ZIKR AND INVOCATIONS

God says : Remember Me, I will remember you. He ordered His servants to pray and to invoke by this verse :

Invoke me, I will respond to you. So the religious, sinners, near and distant ones should pray to God for fulfillment of their desires. He says :

I am near. I respond to the invocation of one who invokes Me. So there is nothing better than God's Zikr and invocations to Him. This will be discussed in five sections.

SECTION 1

EXCELLENCE OF ZIKR

God says : Remember Me. I shall remember you. The sage Sabet Bonani said : I know when my Lord remembers me. The people asked him How do you know ? He said : He remembers me when I remember Him. God says: Remember God too much. He says : When you return from Arafat, remember God near Mashaiu~ Haram and remember Him as God has given you guidance. God says : When you finish the institutions of Haj, remember God more than you remember your parents at that time. God says : They are wise who remember God standing, sitting and lying on a side. God says : When you finish prayer, remember God standing, sitting, and lying on your sides. Hazrat Ibn Abbas said : Remember God day and night, on land and water, in journey and habitation, in solvency and want, in health and disease, openly and secretly. God says rebuking the hypocrites : They remember God very little. God says Remember your Lord in your heart with humility and in fear silently morning and evening and be not of the heedless. God says : Zikr of God is the highest. Hazrat Ibn Abbas said : This is for two reasons. One reason is that God's remembrance of you is better than your remembrance of God. Another reason is that God's remembrance is better than all other divine services.

HADIS: This Prophet said : One engaged in the Zikr of God among the heedless is like a living tree in the midst of dry trees. He said : One busy in Zikr in the midst of the heedless is like a warrior in the way of God in the midst of those soldiers who fled away. The Prophet said : God says: I remain with a servant till he remembers Me and moves his lips for Me. There is no action of man except Zikr of God which can give him salvation. They asked him : 0 Prophet of God, not even jihad in the way of God?

He said : Not even jihad in the way of God, except that it will give salvation only when it is cut to pieces owing to your strike by your sword and then it is again cut to pieces owing to your strike by your sword. The Prophet said : If anybody wishes to enter the garden of paradise, let him remember God much. He was asked Which action is best ? He said : Your meeting with death in the condition of your tongue being saturated with Zikr of God. The Prophet said : Saturate your tongue with the Zikr of God morning and evening, you will have no sin morning and evening. He said : God's Zikr morning and evening is better than attack with sword in the way of God and giving wealth in charity. The Prophet said : God says : When My servant remembers Me silently, I remember Him silently. When he remembers Me among the people, I remember him among a party better than them. When he comes to Me half a cubit, I advat to him a cubit. When he comes to Me a cubit, I go to him two cubits. When he comes to Me on foot, I go to him hastily. The Prophet said : On the day when there will be no shade except the shade of God, God will give shade under His shade seven persons-one who remembers God sincerely and shed tears for fear of God etc. The Prophet said : Shall I not inform you of an action dearest to God, greatest to your Lord, highest in rank, better fruitful than charity of your gold and silver and your striking with sword the necks of the enemies of God and the strike on you necks ? They said : 0 Messenger of God, what is it? He said : Constant remembrance of God. The Prophet said : God says : If a man refrains from invoking Me because of his remaining busy with my remembrance I give him better than those who invoke Me.

Wise sayings. The sage Fuzail said : We have been informed that if a man makes God's Zikr one hour after the morning prayer and one hour after the Asr prayer, it expiates all his sins. A wise man said : God says : If I see My Zikr prevailing in the mind of a man, I take the administration of his affairs and I become his companion, adviser and friend. Hasan Basari said : Zikr is of two kinds-(1) God's Zikr in your mind and (2) better than this is to remember God at the time of commission of an unlawful action. Some said that every soul will come out of the world thirsty except one which remembers God. Muaz-b-Jabal said : The inmates of Paradise will not grieve for anything except for the time which passed without remembrance of God.

