Tark al-Dhikr · Abandoning Remembrance

The story

Muʿādh ibn Jabal said the dwellers of Paradise will regret no hour except an hour they did not remember Allah in. One hour. Of an eternity. The fierceness of dhikr was real.

Why it's named first

Allah commands abundant dhikr: 'remember Allah with much remembrance' (al-Aḥzāb 33:41). The disease is the rare remembrance: 5 prayers, perhaps a quick adhkār in the morning, then silence. The tongue that does not move with His Name throughout the day is in tark al-dhikr.

In the Qur'an

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱذْكُرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ذِكْرًا كَثِيرًا

“O you who have believed, remember Allāh with much remembrance”

33:41Listen Read 33:41 with tafsir

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In the Sunnah

«مَثَلُ الَّذِي يَذْكُرُ رَبَّهُ وَالَّذِي لا يَذْكُرُ مَثَلُ الحَيِّ وَالمَيِّتِ». 'The example of the one who remembers his Lord and the one who does not is like the example of the living and the dead.' (Bukhari 6407)

The cure

Build dhikr into daily life. Subhanallah in the kitchen. Alhamdulillah in the car. La ilaha illa Allah at the desk. Allahu akbar when ascending stairs. The tongue's habit forms the heart's habit.

What is at stake

The heart of the non-dhikr-er is described as dead. He breathes; he eats; he sleeps; he is dead in the way that matters.