Dhikr
“This is fana: that a man be extinguished from himself.”
– Ibn Ata Allah Al-Iskandari, The Key to Salvation and the Lamp of Souls
Dhikr (alternatively zikr) is an Islamic term, meaning remembrance, recollection, or invocation. In its widest sense, dhikr can refer to any act through which one “remembers God,” including daily ritual prayer, confession of faith, communal worship, reading, reciting, or meditating on the Quran or Hadith, following Islamic (Shari’ah) law, almsgiving, fasting, pilgrimage, etc. In a more specialized sense, dhikr has come to refer to a form of meditation practiced primarily among sufi Muslims in which a name of Allah is repeated, vocally or silently, with the goal of opening the self to, or losing the self completely in, the direct presence of God.
Although various orders have their own unique practices, cultures, and philosophical understandings, meditative dhikr is generally considered to be the sufi form of spiritual practice par excellence. Other forms of meditation (commonly falling under the category of fikr) exist within some silsilas, but the practice of dhikr is commonplace within Sufism at large. During the practice of dhikr a name of Allah is repeated, vocally or silently, with the goal of opening the self to, or losing the self completely in, the direct presence of God. When performed communally/vocally, the name is often chanted rhythmically and may also be accompanied by repetitive body movements. During communal dhikr, participants may also be physically arranged in a pattern which has some spiritual significance to the order. In solitude, verbal repetition is often thought of as a precursor to silent practice. Dhikr can be performed individually at any time, with intense periods of individual practice often performed on secluded retreat, sometimes lasting up to 40 days.
The most common name used for dhikr is simply Allah or the phrase Huwa Allah alladhi la ilaha illa hu (“He is God, there is no God but He”). Alternatively, one may choose a name (traditionally, Muslims recognize the 99 Beautiful Names of God) which resonates with their unique spiritual state or situation. Thus one may choose the name al-Ghaffar (“the Forgiver”) if they feel in need of forgiveness, or al-Hadi (“the Guide”) if they feel in need of guidance, etc. Names for dhikr are also sometimes provided to a disciple by their sheikh.
At its most basic level, dhikr is simply the meditative repetition of a divine name as understood from within the Islamic context.
Interpretations
Fana
The most common interpretation of the state potentially achieved during the practice of dhikr is that of fana – self-extinction in God. On this interpretation, during the deepest experience of dhikr the individual performing dhikr disappears, and only That which is invoked – Allah Himself – remains. The path toward fana is typically conceived of as a process in which the dhikr is performed by a deeper and deeper level of one’s being until the invoker disappears in the presence of God.
“Its beginning is only with the tongue, then comes invocation with the heart with effort; then comes invocation with the heart naturally; then comes possession of the heart by the Invoked and the effacement of the invoker.”
“Invocation is an inner reality in which the Invoked takes possession of the heart while the invoker is effaced and vanishes. But it has three coverings, one closer to the kernel than the others. The kernel as such is beyond the three coverings, yet the virtue of the coverings lies in their being the way to the kernel.”
“This is fana, that a man be extinguished from himself.”
– Ibn Ata Allah Al-Iskandari, The Key to Salvation and the Lamp of Souls
“Know that there are four degrees of Remembrance (of God): The first is that it be with the tongue while the soul is inattentive. The effect of this is weak, but it is still not without some effect, for the tongue that is busy with service is better than the tongue that is busy with foolishness or left in idleness. The second is that it be in the soul, but not established firmly and dwelling (in it). It is as though the soul must be constrained to do it, so that if there were no (conscious) effort and constraint, the soul would, from inattention and the whisperings of the self, revert to its normal nature. The third is that in which the remembrance is resident, established, and dominant in the soul, so much so that there is no more need for importuning. This is tremendous! The fourth is that in which the Remembered – and that is God Most High – overwhelms the soul, not the remembrance. There is a difference between him whose entire soul loves the Remembered and him who loves the Remembrance. Rather, the perfection of that is that the remembrance and the awareness of the remembrance go from the soul, leaving the Remembered and nothing else… When one becomes immersed thus, one forgets oneself and all there is, save God Most High. One arrives at the beginning of the way of mysticism. This state is called by the Sufis ‘annihilation (of the self).’ It is also called ‘non-existence (of the self).’”
