Virtue of Dhikr
Allah the Almighty says:
فَاذْكُرُوْنِيْٓ اَذْكُرْكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوْا لِيْ وَلَا تَكْفُرُوْنِ
“So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful to Me and do not be ungrateful to Me.”
Surah Al-Baqarah – 2:152
يٰٓاَيُّهَا الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوا اذْكُرُوا اللّٰهَ ذِكْرًا كَثِيْرًا
“O you who have believed! Remember Allah with much remembrance.”
Surah Al-Ahzab – 33:41
وَالذّٰكِرِيْنَ اللّٰهَ كَثِيْرًا وَّالذّٰكِرٰتِ اَعَدَّ اللّٰهُ لَهُمْ مَّغْفِرَةً وَّاَجْرًا عَظِيْمًا
“And the men who remember Allah much and the women who remember Allah much – Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a great reward.”
Surah Al-Ahzab – 33:35
وَاذْكُرْ رَّبَّكَ فِيْ نَفْسِكَ تَضَرُّعًا وَّخِيْفَةً وَّدُوْنَ الْجَهْرِ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالْاٰصَالِ وَلَا تَكُنْ مِّنَ الْغٰفِلِيْنَ
“And remember your Lord within yourself in humility and fear and without loudness in words, in the mornings and evenings; and do not be among the heedless.”
Surah Al-A‘raf – 7:205
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also said, “The example of the one who remembers his Lord and the one who does not remember his Lord is like that of the living and the dead.” [1]
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also said, “Shall I not inform you of the best of deeds, the purest of them with your Master, the one that raises you most in rank, better for you than spending gold and silver (in the way of Allah), and better for you than meeting your enemy so you strike their necks and they strike yours?” They said, “Yes, indeed.” He said, “The remembrance of Allah, the Most High.” [2]
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also said:
“Allah, the Exalted, says: I am as My servant thinks of Me, and I am with him when he remembers Me. If he remembers Me to himself, I remember him to Myself. And if he remembers Me in an assembly, I remember him in a better assembly than that. If he draws near to Me a handspan, I draw near to him an arm’s length; and if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a fathom’s length; and if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed.” [3]
It is narrated from Abdullah ibn Busr (may Allah be pleased with him) that a man said: O Messenger of Allah! The laws of Islam are too many for me, so tell me something I can hold on to firmly. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Let your tongue always remain moist with the remembrance of Allah.” [4]
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also said:
“Whoever recites a letter from the Book of Allah will have a reward for it, and the reward will be multiplied tenfold. I do not say that ‘Alif Lam Meem’ is a letter; rather ‘Alif’ is a letter, ‘Lam’ is a letter, and ‘Meem’ is a letter.” [5]
Uqbah ibn Amir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came out while we were in the Suffah (in the courtyard of the Prophet’s Mosque) and said:
“Who among you would like to go every morning to Buthan or Al-Aqiq valley and bring back two large-humped she-camels without committing any sin or cutting the ties of kinship?” We said: O Messenger of Allah, we would all like that. He said: “If one of you goes to the mosque and learns or recites two verses from the Book of Allah, it will be better for him than two she-camels; and three verses are better than three she-camels; and four verses are better than four she-camels – and so on.” [6]
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also said:
“Whoever sits in a gathering in which he does not remember Allah, that sitting will be a cause of regret for him before Allah. Whoever lies down in a place without remembering Allah, that lying down will also be a cause of regret for him before Allah.” [7]
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also said:
“If people sit in a gathering in which they do not remember Allah and do not send blessings upon their Prophet, it will be a cause of loss for them. Allah may punish them if He wills, or He may forgive them if He wills.” [8]
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also said:
“If a group of people leaves a gathering without remembering Allah, it will be as if they have left from the corpse of a donkey, and that gathering will be a cause of regret for them. Allah may punish them if He wills, or He may forgive them if He wills.” [9]
[1] Bukhari, with Fath al-Bari, 11/208, No. 6407; Muslim, 1/539, No. 779, and its wording is:
«مَثَلُ الْبَيْتِ الَّذِي يُذْكَرُ اللّٰهُ فِيهِ، وَالْبَيْتِ الَّذِي لَا يُذْكَرُ اللّٰهُ فِيهِ، مَثَلُ الْحَيِّ وَالْمَيِّتِ»
“The example of the house in which Allah is remembered and the house in which Allah is not remembered is like that of the living and the dead.”
[2] Tirmidhi 5/459, No. 3377; Ibn Majah 2/1645, No. 3790; see also, Sahih Ibn Majah 2/316; Sahih Tirmidhi 3/139.
[3] Bukhari 8/171, No. 7405; Muslim 4/2061, No. 2675. However, the wording is from Bukhari.
[4] Tirmidhi 5/458, No. 3375; Ibn Majah 2/1246, No. 3793 — and Shaykh Al-Albani graded it as Sahih. See, Sahih al-Tirmidhi, 3/139; Sahih Ibn Majah 2/317.
[5] Tirmidhi 5/175, No. 2910 — Shaykh Al-Albani graded it as Sahih; see, Sahih al-Tirmidhi, 3/9; Sahih al-Jami‘ al-Saghir, 5/340.
[6] Muslim, 1/553, No. 803.
[7] Abu Dawud 4/264, No. 4856 and others. See, Sahih al-Jami‘, 5/342.
[8] Tirmidhi, 5/461, No. 3380; see also, Sahih al-Tirmidhi, 3/140.
[9] Abu Dawud 4/264, No. 4855; Ahmad 2/389, No. 10680; see also, Sahih al-Jami‘, 5/176.
Collected.