EXCELLENCE OF THE ASSEMBLY OF ZIKR

The Prophet said : If a party of men are engaged in the Zikr of God, the angels surround them, mercy encompasses them and He remembers them before His near angels. The Prophet said : If a party of men makes Zikr of God for pleasure of God a proclaimer proclaims from heaven : Your sins have been forgiven and you have been given virtues in lieu of your sins. The Prophet said : If a party of men make no Zikr of God sitting together and send no blessing on the Prophet, they will be repentant on the Resurrection Day. Prophet David said : 0 my Lord, when you see me joining the heedless after giving up the assembly of Zikr of God, break my feet under their feet, as it will be a gift cast upon me, The Prophet said : An assembly of virtue of the believers expiate two thousand assemblies of sin. Hazrat Abu Hurairah said : As you see the stars, so the inmates of heaven see a house of the inmates of the world wherein God is remembered. Sufiyan-b-Aynah said: When a party of men gather together and remember God, the devil and the world become separate from them. The devil says to the world : Don't you see what they are doing"? The world says : Leave them as when they will be separate from one another, I will take them to you catching their necks. Hazrat Abu Huraiah said that he went one day into the market and said : I see you here, but the properties left by the Prophet are being distributed in the mosque. The People went to the mosque but saw no distribution of any property. They then went to Abu Hurairah and said : 0 Abu Hurairah, we find no distribution of property in the mosque. He asked What then have you seen ? They said : We found a party of men making Zikr of God and reciting the Quran. He said : This is the heritage of the Prophet. The Prophet said : Some angels of God roam in the world and write down additional record of deeds. If they see a party of believers making Zikr of God, they proclaim : Come with your actions. They come with their actions and they take them towards the heaven. God says : What action of My servants have you seen ? They say : We saw them praising 'Three, glorifying Thee and declaring Thy purity. God says : Do they see Me? They say : No. God says : If they could have seen Me, how will it be? They said : If they could have seen Thee they would have recited Thy Tasbih, Tahmid and Tamzid more, God says to them : From what thing do they seek reguge ? They say : From Hell. God says Have they seen it? They said : No. God says : If they had seen it, what would they have done? They said : If they had seen it, they would have fled away more from it. God says : What do they seek. They say : Paradise. God says : How will it be if they had seen it ? They say : If they has seen it, they would have desired it more. God says : I bear witness before you that I have forgiven them. They say : A certain man did not come to them with that object except for his own personal needs. God says : They are such party whose companion will not be unfortunate.

EXCELLENCE OF TAHLIL

The Prophet said: What I said first and also my predecessor prophets is this--'there is no deity but God. He is One, there is no partner for Him. The Prophet said : He who recites this Doa one hundred times 'There is no deity but God, the single, there is no partner for Him, kingdom is His and all praise is His and He is powerful over all things", the rewards of setting free ten slaves are written for him, one hundred rewards are written in his record of deeds and one hundred sins are wiped out from him and he remains safe from the machinations of the devil on that day up to night. He who does more than this, his rewards are more and nobody acts-more virtuous than it. The Prophet said He who makes ablution and reads 'Doa after looking towards heaven-"I bear witness that there is no deity but God. He is single, there is no partner for Him and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and apostle", the doors of Paradise are opened up for him and he enters it by whichever door he likes. The Prophet said : Those who utter-"There is no deity but God" there will be no loneliness for them in their grave or after their resurrection from the grave. I am seeing them as it were when they utter it loudly, their heads are emerging from earth and they are uttering 'all praise is due to God who removed sorrows from us. Our Lord is forgiving, acceptor of gratefulness.' The Prophet said : 0 Abu Hurairah, the virtues which you do will be weighed on the Resurrection Day, but the attestation of 'There is no deity but God' will not be weighed, because if it is weighed in a scale and the seven heavens and seven earths and what is in then both are placed in another scale, the scale of "There is no deity but God" will be heavier. The Prophet said : If anybody commits sin on the surface of the earth after uttering 'There is no deity but God', God will forgive him. The Prophet said : 0 Abu Hurairah, tell the dying man to attest-'There is no deity but God'. as it destroys sins. I said : 0 Prophet of God, this is for the dying man. What are the rewards for a man who is alive ? The Prophet said He who utters with sincere heart-'There is no deity but God' will enter Paradise. The Prophet said : Everyone amongst you will enter Paradise except one who denies it and turns his face from God like the turning of the face of a she-camel. He was asked : 0 Prophet of God, who denies and turns his face from God? He said : That person who does not utter 'There is no deity but God'. Utter much "There is no deity but God" before hindrance comes between you and it, as it is a word of Tauhid, word of sincerity, word of God fear, word of purity, calling towards truth and the foundations of Paradise. God says: Is there any reward for doing (Ihsan) good except good ? It is said that Ihsan of this world is-'There is no deity but God' and the Ihsan of the next world is Paradise. God says : Those who do good will get good reward and still more. The Prophet said : If a man utters ten time-"There is no deity but God'. He is single, there is no partner for Him, the kingdom is His and praise is His and He is powerful over all things." the reward of setting free a slave is written for him. The Prophet said : If a man utters a day two hundred times the above mentioned Doa, nobody will be able to go before him and nobody will catch him after him except one who does actions better than those of his. The Prophet said : If a man goes to the market and utters 'There is no deity but God, He is single; there is no partner for Him, His is the kingdom and His is all praise, He gives life and takes life, He is powerful over everything"-God writes for him one lac virtues, forgives one lac sins and builds for him a house in Paradise. The Prophet said : He who utter the aforesaid Doa ten times, will get the rewards of setting free four slaves belonging to the dynasty of Hazrat Ismail. The Prophet said : He who wakes up at night and utter the following Doa, is forgiven of his sins and if he prays after abulution, his prayer is accepted-"There is no deity but God, He is single, there is no partner for Him, kingdom is His, praise is His, and He is powerful over all things. Glory be to God, all praise is due to God, there is no deity but God, God is greatest, there is no might or strength except in God, the great, the mighty. 0 God forgive me."