– Al-Ghazzali, On the Remembrance of God Most High
In the state of fana, all is effaced except Al-Haqq, The Real, The Supreme Reality, Oneness of Being, Allah. As in other theistic traditions, language pointing to Unity is often used to describe this experience.
“In contemplative prayer, the inner intellect or spirit, which is itself a Divine Spark to which Meister Eckhart refers when he says that there is in the soul something uncreated and uncreatable… is able to transcend the I-Thou dichotomy altogether. This faculty is able to plunge into the Supreme Reality and, in drowning in the Ocean of Divinity, to know it.”
“As human beings, we have the ability to reach the state of extinction and annihilation and yet have consciousness that we are nothing in ourselves and that all being belongs to God. We can reach a state of unitive consciousness prior to bifurcation into object and subject.”
– Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Garden of Truth
As with other elements of sufi practice and philosophy, understandings of fana may differ based on order, sheikh, or individual.
Opening to Gnosis
Sufi texts, as a whole, tend to be far more open to visionary experience than other contemplative traditions and Dhikr is also commonly thought of as a way to open oneself to gnosis, or knowledge revealed by God through visionary experiences. In some texts it is unclear whether fana or visionary experience is considered to be the “higher” state, as the two experiences are sometimes seemingly intertwined.
Remembrance in Daily Life
Outside of “the direct experience of God” during meditative practice, the practice of dhikr is also thought of as useful for cultivating the remembrance of God in an aspirant’s day to day life. Ideally, one lives in constant remembrance of the presence of God and of their role as one submitted to the performance of God’s will. This is sometimes spoken of as moving from absence of mind to presence of mind in day to day living. On a deeper level, one’s experience of fana may extend into daily life and include the loss of self and the experience of God in all things (i.e. the ongoing experience of Oneness of Being). A permanent state of “dwelling in God” or “subsistence in God” is sometimes referred to as baqa. Continual remembrance of God, however one conceives of it, is considered to be the distinguishing mark of a fully developed spiritual seeker.
Polishing The Mirror
Another metaphor often used in the sufi tradition to describe the effects of dhikr (or, more generally, the effects of the wider sufi path) is that of Polishing the Mirror or Polishing Rust Off the Heart. In the time of the development of Sufism, a mirror could become warped and rusted if it was not frequently polished. If a mirror became uneven through rusting, the image of one who looked in the mirror would become skewed. A seeker’s soul is commonly thought of as a potential Mirror for God, but one which can only reflect God accurately if it is continually polished through dhikr and other forms of spiritual practice. One’s soul as a mirror continues to be a popular metaphor in modern Sufism.
Descriptions of Dhikr and the Sufi Path
The following are descriptions of dhikr and the sufi path from sufi texts, past and present.
Degrees of Remembrance, Annihilation of the Self
“Know that there are four degrees of Remembrance (of God): The first is that it be with the tongue while the soul is inattentive. The effect of this is weak, but it is still not without some effect, for the tongue that is busy with service is better than the tongue that is busy with foolishness or left in idleness. The second is that it be in the soul, but not established firmly and dwelling (in it). It is as though the soul must be constrained to do it, so that if there were no (conscious) effort and constraint, the soul would, from inattention and the whisperings of the self, revert to its normal nature. The third is that in which the remembrance is resident, established, and dominant in the soul, so much so that there is no more need for importuning. This is tremendous! The fourth is that in which the Remembered – and that is God Most High – overwhelms the soul, not the remembrance. There is a difference between him whose entire soul loves the Remembered and him who loves the Remembrance. Rather, the perfection of that is that the remembrance and the awareness of the remembrance go from the soul, leaving the Remembered and nothing else. For, whether the remembrance be in Arabic or Persian, both of these are not devoid of the distracting whisperings of the self; on the contrary, they are the height of it. The point is that the soul should be emptied of Arabic and Persian and all else and, containing nothing else, turn to Him. This is the result of the singular love, which is called ‘ardent love.’ The ardent lover engages his soul entirely with his beloved. It may happen that his soul becomes so involved with the beloved that he forgets his own name. When one becomes immersed thus, one forgets oneself and all there is, save God Most High. One arrives at the beginning of the way of mysticism. This state is called by the Sufis ‘annihilation (of the self).’ It is also called ‘non-existence (of the self).’”
