What does dhikr mean?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Dhikr means to mention/remember Allah. It is among the clear orders of the Quran.

“Then do ye remember Me; I will remember you…”(al-Baqara, 2/152),

“…Call Allah in remembrance much (and often); that ye may prosper.”(al-Anfal, 8/45)

The verses above are only two of the many verses regarding the issue.

Dhikr is done in two ways:

1. With the tongue.
2. With the heart.

What is essential is dhikr by the heart; the tongue is only a translator of it. However, the words that are only in the tongue are not regarded as dhikr unless they are transferred to the heart. (İz, Tasavvuf, 243) When a farmer working in the field, official working in the office and worker working in the factory remembers Allah, it is dhikr. The Quran praises people like that as follows:

“By men whom neither traffic nor merchandise can divert from the Remembrance of Allah nor from regular Prayer, nor from the practice of regular Charity.”(an-Nur, 24/37)

They are the people “whose outer world is in the abundance of the desert and inner world is in the sea of oneness”. The outer world and being busy with it does not confuse their hearts. They breathe in oneness in their inner world.

Dhikr, which is the basic element of all tariqahs, makes the heart transparent. It makes heart gain grace. It makes the heart a receiver sensitive toward inspiration.

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