The 365 · Tazkiyah · Day 357 · Heart
Tark al-Dhikr · Abandoning Remembrance
The disease
تَرْكُ الذِّكْرِ
Tark al-Dhikr
The story
Muʿādh ibn Jabal said the dwellers of Paradise will regret no hour except an hour they did not remember Allah in. One hour. Of an eternity. The fierceness of dhikr was real.
Why it's named first
Allah commands abundant dhikr: 'remember Allah with much remembrance' (al-Aḥzāb 33:41). The disease is the rare remembrance: 5 prayers, perhaps a quick adhkār in the morning, then silence. The tongue that does not move with His Name throughout the day is in tark al-dhikr.
In the Qur'an
يَا أَيّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ ذِكْرًا كَثِيرًا (الأحزاب 41). 'O you who believe, remember Allah with much remembrance.' (al-Aḥzāb 33:41)
In the Sunnah
«مَثَلُ الَّذِي يَذْكُرُ رَبَّهُ وَالَّذِي لا يَذْكُرُ مَثَلُ الحَيِّ وَالمَيِّتِ». 'The example of the one who remembers his Lord and the one who does not is like the example of the living and the dead.' (Bukhari 6407)
The cure
Build dhikr into daily life. Subhanallah in the kitchen. Alhamdulillah in the car. La ilaha illa Allah at the desk. Allahu akbar when ascending stairs. The tongue's habit forms the heart's habit.
What is at stake
The heart of the non-dhikr-er is described as dead. He breathes; he eats; he sleeps; he is dead in the way that matters.
A du'a for this day
«سبحان اللّه وبحمده عدد خلقه، ورضا نفسه، وزنة عرشه، ومداد كلماته» (Muslim 2726).
The door of mercy
Al-Dhākir (the Remembrancer). He remembers His servant who remembers Him; the exchange is named in 2:152.
A reflection to carry
The Sunnah of constant dhikr is the believer's life-line. Build it.
Read the longer reflection
Tark al-dhikr is the modern Muslim's quiet death. We do the obligations and assume we are alive. The Prophet ﷺ rejected the assumption: he who does not remember Allah is like the dead. Recover dhikr. Make the tongue's habit His Name. Watch the heart wake up. May Allah make us of those who remember Him much, so that we count among the living.
A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.
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