The
Holy Quran Al-Karim, Ahadith and Scientific
Findings on Dhikr, the Science of Prophet
Muhammad (sallaho alayhi wasallam)
Gul
In this paper we will examine why Allah (swt) tells us that His Dhikr
(remembrance) is incumbent on those who seek to be close to Him in order
to experience His love and, in essence, help ourselves to become better
Muslims. We will try to answer the questions of why should we remember
Allah (swt)? When this has been established through the
understanding that Allah (swt) actually commands His creation to make
dhikr of Him, we will establish exactly what must we remember? The
next question in ones' mind may be so then how do we make remembrance of
Allah (swt)? We will also examine what the benefits of dhikr are,
giving full Quranic verses which provide clear evidence to support the
importance of dhikr and finally, we will examine scientific findings from
laboratory tests from the University of Washington concerning the effect
dhikr has on the human brain.
Why must we remember?
First of all let us to turn to the Highest authority, the Holy Koran which
gives us clear proofs as to why we must make remembrance (dhikr) of Allah
(swt)
'If you remember Me, I will remember You' (2:152)
'Remember thy Lord much, and praise Him in the early hours of he night and
morning' (3:41)
'After you have performed the act of worship (salaat), remember Allah
(swt) standing, sitting and lying down.' (4: 103)
'Lo! Even I am Allah. There is no god except Me. So serve Me and establish
worship for My remembrance.' (20:14)
'But verily, remembrance of Allah (swt) is more important' (29: 45)
'O ye who believe! Remember Allah (swt) with much remembrance' (37:75).
In the Deen of Islam the greatest sin is in fact forgetfulness (al -
ghaflah) and the purpose of the revelation of the message of Prophet
Mohammad (saw) is to enable man to remember. That is why one of the names
of the Koran Al Kareem itself is 'Remembrance of Allah' (Dhikr Allah) and
why the ultimate end and purpose of all Islamic rites and all Islamic
conjunctions is remembrance of Allah (swt).
Islam is not based on original sin as understood in the later
understanding of 'Christianity' but it does accept the fall of man (al-hubut)
from the primordial and original state of perfection in which he was
created. That primordial nature of man cannot confirm but to the Divine
Unity. It cannot but bear witness to Al-Tawhid. Why? Because we are
created with this inherent fitrah (inherent nature.) But precisely because
of this fall, man's will has
become warped in the sense that it has become subservient to the passions
rather than to Allah (swt.)
It is the pollution of lust, individualism, consumerism and all the lowly
desires of the self that cloud the heart and the man away from their
inherent nature. It has caused us to be in a state of forgetfulness,
heedlessness and inevitably, spiritual loss. So how do we get back to a
soul and mind at peace? How does remembrance help and for that matter what
exactly must we remember?
What must we remember?
Allah (swt), the Most High, Himself shows the way for those who seek to
remember Him. 'Remember Allah (swt) as He has guided you' (Sura Baqara:
198) This means to remember that your Creator has bought you to a certain
level of consciousness, faith and that you can remember Him in accordance
to this ability.
Prophet Mohamad (salallaho alayhi wasallam) says: 'The best declaration of
remembrance is the one which I and all the Prophets before me recite. It
is the divine phrase 'La ilaha illa Llah' which means "there is no
god but Allah (swt)".
The Prophet Moses (as) was told by Allah (swt) that dhikr is the most
preferred of special prayers because of its ability to inculcate deep
sincerity in the heart of the believer. 'La illah illa Llahu' is also
termed the Purification of Souls. In short there is nothing greater than
remembrance of Him, exalted is He.
Over and above everything you do, the material being in you must follow
the straight path, the 'Siratul Mustaqeem.' That is only possible through
preserving and following the precepts of religion. To do this one has to
be conscious to remember - to remember Allah (swt) night and day, inwardly
and outwardly, continuously. For those who see the truth, to remember
Allah (swt) is an obligation. As Allah (swt) orders:
'Remember Allah standing (swt) and sitting and lying down.' (Sura Nisa:
103)
'those who remember Allah (swt) standing and sitting and lying on their
sides, and who reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth. Our
Lord, Thou hast not created this in vain! Glory be to thee ...' (Sura Al-Imran:
190)
So we have established now that Allah (swt) wants us to remember Him as
much as we possibly can. After all He created us. He caused us to breathe.
People worship money, some worship rock stars so why not worship and
remember the One who caused us to breathe? This is a logical stand point
although there is the great reason to have love to remember Allah (swt)
for His sake and for His sake alone.
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.
What are the benefits of dhikr?
Again we turn to the Holy Koran to provide us with answers as to the
benefits we will receive from making remembrance of our Creator:
'And men who remember Allah much and women who remember Allah much, Allah
hath prepared for them forgiveness and a vast reward.' (33: 35)
'Verily in the remembrance of Allah (dhikr Allah) do hearts find rest!'
(13:28)
'If you remember Me, I will remember You' (2:152)
'They only the true believers whose hearts feel fear (wajilat ~ tremble or
shake) when God is mentioned (dhikr Allah)' (8:2)
Closely examine the latter parts of the first three verses quoted above
and notice the benefits they describe. 'Allah (swt) hath provided for them
forgiveness and a cast reward' (33:35), ' hearts find rest!' (13:28) and '
..I (Allah, swt) will remember you' (2:152).
'Say, I seek refuge with (Allah) the Lord of mankind. The King of mankind.
The Ilaah (God) of mankind. From the evil of the whisperer (devil who
whispers evil in the hearts of men) who withdraws (from his whispering in
ones hearts after one remembers Allah, swt) Who whispers in the breasts of
men. Of jinn's and men. (30:114)
So, in sum not only will the one who remembers receive an abundant reward
in the afterlife but also protection from the attack of the devil. Examine
the above closing verse of the Holy Koran and you can read the advice
Allah (swt) is giving here. When you remember Allah (swt) you will be
protecting yourself from the whispers of the one who causes a lot of
strife, doubt, uncertainty and the keys to spiritual loss. To help
yourself to rid yourself of the one 'Who whispers in the breasts of men,'
(30:114) one has to replace those whisperings with remembrance of the
Highest kind, that of dhikr of Allah (swt) to truly find peace.
Whilst we have attempted to give an insight into dhikr we understand that
the benefits of dhikr cannot truly be given justice through words alone.
It is only through the practice of the methods of dhikr that one may hold
a key to spiritual success and experience a heart at peace with itself InshaAllah.
The question which we must now ask ourselves is whether we are fully using
the capacity of our brains and hearts. The system of life of remembrance,
as of the Deen Of Allah (swt) provides those answers, the means, the
methods and the benefits, as we have outlined above. The middle path of
Allah (swt) makes perfect sense, where there is no doubt and where most
importantly both the heart and mind agree. One needs to ask whether they
want to remain asleep, in a state of confusion, spiritual loss and where
the heart and mind are in conflict. Or, whether they want to help
themselves to a vastly focused life with the goal to please Allah (swt)
alone and where the heart is in a state of greater tranquility and hope InshaAllah.
There is one specific and great focus in the mind and hearts of those who
engage in dhikr and that is to remember Allah (swt).
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