SECTION 2

TASBIH, TAHMID AND OTHER ZIKERS

The Prophet said: If a man utters at the end of each prayer 'Sobhan Allah' thirty three times, 'Alham do Lillah' thirty three times and 'Allaho Akbar' thirty three times and then utter once "There is no deity but God, he is single, there is no partner for Him, kingdom is His, all praise is His, and He is powerful over all things" all his sins are forgiven even though they are innumerable like foams in a sea. (2) The Prophet said: If a man utters everydays one hundred times 'Glory be to God and all praise is his' all his sins are forgiven even though they are innumerable like the foams of a sea. (3) A man came to the Prophet and said: The world has forsaken me and I have been rendered poor and I am without means. The Prophet asked him: Where do you stay? Don't you know the Doa by the blessings of which angels and men get livelihood? He said: 0 Prophet of God, what is that Doa? He said: After dawn and before Fajr prayer, if you read this Doa one hundred times, the world will itself turn to you and God will create one angel from each of its words who will be engaged in reading Tasbih up to the Resurrection Day and you will get its reward: Glory be to God with all praise, Glory be to God, the great. I seek forgiveness of God. (4) The Prophet said: When a servant utters "Alhamdo Lillah", he fills up what is between heavenand earth. When he recites it for the second time, he fills up seven heavens and seven earth. When he utters it for the third time. God says: Pray and it will be responded to.

(5) Hazrat Refa'a Zarki said: Once we were praying behind the Prophet. When he raised his head from bow, he said: 'God hears one who praises Him', one uttered from behind the Prophet: 0 our Lord, Thine is all praise, innumerable and pure, full of blessings therein. When the Prophet finished his prayer, he asked: Who has uttered this Doa just now? He said: 0 Prophet of God, I. The Prophet said: I saw more than thirty angels competing as to who of them will write rewards.

(6) The Prophet said: The following words are called ever-lasting good deeds: 'There is no deity but God. "Glory be to God'. 'All praise is for God'. 'Allah is greatest. There is no might or strength except in God'.

(7) The Prophet said: There is no such servant whose sins are not forgiven even though they are as innumerable as the foam of the sea if he utters these words: There is no deity but God. God is greatest. Glory be to God. All praise is for God and 'There is no might or strength except in God.'

(8) The Prophet said: If Zikr is recited glorifying God, and Tasbih, Tahmid and Takbir are recited, humming of voices are heard like the humming of bees round the Throne. They make Zikr along with them and nobody among you ceases to make Zikr of God.

