Importance of Remembering Allah (SWT) - Moulana Muhi | Islamic Reminder | Jummah Khutbah

Khutbah: The Importance of Remembering Allah

Alhamdulillah, we praise Him, we ask His help, we ask His forgiveness, we believe in Him, and we put our trust in Him. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the evils of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whomsoever He misguides, none can guide him.

And the blessings and peace of Allah be upon the best of Allah's creation, our Master and Beloved, the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family, his companions, and those who follow him. As for what follows, Allah, the Exalted, said in His Glorious Book, after I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan, In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful:

O ye who believe! Remember Allah much.

And in the hadith of the Prophet, he, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 48, Hadith 38)

There is no group of people that remembers Allah, except that the angels have covered them and covered them with mercy, and Allah has mentioned them among those who are with Him.

Introduction: Speaking About What We Lack

His name is Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi, Rahmatullahi Alayhi, Hakimul Ummah and Mujaddid al-Millah. For many of us who are from the subcontinent, we don't really know, but this individual is probably responsible for a lot of our reformation of our Deen. So one thing that he would state is that anytime that he would have to present an exposition or address a crowd, he would think to himself, how unworthy am I to do that? And if I say something which I have no right to speak about, then what effect will it have? But then he said that he would continue thinking about the matter, and then he would realize that if it's something that I lack, I should speak about it.

It's just so much more deserving that I speak about it, because then I truly become the first amongst the audience. So today I follow his Sunnah.

The People of Intellect and Dhikr

Allah in Surah Ali Imran refers to a group of individuals that He calls the intellectuals — أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ. He says about them that a quality of theirs is that they reflect over the heavens. He says that if you look at the heavens and the cosmos:

He refers to the cosmos, the skies, the earth and everything between them as ayaat — as signs. A sign is something that signifies something else. So if you see a stop sign, that means stop. When you see a red light, that means stop. When you see a green light, that means go. It's telling you something. So the cosmos, Allah says, they tell us something. They're a sign. But for who? For those who have potential. For those who have a core. For those who have intellect. لِّأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ.

But then He goes on and He defines who those people are. The people of intellect. The people with a core. The people with potential. And He says that these people are those that recollect — those who remember Allah. While they stand, while they sit, and while they lie on their sides. These are the people of intellect. They do this often. They recollect.

Dhikr: Recalling What We Already Know

Dhikr means to recall something that you already know. Allah refers to a scenario that happened long before time can even really be stipulated. Where He says to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that recite to them the incident — when Allah extracted the offspring of Bani Adam from their backs and made them bear witness: am I not your Lord? And every one of us responded by saying,

We had witnessed the oneness of Allah. And when we came into this world, we had that knowledge as well. It's a fitrah — a natural disposition that Allah has created us with — to know who He is. But what happens is that as time progresses and situations arise, we forget this knowledge that we already have innately and inherently. So we have to remember. We have to learn so that we can remember.

Allah says those people of intellect are those who remember what they already know. And they do it often — while they're sitting, while they're standing, while they're lying on their sides. And when that process takes place, a type of cleansing takes place as well. And when this cleansing manifests, then there's a new element that develops in a person — and that's called meditation and tafakkur. The ability to look at something and come to know what you don't know. It's to put things that you know together to come to know what you don't know.

As the process continues — the dhikr — there's a cleansing. And the cleansing of the heart takes place. And the place of meditation and the place of thought is the heart. Now the people can look at the cosmos and say, "You have not created this out of vain. It has meaning. Everything has meaning." These are the people who recollect. And these are the people of intellect.

Dhikr Has No Limit

Allah says:

O those who believe, remember Allah abundantly. Hakimul Ummah, Hazrat Ashraf Ali Thanwi, Rahmatullahi Alayhi, notes a very interesting fact here. He says that if you look at the sharia, there are two different types of ibadah.

You have one form of ibadah which has some form of stipulation — that you should not go beyond the i'tidal, you should not go beyond what is normal and balanced. And he gives the example of salah. We have the famous incident of Mi'raj where the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, ascended. And he had 50 salah that he was about to come down with, and that was cut down to 5. Five and five only — this is what is necessary. So 5 salah are necessary. Yes, you can add more. But there are certain times throughout the day when you cannot pray. After Fajr salah you cannot pray until the sun rises. You can't perform salah at zawal, at midday — it is haram. You can't perform salah while the sun rises or sets — it is haram. So salah, there's a form of i'tidal there.

When you have wealth, you can spend wealth — there's no doubt about that. But there's a type of spending that if you continue, it becomes makruh, it becomes impermissible:

Do not throw yourselves into destruction. So there's a limit. There's a balance.

But he says that there's another form of ibadah as well — an ibadah for which there is no stipulation. Where Allah says: do it abundantly. Do it abundantly. And that is dhikr:

Continue to remember Allah and do it often. This is the essence of the sharia.