– Al-Ghazzali, On the Remembrance of God Most High (Alchemy of Happiness)
Gnosis
“Upon reaching this degree, the appearance of the empyrean begins to be unveiled before him and the spirits of the angels and the prophets start to disclose themselves to him in wondrous forms. That which is reserved for the Divine Presence starts to appear to him. Tremendous events reveal themselves, which cannot be described in words.”
– Al-Ghazzali, On the Remembrance of God Most High (Alchemy of Happiness)
Reality of the Name Remains
"Let your heart be in such a state that the existence or non-existence of anything is the same – that is, let there be no dichotomy of positive and negative. Then sit alone in a quiet place, free of any task or preoccupation, be it the reciting of the Qur'an, thinking about its meaning, concern over the dictates of religion, or what you have read in books – let nothing besides God enter the mind. Once you are seated in this manner, start to pronounce with your tongue, 'Allah, Allah' keeping your thought on it.
Practice this continuously and without interruption; you will reach a point where the motion of the tongue will cease, and it will appear as if the word just flows from it spontaneously. You go on in this way until every trace of the tongue movement disappears while the heart registers the thought or the idea of the word.
As you continue with this invocation, there will come a time when the word will leave the heart completely. Only the palpable essence or reality of the name will remain, binding itself ineluctably to the heart. Up to this point everything will have been dependent on your own conscious will; the divine bliss and enlightenment that may follow have nothing to do with your conscious will or choice. What you have done so far is to open the window, as it were. You have laid yourself exposed to what God may breathe upon you, as He has done upon his prophets and saints.
If you follow what is said above, you can be sure that the light of Truth will dawn upon your heart..."
– Quotation attributed to Muhammad al-Ghazzali, from The Knowing Heart
Effacement of the Invoker
“This is fana: that a man be extinguished from himself. Therefore, he does not feel anything in his limbs or anything exterior to himself nor any inner phenomena. Rather he is oblivious to all that, and all that vanishes from him as he goes first to his Lord, then comes back again to himself. Should it occur to the invoker during that time that he is completely extinguished from himself, then that would be a flaw and an opaqueness. For perfection is to be effaced from oneself and from the state of extinction. Hence, extinction from the state of extinction is the goal of extinction. Extinction is the beginning of the path: it is traveling to God Most High. Guidance comes afterwards… This total absorption rarely remains or lasts. If the invoker perseveres, it will become a deeply-rooted habit and a permanent state by which he may ascend to the highest domains. In this state of absorption, he may look upon pure, real Being and be imprinted with the nature of the invisible Realm and have the holiness of the Divinity revealed to him. The first thing that is manifested to the invoker in that domain is the essence of the angels and spirits of the Prophets and saints, and this, in beautiful forms through which certain realities overflow upon him. This is the beginning, until his degree of realization is higher than the prototypal forms and he encounters the self-evidence of the Truth in everything. This is the fruit of invoking. Its beginning is only with the tongue; then comes invocation of the heart with effort; then comes invocation with the heart naturally; then comes possession of the heart by the Invoked and the effacement of the invoker.”