(9) The Prophet said: I recite the following Doa and love it better than all the things upon which the sun sheds rays: Glory be to God, all praise.is due to God, 'there is no deity but God, God is greatest.

(10) The Prophet said: To God, four words are dear Sobhan-Allah, Alhamdo-Lillah, La Ilaha Illallah, Allahu-Akbar. By whichever of these you begin, it will not harm you. The Prophet said: 'Sobhan Allah' is half of faith, 'Alham do Lillah' fills up the scale. 'Sobhan Allah and Allaho Akbar' fill up what is between i.eaven and earth. Prayer is light, charity is proof, patience is radiance and the Quran is proof for you or against you. Every man gets up at dawn ad either sells his soul and destroys it or purifies his soul and frees it.

(11) The Prophet said: Two. words are easy to be uttered but heavy in scale and dear to the Merciful 'Sobhan Allah Wa Behamdihi, Sobhan Allahul Azim. Abu Zarra said: I asked the Prophet: Which word is dearest to God? The Prophet said: That word which God selected for His angels He quoted the above formula. The Prophet said: God selected this word: Sobhan Allah, walhamdo Lillah, wala Ilaha Illallah, wallaho Akbar. When a man utters 'Sobhan Allah' twenty rewards are written for him and twenty sins are wiped out. When he utters 'Allaho Akbar' similar rewards are written. The Prophet said: If a man utters 'Sobhan Allah wabihamdihi,' a palm tree is planted for him in paradise.

(12) Once the poor said to the Prophet: The rich take the rewards. They pray like us and fast but they get rewards from their additional properties. He said: Has not God enjoined on you charity? Every Tasbih of your is an act of charity, every Tahmid and Tahlil are acts of charity, every Takbir is an act of charity, every enjoining good and forbidding evil is an act of charity, the morsel of food you lift up to the mouth of your wife is an act of charity, your sexual intercourse with your wife is an act of charity. He said: 0 Prophet of God, does one of us coming to his wife out of passion get rewards? The Prophet said: Don't you see that if he throws his semen unto lawful things will he not commit sins? He said: Yes. He said: Similarly if he throws it in lawful thing, he will get rewards. Hazrat Abu Zarr said: I asked the Prophet: The rich have already taken rewards. They do whatever divine service we do but they spend and we cannot. The Prophet said: Shall I not give you clue to such an action which if you do, you will get the rewards of the actions of those before you and you will get the rewards of those who will come after you-33 times 'Sobhan-Allah' at the end of each prayer, 'Alhamdo Lillah' 33 times and 'Allaho- Akbar' 34 times. The Prophet said : You shall recite Tasbih, Tahlil and Taqdis, Don't be heedless and count them with fingers. The fingers will speak on the Resurrection Day.

(13) The Prophet said: When a man utters at the time of his death 'There is no might or strength except in God' the fire of Hell will not touch him, The Prophet said : Will not some one of you gain one thousand rewards daily? It was replied: 0 Prophet of God, how can it occur ? He said : Utter Tasbih one hundred times, then one thousand rewards will be written for you and one thousand sins will be effaced from you. The Prophet said : 0 Abu Musa, shall I not inform you of a jewel of Paradise under the Throne ? He said : Yes. He said : Utter-There is no might or strength except in God.

(14) The Prophet said: He who utters at dawn the following, it becomes the duty of God to please him on the Resurrection Day: I am satisfied with God as Lord, Islam as religion, the Quran as a guide and with Muhammad as a Prophet and Apostle.

