Fair Talk and Dhikr Session with Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

Opening and the Blessing of Salat al-Fajr

Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Beloved brothers and sisters, beloved elders, friends, and guests of the House of Allah, Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. We begin this morning with congratulations to you all for having been accepted and chosen by Allah to become one of the attendees of Salat al-Fajr.

And this is a huge blessing from Allah upon myself and all of you that He chose us from amongst thousands of people to be able to make it up here in the morning. And may Allah bless us with His gift every single morning. And may Allah never allow us to commit such mistakes and sins because of which we will be deprived of this gift.

The one who is called to Salat al-Fajr al-Jama'ah is under the protection of Allah, under the insurance of Allah for the entire day. Whoever is under the protection of Allah, Allah will take care of anyone who tries to mess with this individual. This is the best insurance — under the protection of Allah.

And also regarding Salat al-Fajr al-Jama'ah — whoever performs it, it is as though he has performed Qiyam al-Layl the entire night. So just by performing Salat al-Fajr al-Jama'ah, Allah gives us this beautiful reward. And so we have hope and expectation from Allah that we can do this tonight, this morning, and also every morning that we are blessed to be here.

One of the ways that we can get the blessing of performing Salat al-Fajr regularly is by making lots and lots of shukr. The more grateful and thankful we are to Allah for the blessing of being here, the more chance Allah will give us to keep on coming. So I believe on the way back, in your heart, you should say, Allah, I am so happy that I was able to do this.

We should rejoice and say, Allah, I want this blessing every single morning, till I die. May it never happen that I ever miss Salat al-Fajr al-Jama'ah, no matter what. Secondly, Allah forbid, if we ever miss it in Jama'ah, then we should feel remorse, we should feel guilty.

We try to make up for it by performing some extra four rak'ah in Ramadan, or ibadah like giving charity, sadaqah, for missing Fajr, or performing an extra four rak'ah of Nafl Salat, etc. — some type of ibadah to make up for it.

This Saturday Morning Program

I understand this is a new program that has begun over here. It's a Saturday morning breakfast — some food for the soul and some food for the body. And there's a component of dhikr as well, that is meant to be like a weekly gathering for a talk on spirituality and dhikr, which is great. This is something exactly similar to what we have in our own masjid, every single Saturday morning.

I think it's a great initiative, and our participation in it, inshallah, will be of great benefit. My beloved friends, if we want to bring change in the community, we have to be the change ourselves first. It is not of any benefit to complain about people not showing up, or people not doing this, people not doing that.

We have to be that person ourselves. Allah is watching who's here, who's not here. Allah is watching.

We need to make sure we're here every single Saturday for this program. And inshallah, with your concern and fiqh, other people will slowly start joining. But it requires people to take on responsibility — meaning, you take ownership.

Every one of you here — look at these beautiful young children, mashallah, here in Salat al-Fajr. How nice this is. May Allah preserve and protect them. Now we get inspired, and other fathers will start bringing their kids for the program. Everyone takes ownership. They say, inshallah, we are going to bring two new people every single week — three new people, not just people, families. Their sisters are here as well, so alhamdulillah, it's open for sisters as well.

Everyone takes ownership and says, I'm going to bring one new family per week. And once they come and they enjoy their time over here, inshallah, they'll get hooked. And they will come regularly, and they will become du'at. They will be bringing another family. And this is how our community grows.

The Importance of Dhikr

The dhikr of Allah is something that we have to do all the time. Allah says — and this was the verse I recited in the second rak'ah:

Those who remember Allah while standing, قُعُودًا while sitting, وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِهِمْ while lying down — they are always remembering Allah. Allah calls them ulul albab, the intelligent people. Intelligent people are the ones who are remembering Allah in all states.

And يَتَفَكَّرُونَ — they are pondering فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ — in the way the heavens and the earth have been created. And after pondering, they say: رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَٰذَا بَاطِلًا — Oh Allah, you have not created any of this in vain. It cannot be that you made these beautiful mountains, these beautiful oceans, the beautiful sky — all of this بَاطِلًا, without benefit. It's not possible. There has to be some real reason why you created this. فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ — Oh Allah, please protect us from the fire of Jahannam.

