Remembrance is the source and foundation of Allah’s friendship

Remembrance is the source and foundation of Allah’s friendship; forgetfulness is the origin and summit of His enmity.

Definition: It is the repetition of the Name of the Invoked by the heart and the tongue.

Remembrance comprises of any of the following:
1.Remebrance of God.
2.Remembrance of His commandments.
3.Remembrance of His deeds.
4.Supplication to God.
5.Remembrance of His messengers, prophets or saints.
6. Recitation of the Quran.
7.Relating poetry, conversation or a story concerning God and anything related to Him.

Therefore it is concluded that the theologian is one who remembers God as much as a muslim jurist, a teacher, a mufti or a preacher.
Anyone who contemplates Allah’s Majesty and His signs in the heavens and the earth is among the ones who remember Him.

Types of Remembrance:
Remembrance maybe with the tongue, heart or members of the body. It may be practiced secretly or openly. But the one who combines all these forms has truly perfected it.

Each form of remembrance has an effect specifically associated with it.
Remembrance with receptivity and vigilance leads to illumination.

Imam Ghazzali said:
Invocation is an inner reality in which the Invoked takes possession of the heart while the invoker is effaced and vanishes.

The three steps to the reality of remembrance are:
1.Remembrance with the tongue : The invoker unceasingly invokes with his tongue, striving for presence of the heart. When the heart is left to its nature, it wanders through valleys of thought, but when it is joined by the tongue of the reciter then the light of the heart is lit driving away the passions and evil inclinations. This is the stage of Zikr-e-Lisani.
2.This leads to the next step, where the invocation of the heart takes hold and that of the tongue becomes weaker. The body and the soul become filled with light and the heart is purified of other-than-God. Here the heart becomes a receptacle for inspiration and a polished mirror to reflect the Divine Light of Gnostic perceptions. This is the stage of Zikr-e-Qalbi.
3. When remembrance permeates the heart and diffuses through the body, then every member of the body invokes God.
Al-Jurayri reports: One of our friends used to say Allah Allah frequently. One day a tree trunk fell fracturing his skull, and the blood that spilled on the ground spelt Allah Allah.
This is the stage of Zikr-e-Sirr.
This is the stage of self-extinction. Here one should feel; nothing in the limbs, nothing exterior to one, or any inner phenomena. One vanishes from oneself as one goes to one’s Lord and then returns to oneself. Even the occurrence of the thought of extinction at that moment is a flaw and a veil. It is said that extinction from the state of extinction is the goal. This total absorption may be experienced, but rarely remains.

The Prophet s.w said: Whosoever wants to feast in the gardens of paradise, then let him remember God frequently.

It is said that when one invokes with the tongue, all inanimate things invoke with the invocation of one’s tongue.
When one invokes with the heart, the universe and all of God’s worlds therein invoke with one.
When one invokes with the spirit, the pedestal of God and all its worlds invoke with one.
When one invokes with the intellect, the bearers of the throne, angels and archangels and the spirits drawn near to God invoke with one.
When one invokes with the innermost Self, then the throne and all of its worlds invoke with one until one’s invocation is united with the Essence.

Quranic injunctions relating to Zikr:
"O ye who believe! Remember God often with much remembrance. And glorify Him morning and evening."33:41-2
"Such as remember God standing, sitting and reclining…"3:191
" And men who remember God much and women who remember---God hath prepared for them forgiveness and a vast reward."33:35
"Therefore remember Me and I will remember you."2:152
"Those who believe and whose hearts have rest in the remembrance of God: verily in the remembrance of God do hearts find rest."13:28

Hadith: Never do a people gather in any House, reciting Allah’s Book, studying it amongst themselves, and invoking God, without peace descending upon them, mercy enveloping them, the angels surrounding them, and God remembering them amongst those with Him.

Hadith Qudsi: He who remembers me in an assembly, I remember him in an assembly greater than his.

When the heart becomes empty, the mimbar of the Divine Oneness is placed therein, and the sultan of gnosis sits upon it. It is for this reason that the Prophet s.w said: The best thing that I and the Prophets before me have said is, "La ilaha ilallah. There is no divinity but God.

Meditation: The 1,24000 Prophets who have streamed from the Heart of Unity are the One light of the One religion of the One worship of the One God by the One humanity in the One creation. The veils of creation are transparent to Divine Light for the person who worships Allah only.
The sharp blade of La ilaha ilallah cuts easily through the conceptual spell of opposites.
Shaykh Nur al Jerrahi.


Zikr: La ilaha Ilallah Hu.