Saifu deen
Alhamdullah..
:salam2:
So then what is remembrance (dhikr)? How do I make dhikr of Allah (swt)?
Remembrance pronounced in words is but a declaration that the heart has not forgotten Allah (swt). The inward silent remembrance is a movement of the emotions. Dhikr is to remember, mention and meditate. It is known as persisting, dwelling on a subject to the point of its full comprehension and meditating on it. The remembrance of the heart is through feeling in oneself the manifestation of Allah's (swt) might and beauty, whilst the remembrance of the soul is through the enlightenment of the divine light generated by Allah's (swt) might and beauty.
A condition for the effectiveness of remembrance is to pronounce aloud the words and phrases of what is to be remembered ~ the Confession of Unity, the attributes of Allah (swt). When these words are recited, one uses all efforts to be in a conscious state. In this way the heart hears the word and is enlightened with the light of what is remembered. It receives energy and becomes alive ~ not only alive in this world, but alive forever in the hereafter. Allah describes this eternal life: 'They taste not therein death, except the first death.' (Sura Dukhan: 56)
They enter into a state of reality.
Prophet Muhammad (salallaho alayhi wasallam) describing the state of the believer who achieves truth through remembrance, says: ' Believers do not die. They only pass through this temporal life to the everlasting life.' And they do there what they did here. As he says, 'The prophets an the ones closest to Allah (swt) continue their worship in their graves as they did in their houses.' The worship Rasool Allah (sal Allah alayhi wasallam) mentions is inward supplication of Allah (swt), not the obligatory five times a day in this world, with its standing, bowing and prostration but the inward silent supplication is one of the qualities of a true believer.
One must remember that wisdom is not obtained by man through his own accord but given to him by Allah (swt) alone. Book knowledge can only achieve so much. Allah (swt) brings one to His secrets only if ones heart is alive and conscious with the remembrance of Him and if that conscious heart has the wish to be open to receive the truth. As Habib Allah (salallaho alayhi wasallam) says: 'My eyes sleep, but my hear is ever awake.' His heart was awake with dhikr of Allah (swt) and therefore open to receive the Truth.
The way to a free heart is to purify it and that means to remember Allah (swt.) At the beginning, this remembrance can only be done outwardly, by repeating His Divine Names, pronouncing them aloud so that others and you may hear and remember. As the memory of Him becomes constant, remembrance sinks to the heart and becomes inward, silent.
Allah (swt) says:
'Believers are those who, when Allah is mentioned, feel a tremor in their hearts, and when they {see and} hear His manifestations their faith is strengthened.'
(Sura Anfaal: 2)
Tremor means the awe, fear and love of Allah. With this remembrance and recitation of Allah's (swt) Names, the heart wakes up from the sleep of heedlessness, is cleansed, is shined. Remember this task of remembrance and dhikr is to take you out of that state of sleep, of spiritual loss and into a state of spiritual gain and peace, inshaAllah. The Prophet (sallallaho alayhi wasallam) said: 'The men of knowledge outwardly visit and inspect things with their minds, while the wise are inwardly busy cleaning and shining their hearts.' Dhikr is a means to shine your heart.
Scientific proofs of the beauty and effect of dhikr, the Science of Prophet Mohammad (sallaho alayhi wasallam)
We have looked at the spiritual and Islamic understanding of the remembrance of Allah (swt.) For further proof - let us now examine scientific proof supporting the effect dhikr has on the human brain.
What is the brain itself? All the activity of the brain is nothing but bio-electrical activity in several distinct parts of it, amongst various sets of neurons (cellular groups) where each are assigned a specific duty, functioning as a whole. Each and everyday 14 million neurons that make up the brain, are in constant interaction with 16 billion neighbouring neurons. All our activities and our understanding, that is all the functioning of the brain is the result of countless bio-electrical flows, are brought to existence in these sets of neurons occurring as a result of these interactions.
