The Quran Al-Karim, Ahadith and Scientific Findings on Dhikr, the
Science of Prophet Muhammad (salalaho alayhi wasallam)
By:
Sakina
Gul Hussain
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 Quran 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.
The Prophet (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."
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 this 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 Allahs (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 principal 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,
to purify it, is to remember Allah (swt.) At the beginning, this remembrance
can only be done outwardly, by repeating His Divine Names, pronouncing them
aloud so that you as well as others can 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, and 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,
insha Allah. 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 bioelectrical
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 bioelectrical 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 that it had not previously used before
the practise 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.
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
PET Scans completed at
Thus we see even Western
science is waking up to the benefits of dhikr which was understood by Muslims
many centuries ago without ‘hi-tech’ 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.
The question, which we
must now ask ourselves, is whether we are fully using the capacity of our
brains and hearts. Whether our lives are lived with a
specific purpose, goal and with direction. The Muslim at peace is the
one who understands that this life is but a game and a means to deceive. There
is much to be lost without a goal and focus in life. When a religion cannot
provide the answers one seeks, it throws the whole basis of that religion into
doubt. When we delve into a religion deeply we look into our intentions of why
we are following it and whether it truly makes sense. One needs to ask: does my
heart and mind agree with what I am doing? Does it make sense to me? 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 tranquillity and hope.