Know, 0 dear readers, that if you question that it is easy to utter words by tongue and is no such difficulty in Zikr of God, then how is it that it is better than all other divine services? Know that its secrets are not understood except with the spiritual knowledge. Of all the learnings relating to worldly affairs, the most profitable and fruitful is constant Zikr with humility of spirit. If the mind is heedless at the time of Zikr with tongue, it brings much less rewards, If there is no attention of mind at the time of Zikr, there is little benefit therein, but constant Zikr with attention or at most times is above all other divine services. This is the end of divine services regarding actions. There is beginning and end of Zikr. There is love at its beginning and love at its end. At first, a person feels great difficulty in turning his mind towards God. If it lasts with the grace of God, it begets love for the Beloved. There is no wonder in it. For this habit, he makes Zikr in a lonely place far away from the bustles of the world. Thus constant Zikr he gets love towards Him and so he loves more and more Zikr. Then it grows into habit. A wise man said: I have been reading the Quran for the last twenty years and getting its blessings. This blessing was not possible without I've. This trouble has now grown into habit. Man is a slave of habit and his habit turns into his nature at the end. When there is eagerness for Zikr, he forgets other things except God and it exists tilt his death God's Zikr will go with him in his grave and not his children and properties. For this reason, the Prophet said: The Holy Spirit infused into my soul: Love what you like but you shall have to give it up at the end. In other words, sever all connections with the world and it will end with death. Don't deny that Zikr of God will go with you even after your death.

It is said how it is possible when there is the end of a man after his death? There is no end of man after his death, so there is no end of Zikr. He goes from the outside world and enters into spiritual world just as a child comes out of its mother's womb and falls into this world. The Prophet hined at it by saying: Grave is a hole of Hell or a garden of Paradise. The Prophet said: The souls of martyrs lie in the wombs of green birds. Addressing the polythiests by names, the Prophet said: 0 such person, 0 such person, have you found true what your Lord has promised you? I have found true what my Lord has promised me. Hazrat Omar asked the Prophet: 0 Prophet of God, when they have become dead, how can they hear and how can they reply? The Prophet said: By One in whose hand there is my life, you do not hear my Words better than them, but they cannot reply. The Prophet said: The soul of the believers and the martyr remain with in the bellies of green birds hanging under the Throne'. So the existence of Zikr cannot be refused from the hearts of the above persons. God says: Don't think those who are martyred in the way of God as dead but they are alive before their lord and they are given provision. They remain satisfied with what God has given them and give good news to those who could not earn that'. They get the honour of martyrdom on account of the honour of God's Zikr as their object is death in good condition and they return to God after renouncing the world. Their thought are for the sake of God and they become prepared for real life after giving up his children and properties.

EXCELLENCE OF MARTYRDOM: There are many traditions regarding the excellence of martyrdom, some of which have been narrated below. When Abdullah-b-Ansari was martyred at the battle of Uhud, the Prophet said to his son Jaber: 0 Jaber, shall I not give you good news? He said: Yes, may God give you news of good. He said: God has given your father life and kept him seated near Him and there is now no screen between him and God. God said to him: 0 My servant pray to Me whatever you wish. I will give it to you. He said: 0 God, if Thou wiseth, send me again to the world till I am martyred for thee and for Thy Prophet. God said: Order has gone from Me that a dead man cannot return'. To be martyred in this condition is his death in good condition, because if he would not have been a martyr and livedfor sometime, sweetness of the world would have returned to him and it would have diverted his mind from the remembrance of God. For this reason, the greatest fear of a God fearing man is at the time of his death, as mind may change at that time even if Zikr of God keeps attached to it. One dies in the condition in which he ends his life and his resurrection takes place in that condition. Thus the mind of a martyr becomes prepared only for God after all connections with the world are cut off. Hence the reward of martyrdom is greatest. Every object of desire is deity and every deity is an object of worship. When a martyr has got no object of desire except Him, he says bythe tongue of condition 'There is no diet but God: He who utters this by his tongue but his condition does not help him, his affair is upon God and he can't be safe from harm. For this reason the Prophet gave superiority to 'There is no deity but God' to other Zikrs. Whoever likes to meet with God. He also likes to meet him and whoever does not like to meet wit Him, God also does not want to meet him. This is the secret of Zikr.

EXCELLENCE OF DOA AND RULES

God says: When My servant asks of Me to you, say: I am near. I respond to one who calls Me when he calls Me. So invoke Me.

God says: Invoke God with modesty and secretly. He does not love the transgressors as God says: Call Me, I will respond to you. Those who refrain from My remembrance out of vanity will enter Hell abased. God says : Say : God has got good names by whatever names you call Him-Allah or Rahman. The Prophet said: Monazat is divine service. Then he recited: Call Me, I will respond to you. The Prophet said: Monazat is the narrow of worship. He said: There is nothing more honourable than Monazat. The Prophet said: Let no man forget to invoke either of these three things-forgiveness of his sins, hastnening of good for him or preserving good for him. The Prophet said: Seek favour of God, as He loves invocation. The best worship is to wait for compulsory prayer.

