Khalifatullah Mehdi (AHS)

Dhikr-e-Dawam (Perpetual remembrance of Allah)

* A'isha said that the Prophet remembered Allah at all times of the day and night (Sahih Muslim)

* The Prophet said: "The best dhikr is La ilaha illallah." (Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah from Ibn Jubayr)

* Abu Huryara reported that the Messenger of Allah said, "Allah Almighty says, 'I am in My slave's opinion of Me and I am with Him when He remembers Me. When he remembers Me in himself, I mention him in Myself. If he mentions Me in an assembly, I mention him in a better assembly than them.' If he comes near Me by a handspan, I come near him a cubit. If he comes near Me by a cubit, I come near a fathom. When he comes to walking, I come to him running." (Muslim and al-Bukhari, Ahmad has at the end of it, Qatada said, "Allah is quicker to forgive.")

* Abu Musa reported, "The likeness of the one who remembers his Lord and the one who does not remember Him is like that of a living to a dead person." (Sahih Bukhari)

* Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri and Abu Huraira reported that the Prophet, peace by upon him, said, "When any group of men remember Allah, angels surround them and mercy covers them, tranquility descends upon them, and Allah mentions them to those who are with Him." (Narrated by Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ahmad, Ibn Majah, and Bayhaqi)

* Narrated Anas ibn Malik: The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: That I sit in the company of the people who remember Allah the Exalted from morning prayer till the sun rises is clearer to me than that I emancipate four slaves from the children of Isra'il, and that I sit with the people who remember Allah from afternoon prayer till the sun sets is dearer to me than that I emancipate four slaves. (Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 25: Knowledge (Kitab Al-Ilm), Number 3659)

* The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "The single-hearted (al-mufarridun) have surpassed all." They asked, "Who are these single-hearted people, O Prophet of Allah?" He replied, "Those men and women who remember Allah unceasingly." (Sahih Muslim)

* When a man complained, "The laws of Islam are too heavy for me, so tell me something that I can easily follow," the Prophet told him, "Let your tongue be always busy with the remembrance of Allah." (Narrated by Ahmad with two sound chains, also Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah through other chains, and Ibn Hibban who declared it sahih as well as al-Hakim)

* Mu'adh reported, "The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, 'No other act of man is a more effective means for his deliverance from the chastisement of Allah than the remembrance of Allah." (Narrated by Ahmad)

* It is related from Sa`d that the Prophet said: "The best dhikr is the hidden dhikr, and the best money is what suffices." (Ahmad narrates it in his Musnad, Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, and Bayhaqi in Shu`ab al-iman)

* Narrated on the authority of `A'isha: "Allah favors dhikr above dhikr seventyfold (meaning, silent dhikr over loud dhikr). On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will bring back human beings to His account, and the Recording Angels will bring what they have recorded and written, and Allah Almighty will say: See if something that belongs to my servant was left out? The angels will say: We left nothing out concerning what we have learnt and recorded, except that we have assessed it and written it. Allah will say: O my servant, I have something good of yours for which I alone will reward you, it is your hidden remembrance of Me." (Bayhaqi)

* On the authority of `A'isha: "The dhikr not heard by the Recording Angels equals seventy times the one they hear." (Bayhaqi)

* Abu Hurayra also reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "Renew your faith." "How can we renew our faith?" they asked. The Prophet replied: "Say always: la ilaha illallah." (Narrated by Ahmad with a fair chain of authorities)

* Jabir reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "The best remembrance of Allah is to repeat la ilaha illallah and the best prayer (du'a) is al-hamdu lillah (all praise belongs to Allah)." (Narrated by Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, and Hakim who declared its chain sound)

* The Prophet said, "Remember Allah as much as you want, until people say that you are crazy and foolish" (Narrated by Ahmad in his Musnad, Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, and al-Hakim who declared it sahih)

* During the night of Isra' and Mi`raj, the Prophet was taken up to a point where he heard the screeching of the Pens (writing the divine Decree). He saw a man who had disappeared into the light of the Throne. He said: "Who is this? Is this an angel?" It was said to him, no. He said: "Is it a Prophet?" Again the answer was no. He said: "Who is it then?" The answer was: "This is a man whose tongue was moist with Allah's remembrance in the world, and his heart was attached to the mosques, and he never incurred the curse of his father and mother." (Shaykh Muhammad `Alawi al-Malaki cited it in his collated text of the sound narrations on that topic entitled al-Anwar al-bahiyya min isra' wa mi`raj khayr al-bariyya)

* `Abd Allah ibn `Umar said that the Prophet used to say: "Everything has a polish, and the polish of hearts is dhikr of Allah. Nothing is more calculated to rescue from Allah's punishment than dhikr of Allah." He was asked whether this did not apply also to jihad in Allah's path, and he replied: "Not even if one should ply his sword until it breaks." (Bayhaqi narrated it in Kitab al-da`awat al-kabir as well as in his Shu`ab al-iman (1:396 #522), also al-Mundhiri in al-Targhib (2:396) and Tibrizi mentions it in Mishkat al-masabih, at the end of the book of Supplications)

* Abu Sa`id narrates: The Prophet was asked, "Which of the servants of Allah is best in rank before Allah on the Day of resurrection?" He said: "The ones who remember him much." I said: "O Messenger of Allah, what about the fighter in the way of Allah?" He answered: "Even if he strikes the unbelievers and mushrikin with his sword until it broke, and becomes red with their blood, truly those who do dhikr are better than him in rank." (Related in Ahmad, Tirmidhi, and Bayhaqi)

