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Dhikr , ذکر (Zikr in Urdu and Zekr in Persian) (Arabic "pronouncement", "invocation" or "remembrance") is the remembrance of God commanded in the Qur'an for all Muslims. To engage in dhikr is to have awareness of God according to Islam. Dhikr as a devotional act includes the repetition of divine names, supplications and aphorisms from hadith literature, and sections of the Qur'an. More generally, any activity in which the Muslim maintains awareness of God is considered dhikr. Dhikr is also spelled zikr based on its pronunciation in Turkish, Persian, and Urdu.

Contents 1 Dhikr Beads 2 Sufi 3 Modes of Dhikr 4 Forms of Dhikr 5 Source 6 External links

[edit] Dhikr Beads

Known also as tasbih are usually beads upon a string, 99 or 100 in number, which corresponds to the 99 names of Allah and other recitations. The beads are used to keep track of the number of recitations that make up the dhikr. A popular dhikr (Subhanallah (33x) al Hamduallah (33x) Laa ilaaha illa Allah (33x) Allahu Akhbar) was prescribed by the Prophet and is still practiced by many Muslims worldwide after each of the daily five prayers.

Muslim inmates are allowed to utilize dhikr beads for therapeutic effects (see, [1]). This was a result of a successful action brought pursuant to 28 USC @ 1983 (by Imam Hamzah S. Alameen in the State of New York against Thomas A. Coughlin III, the Department of Corrections) arguing that prisoners have a First Amendment Constitutional right to use dhikr beads.

Some Islamic clerics argue that using the beads are forbidden, however the practice is contiguous with approved Islamic traditions.^{[citation needed]} It has been said that the use of the fingers instead of the beads is better, since it was the practice of the Holy prophet Mohammed (PBUH).^{[citation needed]} Nevertheless the beads are allowed, as long as no extra religious significance is placed upon the beads themselves, and that they are not viewed as articles of worship. At best the beads are a crude form of calculator. The prophet's companion Abu Hurayrah had a string with 1,000 knots that he used to dhikr with before bed; one of the prophet's wives used to count her dihkr with date palm shells (see Sunan Abu Dawud, Kitabul Dhikr), and there is nothing from Mohammed that forbids the use of the beads and therefore dhikr beads are "halal" or "allowed" in most Islamic religious traditions thus breaking down the argument of those conservative scholars that deny the beads. Many of the Muslim scholars of the past 1400 years, whom Muslims consider foremost in knowledge, used dhikr beads.

[edit] Sufi

The Sufi orders engage in ritualized dhikr ceremonies. Each order or lineage within an order has one or more forms for group dhikr, the liturgy of which may include recitation, singing, instrumental music, dance, costumes, incense, meditation, ecstasy, and trance (Touma 1996, p.162). Dhikr in a group is not limited to these rules but most often done on Thursday and/or Sunday nights as part of the institutional practice of most orders. Orders such as Maktab Tarighat Oveyssi Shahmaghsoudi have Sufi lecture and dhikr sessions on various days depending on location.

Dhikr is sometimes accompanied with traditional instruments such as the Daf, Ney, Dombak, Tar (lute), Setar (lute), Santur, and so on. Recently, modern instruments have also been used to perform dhikr.

A group dhikr ceremony in Arabic countries is usually called the hadrah. The hadrah marks the climax of the Sufi's gathering regardless of any teaching or formal structure. Musically this structure includes several secular Arab genres and can last for hours. (ibid, p.165)

The hadrah section consists of the ostinato-like repetition of the name of God over which the soloist performs a richly ornamented song. Often the climax is reached through cries of "Allah! Allah!" or "hu hu" ("He! He!"), with the participants bending forward while exhaling and stand straight while inhaling. The articulation of the name of God progresses as follows, with upward beams indicating inhalatio

[edit] Modes of Dhikr

Depending upon the mode of dhikr, it has been divided into 3 kinds:

• Dhikr-e-Jalli — Dhikr with tongue loudly
• Dhikr-e-Khaffi— Dhikr in heart (hidden dhikr - i.e not from tongue)

Sufis further divide the mode of meditative dhikr according to the Latifa in which they are done. These include:

• Dhikr-e-nafsi
• Dhikr-e-Qalbi
• Dhikr-e-Ruhi
• Dhikr-e-Sirri
• Dhikr-e-Khafi
• Dhikr-e-Akfha

[edit] Forms of Dhikr

Different Sufi Orders have different syllabus of dhikr. Most common ones are as follows:

• Allah (The name of God)
• Ya-Hayyu-Ya-Qayyum (O Living & Giver of life)
• La illaha illallah (There is no god but God)
• Allah Hu (God Is)
• 99 Names of God[2]
• Verses from Qur'an
• Poetry of the Sufi Masters
• Darud Sharif (Asking God to send peace & blessings upon Prophet Muhammad)
• Istaghfar (Asking forgiveness from God)

[edit] Source

• Habib Hassan Touma (1996). The Music of the Arabs, trans. Laurie Schwartz. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0-931340-88-8.

[edit] External links

• Videocollection of different dhikr
• M.T.O. Shahmaghsoudi (School of Islamic Sufism)
• Present Naqshbandi Order
• Encyclopaedia of Turkey dhikr - zikr article
• Videos of Chechen Qadiri dhikr

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