– Ibn Ata Allah Al-Iskandari, The Key to Salvation and the Lamp of Souls
Benefits of Dhikr
“Invoking strengthens the heart and the body, puts inner and outer affairs in order, gladdens the heart and face, making the latter radiant. Moreover, it procures sustenance and facilitates obtaining it. It clothes the invoker with dignity; it inspires correct behavior in every affair. Its permanence is one of the means of obtaining the love of God; it is one of the greatest gateways leading to that love. Invoking causes the vigilance that leads to the station of spiritual virtue, wherein the servant adores God as if he saw Him with his very own eyes. It causes one to turn to God often; for whoever turns to God by remembering Him frequently will eventually turn to Him in all his affairs. Invoking brings closeness to the Lord and opens the door of gnosis within the heart. It bestows on the servant the veneration and reverential fear of his Lord…The invocation is the nourishment of the soul just as food is the nourishment of the body. Invoking polishes the heart of its rust, which is forgetfulness and the pursuit of its passions.”
– Ibn Ata Allah Al-Iskandari, The Key to Salvation and the Lamp of Souls
Transcending I-Thou, alone to the Alone, Unitive Consciousness
“As for the prayer of the heart, it is associated in Sufism with dhikr, or invocation of God’s Names. This quintessential form of prayer begins with invocation of the tongue, then with the mind and with our imaginal faculty, and finally with and in the heart, where the Divine Spark has always resided… The dhikr is in the final analysis the act of God Himself within us. In reality only God can utter His Name, and in the dhikr we become simply the instrument through which God utters His own sacred Name… In ordinary prayer men and women address God in an I-Thou relationship. In the prayer that is intertwined with love, the I and the Thou melt into each other. In contemplative prayer, the inner intellect or spirit, which is itself a Divine Spark to which Meister Eckhart refers when he says that there is in the soul something uncreated and uncreatable…is able to transcend the I-Thou dichotomy altogether. This faculty is able to plunge into the Supreme Reality and, in drowning in the Ocean of Divinity, to know it. It is to these realities that Plotinus was referring when he spoke of the flight of the alone to the Alone…As human beings, we have the ability to reach the state of extinction and annihilation and yet have consciousness that we are nothing in ourselves and that all being belongs to God. We can reach a state of unitive consciousness prior to bifurcation into object and subject.””
– Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Garden of Truth
Continual Remembrance, The Holy Ground of Our Being
“In this way, we create and enter a ritual space and atmosphere. The primary ritual or spiritual practice done in this atmosphere is called dhikr. The word dhikr…means ‘remembrance.’ Which is to say, dhikr is a practice of ‘remembering’ divinity and the divine unity, of being in continual ‘remembrance’ of the holy ground of our being through repetition of a divine name, a sacred formula or phrase. The most celebrated and important sacred phrase for Sufis is ‘La ilaha illa llah.’ …”
– Pir Netanel Miles-Yepez, Remembrance: The Dhikr of the Inayati Sufis
Through Love, Unio Mystica, Wayfaring
“Sufism is a mystical path of love in which God, or Truth, is experienced as the Beloved. The inner relationship of lover and Beloved is the core of the Sufi path. Through love the seeker is taken to God. The mystic seeks to realize Truth in this life and God reveals Himself within the hearts of those who love Him. The mystical experience of God is a state of oneness with God. This unio mystica is the goal of the traveller, or wayfarer, on the mystical path.”
– Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Sufism: Transformation of the Heart
Be Melting Snow, Wash Yourself of Yourself
“Totally conscious, and apropos of nothing, you come to see me.
Is someone here? I ask.
The moon. The full moon is inside your house.
My friends and I go running out into the street.
I’m in here, comes a voice from the house, but we aren’t listening.
We’re looking up at the sky.
My pet nightingale sobs like a drunk in the garden.
Ringdoves scatter with small cries, Where, Where.
It’s midnight. The whole neighborhood is up and out
in the street thinking, The cat burglar has come back.
The actual thief is there too, saying out loud,
Yes, the cat burglar is somewhere in this crowd.
No one pays attention.
Lo, I am with you always means that when you look for God,
God is in the look of your eyes,
in the thought of looking, nearer to you than your self,
or things that have happened to you.
There’s no need to go outside.
Be melting snow.
Wash yourself of yourself.
A white flower grows in the quietness.
Let your tongue become that flower.”
Instruction in dhikr is often unique to individual Sufi communities. For more on International Sufism, see the International Association of Sufism.