بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ
This week we continue highlighting the stages in God consciousness.
We started out by addressing the benefits of engaging in the remembrance
of Allah. Last week we spoke of the best time to remember
Allah. This week we address what Allah
makes mention of in many places in the Qur’an;
O you who believe! Remember Allah with much remembrance. (33:41)
Don’t only remember Allah
when you are in a tranquil state of mind.
True, these times are more optimal but remember your Lord throughout the
day and night.
How is this possible, especially when we’re preoccupied with our job,
family etc? Allah
gives us the answer in the Qur’an in the story of Zachariah. Allah
records in Surah Imran;
There did Zachariah pray to His
Lord, saying: “O My Lord! Grant unto me from Thee a progeny that is pure”: for
Thou art He that heareth prayer! While
he was standing in prayer in the chamber, the angels called unto him: “(Allah)
doth give Thee glad tidings of Yahya, witnessing the truth of a word from
Allah, and (be besides) noble, chaste, and a Prophet, - of the (goodly) company
of the righteous”. He said: “O My Lord!
How shall I have a son seeing I am very old and my wife is barren?” Thus was the answer doth Allah accomplish
what He willeth”. He said: “O My Lord!
Give me a Sign!" Thy Sign, was the
answer, Shall be that Thou shalt speak to no man for three days but with
signals. Then celebrate the praises of
Thy Lord again and again, and glorify Him in the evening and in the
morning”. (3:38-41)
Based on this the scholars have conclude that you don’t have to remember
Allah
only with your speech, but you can engage in God consciousness with your heart.
One way of achieving this is through Zikirullah. Cultivating your heart and body to engage in
the glorification of Allah. In relation to the Prophet Muhammad (pboh) is reported to have said “the
eyes of Allah's Apostle sleep but his heart does not sleep”. Regardless of what activity he was engaged in
his heart was glorifying Allah.
Allah
loves all His servants and He wants us to love Him. If you become overflowing in your love for your
Lord it’s obvious that you will remember Him constantly. And He will look after you and take care of
your affairs. It goes hand in hand.
Once a man came
to Prophet Muhammad (pboh) and said, “O Rasulallah,
the laws and conditions of Islam have become too many for me. Tell me something that I can always keep”.
Prophet Muhammad (pboh) said: “Keep your tongue
always moist with zikirullah”.
It cannot be that you are making all this effort to remember Allah
and He will let you down. And what we
are teaching you in our weekly zikir sessions is the technique to cultivate
your entire personality to engage in the remembrance of Allah.
You can actually reach a stage where you can sit and listen to your
heart palpitations glorifying Allah. So no matter what you are doing you can
engage in some form of Godly remembrance.
And this is what true success is; when your personality can remain in
the remembrance of Allah
regardless of the time and environment.
With this in mind can you imagine the personality of our Prophet Muhammad (pboh)? He reached
such a stage where his physical countenance shown with light.
May Allah enable us to cultivate our personalities to such an extent that we are
capable of remembering Him constantly and continuously.