Dhikr Has No Prerequisites

The dhikr of Allah is something that does not have any prerequisite. Wudu is not necessary. Ghusl is not necessary. A person may be in a state of major impurity — he cannot pray salah obviously, he cannot come to the masjid, he cannot touch the Quran — but he can do the dhikr of Allah. A person in a state of minor impurity can do the dhikr of Allah. A person inside his bed can do the dhikr of Allah. A person sitting inside a classroom, on a bus, on a train — wherever you are, you can be doing the dhikr of Allah. You're sitting in a business meeting — you can do the dhikr of Allah.

The Command for Abundant Dhikr

From all the different ibadah in the Quran, there is only one ibadah that Allah repeatedly — not once, rather repeatedly — uses the word "excessive" for. Allah says:

O believers, remember Allah كَثِيرًا — abundantly.

Then in the 22nd Juz, the first page, Allah says:

Allah mentions all the beautiful qualities of Iman, Islam, fasting, prayer, charity — and then, after all these qualities, when Allah mentions dhikr, He says: and those who remember Allah abundantly. So this is something we learn from the various verses of the Quran — that dhikr should be done all the time, and it should be done in large quantities. Not small — large quantities.

Five times daily salah we have. Hajj once in a lifetime. Umrah — Rasulullah ﷺ performed it four times in his life. You can do more, fine. But there is no ibadah that's been left open-ended — just do it, just do it — the way dhikr is. Allah keeps on emphasizing to do more and more.

Instead, Allah says:

Establish salah for My remembrance. The maqsad of salah is to be in a state of dhikr. By praying Fajr, we're supposed to have spiritually uplifted ourselves till Salat al-Dhuhr — that we are in a state of dhikr. What does it mean to be in a state of dhikr? It means a state of conscientiousness of Allah's presence. That's what it means. اسْتِحْضَار — to always be cognizant and aware that you are in the presence of Allah.

The Level of Ihsan

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 50; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 8 — from the Hadith of Jibril)

To worship Allah as though you see Him. If you cannot see Him, know very well that He is watching you.

When a person reaches this level of ihsan, what happens? It becomes difficult to break the orders of Allah. It becomes difficult to sin. Because you're always thinking, Allah is watching me.

Allah is with me, Allah is present with me, Allah is watching me. And Allah is not just watching external things:

Allah knows the secret — وَأَخْفَى — and He knows what is even more hidden than the secret.

Whether you hide it or you make it apparent, Allah will hold you accountable for it.

Allah knows the treachery of the eye. Whenever our eyes look at haram — here, there — how quick it is for our eyes to move. One glance over here, one glance over there, where you're not supposed to look. No one in the whole crowd will see where you're looking. But Allah says: I know where you're looking. وَمَا تُخْفِي الصُّدُورُ — And Allah says: I know what you're hiding inside, what intentions you have. SubhanAllah.

Does he not know that Allah is watching him? When a person is in a state of dhikr, thinking about these verses, it makes him feel absolutely scared of sinning. Because he knows Allah is Raqib, Allah is Hasib.

Allah is sufficient as a witness. Allah is sufficient as the One who knows everything. Allah is sufficient as the One who is going to take me to task. How can I be sinning? This is the maqsad and the purpose of dhikr, my beloved brothers and sisters.

The Effect of Dhikr on the Heart

When a person starts doing proper dhikr excessively, inshallah, through the barakah of that, his sins will start decreasing. Many times people come and say, I don't feel motivated to pray. I haven't prayed in months. I don't go to the masjid. What should I do? I tell them — at least start doing the dhikr of Allah. You don't have to do wudu for it, you don't have to go to the masjid for it. You can sit in your sofa, in your bed.

What should you do? Every single day do 100 times astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah — with your heart in it. Ya Allah, forgive me. I know I am making big mistakes. What can I do? My nafs and shaytan have overtaken me. I have become a slave to my nafs and shaytan. Seek forgiveness from Allah for that.

Then, do the kalimah of لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّه. لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّه will bring the nur of iman into the heart. Some people say, I'm not sure if I believe in Allah. I'm having second thoughts. No problem — even if you have doubts, just do the dhikr.

My dear brothers — if someone swears at you right now, if someone says something really bad about you or your parents, what's going to happen? You're going to immediately flare up. Your eyes are going to pop out, your eyes will become red, your fists will clench. I'm saying a bad word, I'm saying A'udhu Billah something bad to hurt you from here — I didn't touch you — but you can see a big change coming to you. And the same if you do it to me.

So if bad words can have an effect on a whole person's physical body, when you take Allah's name, how can it not affect your heart? How can you say, Oh, I don't feel anything? You're feeling it, but it's going to take time for you to sense it. There's no such thing as your heart is not taking effect — it is taking effect, but it takes time, because maybe the amount of rust on top is a lot. So it takes time to cut through that rust.

