds one of
the Creator. The verses of Aal-e-Imran quoted above mention this, as do numerous
other verses throughout the Qur'an. The more we look at the grand design of
the universe, the more we are reminded of the Designer. How many forces must
come together with perfect coordination before a seed can sprout? What keeps
this immensely complex and constantly expanding universe work so flawlessly?
From the simplest to the most complex things there are pointers to the Creator
on every square inch of this universe. In fact the Arabic word for the universe
(alam) comes from the root ilm or knowledge, because this universe is the means
of knowing the Creator.
Unfortunately the tragedy
that occurred when the Western civilization took the lead in science, was that
this connection was severed. As the Qur'an mentions:
"And how
many Signs in the heavens and the earth do they pass by? Yet they turn their
faces away from them." [Yusuf, 12:105].
For the Muslim scientists
today, a prime task must be to remove this ignorant delinking. It is a sign
of wisdom that a person looks at the universe and says Subhan-Allah, Glory be
to Allah.
Second, we recall Allah's
blessings on us. The fact is that we cannot fully encompass the blessings of
a single moment in our life. Right now somebody is reading these lines. We take
the act for granted and think nothing of it. But let us pause and reflect on
it. The eyes have to be working for us to recognize the printed characters.
The brain has to be working for us to translate the images of characters we
see on paper into meaningful statements that they stand for. We need peace of
mind to reflect on it. We need available time to even begin the process. None
of these is of our own making.
Most of us are lucky enough
to get food everyday. Again, we just take it for granted. But let us reflect
on the process of production of food materials; cooking and preparation of our
meals; and its consumption and digestion by our body -- and we may begin to
realize the blessings that we are receiving in one bite of the simplest food
we may eat! It is a sign of wisdom that a person realizes all this and says
Alhamdulillah, Praise be to Allah.
Subhan-Allah, Alhamdulillah,
Allahu-Akbar, these are some of the forms of dhikr of Allah. To pronounce them
is dhikr by the tongue. To understand and reflect on them is dhikr by heart.
Both forms are highly desirable and they reinforce each other. Repetition by
the tongue engraves the words in the heart. Understanding and reflection brings
life to the spoken words. Together, they help us keep our eyes on our destination
through the journey of life. They help us develop and strengthen our relationship
with Allah, thereby bringing peace of mind and protecting us from the evil temptations.
And we can hope that a person who always remembered that he has to meet with
Allah will not be disappointed when that time comes.
The unlettered shepherd
was a greater man of understanding than the "greatest great" who does
not remember Allah. If only we can understand.
[reproduced with permission
from www.albalagh.net]
Date/Time Last Modified: 6/18/2002 8:04:43 AM
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