Concept of remembrance of Allah; Remembering Allah deep in the Earth -By Musa Halimat

All praises and adoration to the most HIGH. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon the soul of best Mankind Al Mustapha Muhammad SAW, his households, companions and generality of Muslims.
I do feel bad and sad most time when I finish observing my solat or saying my daily adhkar because they are empty of remembrance of Allah.

They are rather full of thought about things happen in this wordly life. I thought this loud to many people and they said it happens to them too. This become a critical issue one need not to take with levity hand because our purpose of creation is to worship Allah and not just worshipping Him anyhow one need to be steadfast to earn the reward so that effort will not be in vain.

This move me to decide to conduct a research on remembrance of Allah. This is the outcome of my research. May Allah make it beneficial to us.

Concept of rememance of Allah

Dhikr is the Arabic word of rememance of Allah. Remembrance of Allah is just another term for adoration, love and worship of Allah for rendering thanks and becoming grateful servant of the creator. Remembrance of Allah is comprises of two main ideas: movement of the tongue and it effects on the heart. It should not only be felt as movement of the tongue but also felt deep in the heart.
How should dhikr be felt in the heart?
Dhikr is felt in the heart by knowing the meaning of what is being utter so whenever the adhkar is said, then the meaning should be translated into the heart from there the heart is assured. As Allah says in Q13:28 “those who believed and whose heart are assured by the remembrance of Allah unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah heart is assured”

Likewise the prophet was reported to have said in one of his hadith that “If your heart were always in a state of remembrance of Allah that they are in during dhikr, the angel would come to see you to the point that they would greet you in the middle of the road “

Also, in another narration he said “the people of paradise will only regret on one thing, not having made enough dhikr in this world”

When should we remember Allah deep in our heart?Dhikr is an important aspect of worship which should be done all the time because that is the purpose of our existence. As Allah says “And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me (Adh-Dhariyat 51:56). He also says in another verse “O you who have believed, remember Allah with much remembrance” (Al-Ahzab 33:41). Also in suratul Al Juma’ (62) 10 – And remember Allah often that you may succeed. Abdullah ibn Busr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that one of the Prophet’s Companions said, “O Messenger of Allah. I am overwhelmed by the so many injunctions of Islam. So tell me something to which I may hold fast.”The Prophet replied, “Keep your tongue wet with the remembrance of Allah.” (At Tirmidhi)
How do we remember Allah all the time?

We should engage in verbal utterance of dhikr whenever we are free, for instance in the car, while cooking, doing chores and many others. You can gain reward by saying dhikr like subhanallahi, Lailla illa Allah to mention but few. Constant dhikr purify the heart. To ensure constant dhikr one can get counter (a ring like device that has two bottom, one for counting and the other for clearing. Always available where they sells Islamic materials). Always carry the counter along wherever we go. When we notice there is something in our hand, one will remember it’s function and quickly make use of it by chanting those words of remembrance mention above. As we chant the adkars with the counter, latter on while we attend to something important, we stop. Once we notice again that there is something in our finger(counter). Then we make use of it again by saying many adhkars as possible before we forget or get interrupted. Until it become pass and pacel of us. Later on we will not need to carry along the counter again before we could remember Allah.

Another time for dhikr is during solat. Allah place his remembrance above solat by making solat the means and remembrance the goal. Allah says establish prayer for my remembrance Q20:V14.

We have reached to a point where even our Salah (prayer) is empty of Allah’s remembrance. Allah said: “… worship Me and establish Salah for My remembrance.” (Ta-ha, 20:14). But unfortunately our Salah (prayer) is filled with the thoughts of this world rather than the Remembrance of Ar Rahman. And Allah worn us in suratul Munafiqoon verse 9 that “O believers! Let neither your riches nor your children divert you from the remembrance of Allah. Those who will do so, it is they who shall be the real losers.” (al-Munafiqoon – 63:9)

May we not be among the loser, Aameen.

How to observe solat with full concentration
Attention is like a muscle. Initially, when you try and hold your attention on something, it may feel that you are using more and more energy and it is fatiguing. But you don’t need to give up. You continue to hold your mind and divert attention to what you are doing.However, the more you try to hold your attention on solat the stronger it becomes, and easier to hold.. (Jameel Kermali)