TEN RULES OF INVOCATION

(1) Choose the best time for invocation, for instance on the day of Arafat, in the month of Ramzan, on the Jumma Day and the last portion of the night. God says: They seek forgiveness by the latter part of the night. The Prophet said: God descends every night at its last one third portion in the heaven of the earth and says: Who will invoke Me that I may accept his invocation? Who will seek from Me that I may accept his prayers? Who will seek forgiveness from Me that I may forgive him. Hazrat Eakub used to make prayer with his children for forgiveness in the after part of the night standing in prayer. God then said to him: I will forgive them and make them Prophets.

(2) To take advantage of honourable condition. Hazrat Abu Hurairah said: The doors of heaven are opened in Juha in the way of God, at the time of concourse of men in rows of prayer, at the time of rain fall and at the time of Aqamat of compulsory prayer. Invoke at that time. Muzahed said : You should invoke at the end of prayer. The Prophet said Invocation is not rejected in between Azan and Aqamat. He said : 'The invocation of a fasting man is not rejected.' The best times are the time of Sheri, purity of mind and sincerity, the day of Arafat, the time of prostration. The Prophet said: A man becomes near God at the time of prostration. Invoke much at that time. The Prophet said : I have been prohibited to read the Quran in Ruku and prostration. Proclaim the glory of God in Ruku and take trouble of invoking in prostration, as it is the appropriate time of its acceptance.

(3) Invoke facing the Qibla and raise up your hand so high that the whiteness of the hand is visible. It is stated that the Prophet waited facing the Ka'ba on the Arafat Day and kept on invoking till the sun set. The Prophet said : Your Lord is bashful and honourable. Whenever anybody raises up his hands. He feels shy to return in empty handed. Hazrat Anas reported that the Prophet used to raise up his hands so high that the whiteness of his hands could be seen. Once the Prophet saw as man making invocation and hinting by his two fingers. He said : one, one. He hinted to make it short. Hazrat Omar said that the Prophet extended his hands and did not take them down until he touched his face with them. Hazrat Ibn Abbas said that whenever the Prophet invoked, he united the front potion of his hands and rubbed his face with the interior of his palms. The Prophet said : Let not the people look towards the sky at the time of invocation or shut up their sight.

(4) Keep your voice between expression and silence. Hazrat Abu Musa Ash'ari said : When we came near Medina with the Prophet, he recited Takbir and the people also recited Takbir Loudly. The Prophet said : 0 people, He whom you call is not deaf and not absent. He whom you call is between you and your necks. Hazrat Ayesha said : God says : Don't raise your voice high in prayer, nor keep it concealed. God praised His Prophet Zakariyah when he called his Lord by silent voice.

(5) Don't use ornamental words in invocation. He who invokes should be humble. The Prophet said : Soon a people appear who will exaggerate in invocation God says : He does not love the transgressors. This is in reference to those who use ornamental words in invocation. Pray for what is good. The Prophet said : Give up ornamental words in invocation. It is said that the learned and Abdals used not more than seven words in their invocation.

(6) Invoke with fear and hope and with humility and modesty. Humility and modesty are dear to God. God says : They hasten in good deeds and invoke Me with hope and fear. The Prophet said : If God loves a man. He tries him till he sees in him humility and modesty.

(7) Believe that your invocation will be accepted and hope therein for truth. The Prophet said : When a man invokes, let him not say : 0 God, give me if Thou wiseth. Be firm in invocation as there is nobody to reject it. The Prophet said : When one of you invokes, make your hope great as there is nothing great to God. The Prophet said : Invoke God and entertain a firm belief that your invocation will be accepted and know that God does not accept the invocation of a headless man. Sufiyan Saori said : Let nobody prevent you to make invocation with what you know as God accepted the invocation of the worst being of the creation, the devil. When he prayed : 0 God, give me respite up to the Resurrection day. God said : Your prayer is accepted.