The rust comes due to our sins. Excessive dhikr cuts away at that rust before you can start feeling it. So continuous dhikr will push us away from sin. It will motivate us to do good deeds. It might take one month. It might take a year.

Additionally, it will bring calmness within us. You know, most of us have ajeeb relationships at home — with our spouse, with our kids — getting angry, frustrated. That's the norm. All the time short-tempered, and our mind is very foggy, cloudy. We don't have a clear thought process. The dhikr of Allah is very powerful in bringing within us calmness, bringing within us a sense of clarity of the mind.

You spend 10 minutes a day doing dhikr after Fajr, till Ishraq — or even just 10 minutes — inshallah, you will see it will bring a change in your personality. This hotness, this short-tempered quality — there's no dhikr in our life, for the most part. Unfortunately. And this is why shaytan takes a grab over us.

Types of Dhikr to Practice

What are the types of dhikr we should be doing? One of the dhikr we should do is the morning and evening du'as — every single day. The morning and evening adhkar is something we should do regularly. And I would encourage Imam Sahib here to inshallah, on Saturdays, make that part of the tartib — to read the morning adhkar together. All of us can have it on the WhatsApp, or project it, or everyone can take out their phone and read it, or bring their book with them. These small books are available for free — you can take those books and read together.

I think for all of us to get into a habit, the different masajid brothers here — that we read the morning adhkar maybe once a week collectively. And then that way, inshallah, it will encourage us to do the morning adhkar every day.

Number two, dhikr of course includes the tilawah of the Quran. No day of ours should go without the tilawah of the Quran.

Number three, is that we make a daily regimen of salawat, istighfar, and at least the first kalimah tayyib, لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّه — that we make a point of reading these.

Campaigns of Dhikr at Masjid Darussalam

In our masjid back in Chicago, in Darussalam, we create different campaigns throughout the year. We have a campaign of لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّه, a campaign of لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ, a campaign of لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّه, a campaign of salawat 'ala al-Nabi, a campaign of istighfar. For the next two months, we will inshallah collectively push the community forward — because we all need high goals.

We say, in Rabi' al-Awwal time, for example, let us try our best to focus on salawat. Let us make a big goal. Alhamdulillah — last year, in our campaign, we were able to complete 45 million salawat. The previous year, alhamdulillah, about 75 million. And inshallah, every year we'll be making different goals. We had a goal of 25 million istighfar, and we were able to achieve that as well.

The Dhikr Card Initiative

You have cards here — inshallah these can be passed out for those who did not receive them. Each box on the card represents 100, and the whole card represents 5,000. You fill it out and give it to yourselves and your children. You can make copies. Keep a dhikr donation box in the masjid — once the card fills up, they come and put it in the box. It's a way of tallying what's happening. Additionally, there's a QR code on the card, so people who do not have a box can just upload it online and we can keep tally that way.

We have made a goal in our own masjid to do 5 million salawat every month — and people post it up on the QR code and we tally like that. It's a small technique to encourage people.

Now I want to tell you something. There's a brother from Bangladesh who attended one of our programs and heard this, and he said, This is so amazing, I'm going to take it back to Bangladesh. So he went and spoke to 30 different imams in one village. He translated the card into Bangla, printed it, and gave it to the imams. Every single week, the imams go and hand it out to all the nearby houses. And there is a donation box in those masajid. Simple, small villages. All the women and the children then come and bring the cards back to the masjid. So now there are communities there doing salawat — you know how much? 1 million every week. Not one masjid — many masajid. He's gotten madrasas involved now. All the students on salawat — alhamdulillah, about half a million every single week.

MashAllah — this is called sadaqah jariyah. You start working small, small, and inshallah people will start following. So I'm not giving you this card for you to fold it and keep it in a pocket — there will be no benefit. I want you to actually fill it up, and then print more here in your own masjid for your own community and utilize that.

The Power of Salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ

For every salutation that we do upon the Prophet ﷺ, imagine Allah is sending 10 blessings upon us — as comes in hadith — and 10 sins are being forgiven, 10 rewards are being written, and 10 levels in Jannah being increased.