The Prophet's Constant Remembrance

Brothers and sisters, if you look at every single movement of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him — every single teaching — if you study the depth and just avoid the surface for a second and get into the depth of the matter, you'll find that every teaching of his, every movement of his, involved the dhikr of Allah. And this is something that Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, attested to when she said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 3, Hadith 826)

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would remember Allah at all times.

And you would see that — as we walk into the masjid, there's a form of dhikr that should be manifesting on our lips, and of course in the heart. There's a type of dhikr that should be taking place at this very time — which is the fact that we are actually making dhikr of dhikr.

The Jumu'ah Khutbah as Dhikr

The hadith that I recited in the beginning — the hadith of Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him — there is no group of individuals that sit together in the houses of Allah and remember Allah, except that the angels descend upon them, the angels surround them, and sakinah and tranquility descends upon them, and Allah mentions them. And what a great honor it is that Allah will take our name. And that is what is taking place right now.

And the proof for this is in the Quran itself. Often we forget that the podium of Jumu'ah is not one to speak about current affairs, but rather it is a time to remember Allah:

Allah calls the khutbah itself ذِكْرُ اللَّهِ — to remember what you already know. It's not necessarily a place for ta'lim. It's not necessarily a place to learn something entirely new. But it's a time just to recollect what you already know. It's in the Quran, in Surah al-Jumu'ah. So this is a dhikr that's taking place. And the nature of this dhikr is that the angels surround us, the rahma descends upon us, and Allah takes mention of us.

Three Benefits of Dhikr

One of the benefits of dhikr that Ibn Ata'illah al-Iskandari, the great saint of the past, mentioned is that when you make dhikr — regardless of whether or not you are actually even paying attention — the very fact that your lips move, the very fact that you listen to the dhikr itself, there are three benefits.

The first benefit is that you are actually employing one of the limbs that Allah has created. So you are a dhakir — وَالذَّاكِرِينَ اللَّهَ — you fall into the category of a dhakir, someone who remembers Allah. And how many there are — millions and billions — who are not necessarily sharing that quality as you are. The quality of dhikr. So you remember Allah. That is one.

The second benefit and virtue is that not only are you a dhakir, but you are a madhkur as well. You are the one who is being mentioned by the greatest — the One that you are mentioning, He is mentioning you as well. Allah says:

Remember me and I will remember you. So as we speak, He is remembering us. And if you remember Him in your heart, then He will remember you within Himself. And if you remember Him in a gathering, then He will certainly remember you in a gathering far better than that gathering.

— referring to the mala'ika. So that is the third benefit he says — that not only do you become a madhkur, someone who is mentioned, but someone who is mentioned in an elite gathering.

The Al-Mufarridun: The Elect Who Remember Allah

Once Rasulullah, peace and blessings be upon him, was passing by, and he looked at the Sahabah and said to them:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 48, Hadith 44)

The Sahabah, may Allah be pleased with them, were confused. They knew the language, but they knew that the language of revelation is different from the Arabic language. SubhanAllah. This hadith is a reminder for us — because you know the Arabic language, you think you know it, that doesn't mean that you understand revelation.

So they said, يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ مَنِ الْمُفَرِّدُونَ — O Messenger of Allah, who are the mufarridun? He said: al-mufarridun — translated here as those who are elect and elite — are the ones who remember Allah in abundance. The more that you remember Allah, the more He will remember you. Hence you will be free — free of any grief, free from any type of stress, free from any anxiety.

Continue the Dhikr — Even When You Don't Feel It

It's a process. As long as you do it, a type of purification will take place — even if you are negligent of it. So continue to do it, even if you think that you're not feeling anything. According to Ibn Ata'illah, even if you don't feel like you're doing anything, it's still better than not doing it at all. Continue to do it until you are actually remembering Him. As you remember Him, He remembers you. And then there's nothing to worry about. There's nothing to fear.

The Greatest Form of Dhikr

The greatest form of dhikr — أَفْضَلُ الذِّكْرِ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — this dhikr is prescribed from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. The greatest form of dhikr for all of us to begin with is:

There is nothing worthy of worship except for Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. So let this become a habit, inshAllah. Continuously do tahleel. It is the greatest form of dhikr. InshAllah the cleansing will take place, and then the reality will soon make itself apparent to us.

Conclusion

The process — as the cleansing takes place, whether you're sitting or you're standing, there's no limit to it. As long as it's happening, purification will be taking place. And when the heart becomes clean, then the wahy starts making sense. And the signs — both the signs that are apparent in text, and the signs of the cosmos — start making a lot more sense. And inshAllah we will be able to get through the great test of the dunya.

May Allah give us tawfiq, and allow us to benefit from whatever was said, and allow the dhikr to truly penetrate our hearts.