* Abu al-Darda' narrates: The Prophet once asked his companions: "Shall I tell you about the best of all deeds, the best act of piety in the eyes of your Lord, which will elevate your status in the Hereafter, and carries more virtue than the spending of gold and silver in the service of Allah or taking part in jihad and slaying or being slain in the path of Allah? The dhikr of Allah." (Related in the Malik's Muwatta', the Musnad of Ahmad, the Sunan of Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, and the Mustadrak of Hakim. Al-Bayhaqi, Hakim and others declared it sahih)

* Abu Hurayra said that the Prophet said, Peace be upon him: "The earth and everything in it is cursed, except for dhikr and what attends dhikr, and a teacher (of dhikr) and a student (of dhikr)." (Narrated by Tirmidhi who said it is hasan, Ibn Majah who said the same, Bayhaqi, and others. Suyuti cites it in al-Jami` al-saghir from al-Bazzar's similar narration from Ibn Mas`ud and he declared it sahih. Tabarani also narrated it in al-Awsat from Abu al-Darda')

* Mu`adh ibn Jabal said that the Prophet also said: "The People of Paradise will not regret except one thing alone: the hour that passed them by and in which they made no remembrance of Allah." [Narrated by Bayhaqi in Shu`ab al-iman (1:392 #512-513) and by Tabarani. Haythami in Majma` al-zawa'id (10:74) said that its narrators are all trustworthy (thiqat), while Suyuti declared it hasan in his Jami` al-saghir (#7701)]

* The Prophet said: "If your hearts were always in the state that they are in during dhikr, the angels would come to see you to the point that they would greet you in the middle of the road." (Sahih Muslim)

* The Prophet said Allah will give shade to seven (types of people) under His Shade (on the Day of Resurrection). (one of them will be) a person who remembers Allah in seclusion and his eyes are then flooded with tears.(Narrated Abu Huraira, Sahih Bukhari Volume 8, Book 76, Number 486)

* Abu Wa'il reported: One day we went to 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud after we had observed the dawn prayer and we paid salutation at the door. He permitted us to enter, but we stayed for a while at the door, when the slave-girl came out and said: Why don't you come in? So we went in and (we found 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud) sitting and glorifying Allah (i. e. he was busy in dhikr) and he said: What obstructed you from coming in though you had been granted permission for it? We said: There was nothing (behind it) but we entertained the idea that some inmate of the house might be sleeping. He said: Do you presume any idleness on the part of the family of Ibn Umm 'Abd (the mother of Abdullah b. Mas'ud)? He was again busy with the glorification of Allah till he thought that the sun had risen. He said: Girl, see whether (the sun) has arisen. She glanced but it had not risen (by that time). He was again busy with the glorification (of Allah) and he (again) thought that the sun had arisen. She glanced (and confirmed) that, it had risen. Upon this he ('Abdullah b. Mas'ud) said: Praise be to Allah Who did not call us to account for our sins today. Mahdi said: I think that he said, He did not destroy us for our sins. One among the people said: I recited all the mufassal surahs during the night. 'Abdullah said: (You must have recited them) like the (recitation) of poetry. I heard (the Holy Prophet) combining (the surahs) and I remember the combinations which the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) made In the recitation (of surahs). These were constituted of eighteen mufassal surahs and two surahs (commencing with) Ha-Mim. (Sahih Muslim, Book 004, Number 1794)

* 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. He 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 My 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. (Sahih Muslim, Book 035, Number 6505)

* Hadhrat Abu Hurayra (Radhiallaahu Anhu) narrates that Nabi (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) said, "The following persons will be granted shade by Allah in the shade of His throne on that day when there will be no shade except the shade of the throne of Allah: 1) A Just ruler 2) A Young man who worships Allah in his youth 3) A person whose heart yearns for the Masjid 4) Those two persons who love and meet one another for the pleasure of Allah 5) A man who is tempted by an honoured and beautiful woman and refuses to respond for the fear of Allah 6) A person who gives charity so secretly that the charity of one hand is not known to the other 7) A person who makes the Dhikr of Allah in solitude and the tears flow from his eyes." (Mishkaat pg.68; Qadeemi)

* The Prophet (saws) said: “ Those people who leave a gathering in which they have not remembered Allah, will conclude it as if it has foul odour similar to that of a rotten carcass of a donkey. And it will be a cause of grief to them.” (Narrated by Abu Hurairah (r.a.) Hadith from Riyah-us-Saliheen.The book of the Etiquette . Hadith number 835 Abu Dawud)

* Abu Musa reported that the Messenger of Allah said, "If one man has some dirhams in his possession which he divides and another remembers Allah, the one who remembers Allah is better." One variant has, "There is no sadaqa better than remembrance of Allah." (at-Tabarani)

* Umm Anas reported that she said, "Messenger of Allah, command me." He said, "Avoid acts of disobedience: that is the best jihad. Do a lot of invoking Allah. You do not bring Allah anything he loves more than a lot of remembrance." (at-Tabarani. In one variant, "Remember Allah a lot. It is the action which Allah loves most to reveive." At-Tabarani notes that Umm Anas is not the mother of Anas ibn Malik.)