The benefits of dhikr
Contents
The term “dhikr” covers a range of nuanced meanings in the Qur’an. The two major senses of the root “dh-k-r” are:
- “To make fruitful”: from this angle, dhikr is, in the primary sense, the Word which conveys the seeds contained in the divine consciousness.
- “To remind, to mention, to remember, to invoke”: it is this second sense that concerns us here.
As Ibn ’Arabi makes clear, dhikr is a divine attribute, and in truth it is God who mentions Himself and mentions His creatures before they invoke Him: “Have you not seen that it is God whom all who are in the heavens and on the earth praise, and the birds in their ranks” (XXIV, 41).
That is why, in the Qur’an, dhikr refers, implicitly or explicitly, to multiple realities. Thus dhikr is the Qur’an itself: “It is We who, in truth, have sent down the Dhikr [the Qur’an], and it is indeed We who preserve it” (XV, 9); but it also designates the texts revealed before it: “We sent before you only men to whom We gave a revelation. Ask [about them], if you do not know, those who hold the Scriptures (ahl adh-dhikr)” (XVI, 43). Dhikr is also the ritual prayer (LXII, 9), information (XIX, 41), the honour of the revelation granted to Muhammad and his people (XLIII, 44), the learning of the Qur’an by heart (LIV, 17), “reminder” on many occasions, and so on.
What place does dhikr occupy in the life of the one who seeks God?
Only dhikr makes it possible to struggle against the amnesia which afflicts man, forgetful of his divine origins and of the Covenant (mithaq) sealed with God in pre-eternity.
Dhikr consists in the reminiscence, ceaselessly reactivated, of that bond with the divine which the human being knew before being “embodied”. Man is forgetful by nature, forgetful of God’s blessings, and kufr corresponds precisely to that ingratitude from which unbelief will flow. The Qur’an never ceases to warn against this amnesia: “Invoke your Lord when you have forgotten” (XVIII, 24); “Remember Me, and I will remember you”; “Invoke Me, and I will remember you. Be grateful to Me and do not be ungrateful!” (II, 152). Dhikr thus consists in struggling against this human propensity for heedlessness and distraction, in order to be present to God; that is, aware of the divine Presence.
The Qur’an also affirms the excellence of the invocation of God: “The invocation of God (dhikr Allah) is the greatest thing there is!” (XXIX, 45). Dhikr is prescribed at all times, whereas the other rites have set times and can be subject to dispensations. Dhikr in fact determines in the human being every mode of presence to God, whatever the situation or activity: “Those who invoke God standing, sitting or lying on their side” (III, 191).
When the Prophet was asked which fighter would obtain the greatest reward, he answered: “The one who will have remembered God most.” And when he was asked again: “Which faster will have the greatest reward?”, he repeated his answer: “The one who will have remembered God most.” And when prayer, almsgiving, pilgrimage and gifts were mentioned, he gave the same answer. Abu Bakr then said to ’Umar: “The people of Remembrance (adh-dhakiruna) have taken what is best!” The Prophet assented: “Indeed, yes!”
Why is dhikr so important on the path?
The role of invocation is to drive doubt away from the soul and to suppress psychic suggestions and bad thoughts, with a view to the purification of hearts. According to ’Abdallah, son of ’Umar, the Prophet Muhammad, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Truly, everything has a means of purification, and the means of purification for hearts is the dhikr of Allah. Nothing saves better from Allah’s chastisement than the dhikr of Allah”; and also this prophetic saying: “Hearts rust as iron rusts.” “And what makes them shine?”, one of them asked. “The invocation of God and the reading of the Qur’an,” he replied.
He also said: “He who invokes his Lord and he who does not are comparable, the one to a living man, the other to a dead man.”
Sidi Jamal, when he was guide of the Qadiriya Boutchichiya path, could say: “When a person invokes, he drives the shaytan away. And when a person grows cold, the ego and the shaytan join forces against him. It is difficult, very difficult. That is why we take the people of God as companions, so as to remain always alive.”
At the moment of dhikr, the invoker empties his heart of earthly concerns and turns away from the futilities and vicissitudes of this world, in order to orient himself towards the source of all things. The disciple strives to silence his ego, so as to act no longer according to his passions or to others’ gaze upon him, but according to God’s gaze fixed upon him. Instead of running endlessly from one desire to another, or from one creature to another, he sets about recognising the Creator’s presence and directing all his energy towards Him alone.
Dhikr polishes the heart and cleanses the soul of the “stray thoughts” of which we are more or less consenting slaves. Their impetuous course cannot be stopped without a spiritual influence that transcends us. If man follows his passions and refers to secondary causes, he departs from the very principle of God’s unicity and of the unicity of being. Being receptive to the invocation of God is thus the mark of an authentic faith: “The true believers are those whose hearts tremble when God is mentioned” (VIII, 2).
Besides the purification of the heart, what are the benefits of dhikr?
Dhikr is peace: “Do hearts not find rest in the remembrance of God?” (XIII, 28).
It is protection: “When certain demons touch them, those who fear God invoke Him, and at once they see clearly” (VII, 201).
Dhikr is also the first step on the path of love, for when one loves someone, one loves to repeat their name and one remembers them constantly: “And invoke your Lord abundantly, and proclaim His purity morning and evening.”
The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: “God loves the one who remembers Him much.”
In the end, the aim of invocation is to leave the state of heedlessness (al-ghafla) and forgetfulness for the state of wakefulness. Dhikr is thus the key to the return and the ascent towards God, the means of struggling against the soul’s passions and the weapon against shaytan, the inner act that leads to the purification of the soul and the sincerity of the heart. That is why invocation must be practised abundantly.
As Frithjof Schuon could say: “Spiritual realisation is at once the easiest and the most difficult thing: the easiest, because it is enough to remember God. The most difficult, because the nature of the ego is forgetfulness of God.” And, to finish, this prophetic saying: “The people of Paradise will regret only one thing: every hour they passed without practising the remembrance of God.”
To go deeper: “Les vertus du dhikr”, a work by shaykh Abdelkader Aïssa (éd. Iqra).