Once we start to praise Allah with our hearts, then shall we be able to feel the sweetness of Rahman’s Dikhr. For example, many of us pray Salah without knowing the meanings of what we say, and many of us know the meanings but we do not concentrate on what we say. We should pray with the certainty that we are standing in front of Rabbul ‘Aalameen, standing with sincerity and devotion, with fear and hope of His Mercy. When we say anything in As-Salah, we should express that it is said directly to Him (Allah). Let learn the meaning of some of the adhkar we say during salah.
{ Subhana ka-Allah humma (You are Glorified, O Allah!) wabi hamdika (and Praised!) watabara kasmuka (Your Name is Blessed!) wata’ala jad-duka (Your Majesty is Exalted! ) wala ilaha ghairuk” (and none has the right to be worshipped but You!) }
“Allahu Akbar” (Allah is the Greatest)
“Sub-hana Rabbi Yal Atheem” (Glory be to my Lord who is the very Greatest)
“Samee ‘Allah hu liman hameeda”(Allah listens to the one who praises Him)
“Rab-bana lakal hamd” (Our Lord, all the praises be to You)
“Sub-hana Rabbi yal A’ala” (Glory be to my Lord, the Most High)
As we say them during solat so we should always translate there meaning in to our mind. When it happen the mind is diverted as we are human the mind will always be diverted we should instantly divert the mind back to those adhkar and say them with the whole heart. Through constant diversion the mind will later actualize the remembrance of Allah and the heart will be assured (Musa, Halimat)

When doing salah, imagine yourself in the presence of your Lord, your creator and creator of all. This will bring humility and focus. Find a place lacking distractions when doing salah.Wear comfortable clothes and do wudu right before. Say Authobillah when mind starts wandering.
Learn the meaning of the words you utter in salah and focus on the meaning. Learn more surahs and additional supplications for ruku, sajadah and in between sajdah, and the last jalasa.
Make all your supplications in sajdah (can be done in your own language) and in the last jalasa.

The Muslim should present himself properly before Allah, may He be exalted, when praying, bearing in mind the greatness of Allah, may He be exalted, and what he is expected to do of focusing with humility.
· He should remember death whilst praying, so he should offer a prayer of farewell, thinking that he will never offer another prayer after that.

Ad-Daylami narrated in Musnad al-Firdaws from Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Remember death when you pray, for if a man remembers death when he prays, he will strive to make his prayer good. Pray the prayer of a man who does not think that he will ever pray another prayer, and beware of any matter that may require you to offer an apology.” Classed as hasan by al-Haafiz as it says in al-Maqaasid al-Hasanah (p. 226); classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami‘ (849).
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
“Every individual must stand before Allah twice: when he stands before Him in prayer and when he stands before Him on the Day he meets Him. Whoever stands before Him as he should in the first instance, the second standing will be made easy for him, but whoever is heedless with regard to this standing, and does not stand before Him (in prayer) as he should, that standing (on the Day of Resurrection) will be made difficult for him.” End quote from al-Fawaa’id (p. 200)).

· Reflecting upon the meanings of the adhkaar of the prayer and the verses of Qur’an that one recites in the prayer, because this is one of the greatest means of attaining presence of mind and not letting one’s heart be distracted.

· There should not be anything in the place where one prays that may distract one, such as images, adornment and sounds, especially prohibited sounds such as singing and music.

Not wandering whilst praying, either by letting one’s mind wander or by physically looking around.
Al-Bukhaari (751) narrated that ‘Aa’ishah said: I asked the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) about looking around whilst praying, and he said: “That is something that the Shaytaan steals from a person’s prayer.”

Still on time for dhikr

Remembrance of Allah should be done while standing, sitting, lying in the morning, afternoon and evening.

Allah says “Who remember Allah while standing or sitting or [lying] on their sides and give thought to the creation of the heavens and the earth, [saying], “Our Lord, You did not create this aimlessly; exalted are You [above such a thing]; then protect us from the punishment of the Fire” Aal-e-Imran 3:191
“O you who believe! Remember Allah with much remembrance, and glorify Him morning and evening.” (al-Ahzaab, 33:41-42)

“And remember your Lord within yourself (deep in your soul, fee nafsika), humbly and with fear without loudness in words in the mornings, and in the afternoons and be not of those who are neglectful.” (al-A’araaf – 7:205)

Reward for remembering Allah

If we remember Allah, Allah will also remember us (listen to us). Allah says: “Therefore, remember Me, and, I will remember you, be grateful to Me and never deny Me.” (al-Baqarah, 2:152
Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet said:
“Allah says, “I treat My servant as he hopes that I would treat him. I am with him whenever he remembers Me: if he thinks of Me, I think of him; if he mentions Me in company, I mention him in an even better company. If he draws near to Me a hand’s span, I draw near to him an arm’s length; and if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw closer by a distance of two outstretched arms nearer to him; and if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

Consequency of not remembering Allah

And whosoever turns away (blinds himself) from the remembrance of the Most Beneficent (Allāh) (i.e. this Qur’ān and worship of Allāh), We appoint for him Shaitān (Satan ­ devil) to be a Qarīn (an intimate companion) to him.”(Az-Zukhruf 43:36)

May Allah forgive us and accept our good deeds. May Allah guide us to the best ways in which we should Praise Him, Glorify Him. May Allah keep our hearts attached to Him. Once our hearts are filled with the Dhikr of Rahman, insha’Allah, we will have no interest of whatsoever in this Dunya. The light of Allah’s Dhikr fills up the heart and the heart becomes satisfied with what it needs. Allah says “Beware! It is the remembrance of Allah which provides tranquility to the hearts!”.

Assalamualaikum warahmatulahi wabarakatuhu