One person said, Ya Rasulullah, how much salawat should I do? And the Prophet ﷺ said, Do more. He asked again, and the Prophet ﷺ said, Do more — if you do more, it's better. Eventually the man said, I will dedicate my entire time to salawat. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2457)

If you do that, your sins will be forgiven and your worries will be taken care of. What else do you have on your mind? Sins and worry. He says, both will be taken care of. Your worries will be taken care of, your sins will be taken care of. SubhanAllah. Salawat 'ala al-Nabi is something really powerful.

Istighfar — Seeking Forgiveness

And lastly we do istighfar — seeking forgiveness from Allah. While we seek forgiveness from Allah, we should keep in mind that we have remorse. Istighfar requires remorse — feeling guilty over what we have done, and making a firm intention inshallah never to go back towards that.

Dhikr Session

We'll do dhikr in an audible tone, just so that you can hear yourself. Don't feel shy — you can do it softly, no problem. But at least don't stay silent. If you're sitting in a gathering, do the dhikr of Allah.

Additionally, the dhikr of Allah can be done in the heart as well — this is also very powerful. اللَّه, اللَّه, or لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّه — you don't move your lips, you do it in your heart, you focus. This builds concentration immensely. This is also a very powerful way of doing dhikr.

Brothers, the thing is — when you do dhikr like this, you do not have to do it in a melodious chorus style. That's not the purpose. The purpose is we dedicate time every single day to collectively do dhikr. What do I mean by collectively? I'm not saying everyone sings it together or does it at the same time. It means — like when everyone picks up the Mus'haf and reads Quran — you don't have to read the same page. Everyone is just reading out loud — you create an environment of Quran, everyone reciting. That's the purpose. At home and even in the masjid — you create an environment where, okay, 10 minutes, everyone's going to do dhikr. You can do it in your own pace, in your own tone. The purpose is not to do it in a chorus style. The purpose is that we dedicate time where everyone is doing the dhikr of Allah.

Bringing Dhikr Into Our Homes

One of the things I encourage people is to start bringing dhikr into our homes. We need to have halaqat of dhikr at home. You will see a huge change in your homes and within your children, yourself, your spouse, and your relationships if you start bringing the dhikr of Allah into the home. So let us use these few minutes now inshallah to do dhikr and make niyyah that we start doing this regularly inshallah in our homes.

When we do لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّه, imagine that all the false gods, false idols — love for money, love for wealth, love for fame, love for name, lustful desires — لَا إِلَٰهَ is like a sword. Everything is being broken, broken, broken — إِلَّا اللَّه — and then only the love of Allah entering our heart.

Upcoming Programs and Closing

If you have any questions about the permissibility or the sunnah basis for dhikr as we have done it, I can share with you inshallah all the proofs — a book in Arabic and a book in English. You can message me on WhatsApp; my last four digits are 1687. I will share it with you, inshallah.

On the back of the card, you'll see all of the year's programs taking place at Masjid Darussalam. You can plan your trip. This weekend is our Winter Intensive. Our annual retreat in May — which 4,000 people will attend, alhamdulillah — is a free event on the May 14th weekend. You can come with your entire family. We have our graduation for our alim students. Next year's Sira Conference dates are all there. Please save this card and plan your trip based on that.

Every Tuesday night, we have a tafsir, and alhamdulillah you'll get the link for that. Every Saturday morning, at the same time, we have a 45-minute program on any aspect of spirituality followed by dhikr. You'll get a link for that as well. Alhamdulillah, yesterday we had a program at Khadijah here after Maghrib on black magic, sihr, and hasad — that is recorded and available on this group. And last night we did a talk on raising children and the challenges in the modern era, which is also recorded and will be posted.

There is an effort being made from Madinah Masjid, as well as this masjid here, for a bus to visit us next weekend during the Winter Intensive. I encourage all of you — anyone here can leave on Wednesday inshallah, arrive in Chicago by Friday, attend the Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday Winter Intensive, and then return back by Wednesday. We encourage you to please come — a group of you, stand up and make niyyah.

Inshallah, you will become rejuvenated and be able to come back and bring a lot of goodness to this community. But someone has got to bite the bullet, as they say. Someone has to make that sacrifice. I hope inshallah some of you take my words to heart and make that effort.

I ask Allah to make this trip of ours extremely blessed and accepted in His court. And may He allow us inshallah to meet many, many more times in this world. And may Allah allow us to be gathered in Jannat al-Firdaus, under His throne, in the company of the Prophet ﷺ, the Siddiqeen, the Shuhadaa, and the Saliheen.

Jazakumullahu khayran. Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.