Now, when dhikr is practised you continuously repeat a given name of Allah (swt) a specific number of times and therefore reflecting a meaning that belongs to Allah (swt) During the repetition of dhikr, certain regions of the brain are engaged and become active. There occurs a bio-electrical flow in those neural groups of the brain. After that task is performed repeatedly (as you repeat on the same name or a group of names) the neural activity increases, and so does the bioelectrical energy. In turn, this overflows and new sets of neurons are put to work and so, some other regions of the brain become active. Therefore the brain begins to expand. The brain starts to bring out new meanings, perspectives and commentaries which it had not previously used before the practice of dhikr. It is opening to receive the Truth. So just think what the effect that dhikr has on the heart to receive Truth!
Clearly the whole brain is a centre of interpretation. Clearly there exists no picture, no sound inside the brain. To achieve a state of consciousness (i.e. heedful to Allah's (swt) commands) we must use our brains to enter reality and the more we become conscious, the more benefits we will attain, insha'Allah.
Western Science
So what do Western scientists think of these findings? The findings of complementary laboratory tests may be found in the 'Scientific American', December 1993:
'Complementary findings were described this year by investigators at Washington University and which have emerged through PET scans of humans. PET measures neural activity indirectly. In the experiments, volunteers were provided with a list of nouns. They were required to read the nouns one-by-one and to propose for each noun - a related verb. When the subjects first did this task, several distinct parts of the brain, including parts of the prefrontal and cinulate cortex, displayed increased neural activity. But if the volunteers repeated the task with the same list of words several times, the brain activity shifted to different regions. When a fresh list of nouns were given to them, the neural activity increased and shifted back to the first regions again.
PET Scans completed at Washington University show certain regions of the brain engaged as a subject reads a list of nouns and suggests related verbs. Different regions become active after the first task is performed repeatedly with the same list. The original areas of the brain re-engage when the subject is given another list.
Thus we see even Western science is waking up to the benefits of dhikr which was understood by Muslims many centuries ago without scientific evidence and research to provide proof.
Subhanallah, Walhamdulelah, Wala ilaha ila Allah, Walahu Akbar, Wala Hawla Wala Qowata ila beAllah, Allahuma Igfer lana. Allahuma anta Al-Afow, tohebo Al-Afow, Fa'afo ana...
(Remember me in your dua if you remember me)...
Wassalam Alykom..
So then what is remembrance (dhikr)? How do I make dhikr of Allah (swt)?
Remembrance pronounced in words is but a declaration that the heart has not forgotten Allah (swt). The inward silent remembrance is a movement of the emotions. Dhikr is to remember, mention and meditate. It is known as persisting, dwelling on a subject to the point of its full comprehension and meditating on it. The remembrance of the heart is through feeling in oneself the manifestation of Allah's (swt) might and beauty, whilst the remembrance of the soul is through the enlightenment of the divine light generated by Allah's (swt) might and beauty.
A condition for the effectiveness of remembrance is to pronounce aloud the words and phrases of what is to be remembered ~ the Confession of Unity, the attributes of Allah (swt). When these words are recited, one uses all efforts to be in a conscious state. In this way the heart hears the word and is enlightened with the light of what is remembered. It receives energy and becomes alive ~ not only alive in this world, but alive forever in the hereafter. Allah describes this eternal life: 'They taste not therein death, except the first death.' (Sura Dukhan: 56)
They enter into a state of reality.
Prophet Muhammad (salallaho alayhi wasallam) describing the state of the believer who achieves truth through remembrance, says: ' Believers do not die. They only pass through this temporal life to the everlasting life.' And they do there what they did here. As he says, 'The prophets an the ones closest to Allah (swt) continue their worship in their graves as they did in their houses.' The worship Rasool Allah (sal Allah alayhi wasallam) mentions is inward supplication of Allah (swt), not the obligatory five times a day in this world, with its standing, bowing and prostration but the inward silent supplication is one of the qualities of a true believer.
One must remember that wisdom is not obtained by man through his own accord but given to him by Allah (swt) alone. Book knowledge can only achieve so much. Allah (swt) brings one to His secrets only if ones heart is alive and conscious with the remembrance of Him and if that conscious heart has the wish to be open to receive the truth. As Habib Allah (salallaho alayhi wasallam) says: 'My eyes sleep, but my hear is ever awake.' His heart was awake with dhikr of Allah (swt) and therefore open to receive the Truth.
The way to a free heart is to purify it and that means to remember Allah (swt.) At the beginning, this remembrance can only be done outwardly, by repeating His Divine Names, pronouncing them aloud so that others and you may hear and remember. As the memory of Him becomes constant, remembrance sinks to the heart and becomes inward, silent.
Allah (swt) says:
'Believers are those who, when Allah is mentioned, feel a tremor in their hearts, and when they {see and} hear His manifestations their faith is strengthened.'
(Sura Anfaal: 2)
Tremor means the awe, fear and love of Allah. With this remembrance and recitation of Allah's (swt) Names, the heart wakes up from the sleep of heedlessness, is cleansed, is shined. Remember this task of remembrance and dhikr is to take you out of that state of sleep, of spiritual loss and into a state of spiritual gain and peace, inshaAllah. The Prophet (sallallaho alayhi wasallam) said: 'The men of knowledge outwardly visit and inspect things with their minds, while the wise are inwardly busy cleaning and shining their hearts.' Dhikr is a means to shine your heart.
Scientific proofs of the beauty and effect of dhikr, the Science of Prophet Mohammad (sallaho alayhi wasallam)
We have looked at the spiritual and Islamic understanding of the remembrance of Allah (swt.) For further proof - let us now examine scientific proof supporting the effect dhikr has on the human brain.
What is the brain itself? All the activity of the brain is nothing but bio-electrical activity in several distinct parts of it, amongst various sets of neurons (cellular groups) where each are assigned a specific duty, functioning as a whole. Each and everyday 14 million neurons that make up the brain, are in constant interaction with 16 billion neighbouring neurons. All our activities and our understanding, that is all the functioning of the brain is the result of countless bio-electrical flows, are brought to existence in these sets of neurons occurring as a result of these interactions.
Now, when dhikr is practised you continuously repeat a given name of Allah (swt) a specific number of times and therefore reflecting a meaning that belongs to Allah (swt) During the repetition of dhikr, certain regions of the brain are engaged and become active. There occurs a bio-electrical flow in those neural groups of the brain. After that task is performed repeatedly (as you repeat on the same name or a group of names) the neural activity increases, and so does the bioelectrical energy. In turn, this overflows and new sets of neurons are put to work and so, some other regions of the brain become active. Therefore the brain begins to expand. The brain starts to bring out new meanings, perspectives and commentaries which it had not previously used before the practice of dhikr. It is opening to receive the Truth. So just think what the effect that dhikr has on the heart to receive Truth!
Clearly the whole brain is a centre of interpretation. Clearly there exists no picture, no sound inside the brain. To achieve a state of consciousness (i.e. heedful to Allah's (swt) commands) we must use our brains to enter reality and the more we become conscious, the more benefits we will attain, insha'Allah.
Western Science
So what do Western scientists think of these findings? The findings of complementary laboratory tests may be found in the 'Scientific American', December 1993:
'Complementary findings were described this year by investigators at Washington University and which have emerged through PET scans of humans. PET measures neural activity indirectly. In the experiments, volunteers were provided with a list of nouns. They were required to read the nouns one-by-one and to propose for each noun - a related verb. When the subjects first did this task, several distinct parts of the brain, including parts of the prefrontal and cinulate cortex, displayed increased neural activity. But if the volunteers repeated the task with the same list of words several times, the brain activity shifted to different regions. When a fresh list of nouns were given to them, the neural activity increased and shifted back to the first regions again.
PET Scans completed at Washington University show certain regions of the brain engaged as a subject reads a list of nouns and suggests related verbs. Different regions become active after the first task is performed repeatedly with the same list. The original areas of the brain re-engage when the subject is given another list.
Thus we see even Western science is waking up to the benefits of dhikr which was understood by Muslims many centuries ago without scientific evidence and research to provide proof.
Subhanallah, Walhamdulelah, Wala ilaha ila Allah, Walahu Akbar, Wala Hawla Wala Qowata ila beAllah, Allahuma Igfer lana. Allahuma anta Al-Afow, tohebo Al-Afow, Fa'afo ana...
(Remember me in your dua if you remember me)...
Wassalam Alykom..