Dhikr — Rawzat

The Quranic Foundation

The Quran’s engagement with dhikr is remarkable in its breadth and intensity. The root dh-k-r appears in over 280 Quranic contexts — making it one of the most pervasive themes in the entire revelation.

“O you who have believed, remember Allah with much remembrance (dhikran kathiran) and exalt Him morning and evening.” (33:41-42) — The command is not for a specific form of dhikr but for its quantity: much remembrance, as a constant undertone of conscious life.

“So remember Me; I will remember you.” (2:152) — The reciprocal structure of dhikr: the human’s remembrance (dhikrukum) evokes the divine’s remembrance (adhkurkum). This is not metaphor — the divine genuinely responds to the soul’s remembrance.

“Verily, in the remembrance of Allah hearts find rest (tatma’inn).” (13:28) — The word tatma’inn is the same root as nafs al-mutma’inna (the soul at peace, 89:27). Hearts find their natural rest — their created orientation satisfied — in the remembrance of the divine. Heedlessness (ghafla) is the unnatural state; dhikr is the return to what the heart is.

“And do not be of those who are heedless (al-ghafilin).” (7:205) — The opposite of dhikr is ghafla (heedlessness) — not active denial but simply not remembering, the soul preoccupied with what is other than the divine.

“And the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so — Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a great reward.” (33:35) — Dhikr is the most significant virtue in this summarizing verse of the believers’ qualities.

The Forms of Dhikr

The tradition distinguishes dhikr by form, by faculty, and by occasion:

By Form

Dhikr al-Lisan (Dhikr of the tongue): The spoken invocation — the actual verbal utterance of the divine’s names, attributes, or praises. This is the entry point for most practitioners.

Dhikr al-Qalb (Dhikr of the heart): The internal, non-verbal remembrance — the heart’s constant awareness of the divine’s presence, without necessarily requiring spoken words. This is considered the deeper and more genuine form.

Dhikr al-Hal (Dhikr of the state): The remembrance expressed through the soul’s entire orientation and behavior — every action performed with consciousness of the divine’s presence. This corresponds to the understanding that every lawful action performed with the right intention (niyya) is itself a form of dhikr.

The Key Formulas

The most important dhikr formulas in the Islamic tradition:

Al-Tasbih: Subhana Allah (Glory be to Allah) — the divine’s transcendence

Al-Tahmid: Al-Hamdulillah (All praise belongs to Allah) — gratitude and recognition

Al-Takbir: Allahu Akbar (Allah is Greater) — the divine’s incomparability to everything else

Al-Tahlil: La ilaha illa Allah (There is no god but Allah) — the core of tawhid

Al-Hawqala: La hawla wa la quwwata illa bi-Allah (There is no power nor strength except in Allah) — complete surrender of agency to the divine

Al-Salawat: Allahumma salli ‘ala Muhammad wa ali Muhammad (O Allah, bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad) — the blessing that includes both Prophet and the Ahl al-Bayt

The Prophet on the four most beloved words to the divine: “Subhana Allah, wa al-hamdulillah, wa la ilaha illa Allah, wa Allahu Akbar.” (Muslim)

The Special Place of Salawat

The salawat on the Prophet and his family holds a unique place in Islamic and Ismaili dhikr:

“Indeed, Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet. O you who have believed, ask [Allah to send] blessings upon him and ask [Allah to grant him] peace.” (33:56)

In the Ismaili and Bohra tradition, the salawat specifically includes wa ali Muhammad (and the family of Muhammad) — acknowledging the Ahl al-Bayt as recipients of the divine’s blessing alongside the Prophet. The salawat is recited in every salah, at the beginning and end of every formal gathering, and is woven throughout the liturgical tradition.

The Prophetic Practice of Dhikr

The Prophet established specific forms and occasions for dhikr:

Morning and evening adhkar: The Prophet prescribed specific dhikr for the mornings and evenings — some transmitted through Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, and al-Nasa’i. The morning adhkar establish the soul’s orientation for the day; the evening adhkar close the day with gratitude and reliance on the divine.

After salah: “Whoever says ‘SubhanAllah’ 33 times, ‘Alhamdulillah’ 33 times, and ‘Allahu Akbar’ 33 times after every salah, and then says ‘La ilaha illallah wahdahu la sharika lahu, lahu al-mulku wa lahu al-hamdu wa huwa ‘ala kulli shay’in qadir’ — his sins will be forgiven even if they were as much as the foam of the sea.” (Muslim) — The post-salah dhikr as integral to the prayer.

Dhikr upon sleeping and waking: The Prophet taught specific remembrances for sleep (tasbihat al-Fatima: 33 SubhanAllah, 33 Alhamdulillah, 34 Allahu Akbar) and upon waking.

Constant dhikr as the highest state: “The example of the one who remembers Allah and the one who does not remember Allah is like the living and the dead.” (Bukhari) — The Prophet’s most radical statement about dhikr: heedlessness of the divine is spiritual death; dhikr is spiritual life.

Dhikr in the Sufi and Ismaili Traditions

The Sufi Tradition: Dhikr as the Path’s Central Practice

In the Sufi tradition, dhikr is the central transformative practice — more central than fasting, more central than voluntary prayer, because dhikr addresses the root condition (ghafla) that all other practices also address:

Al-Junayd al-Baghdadi: “Dhikr is the foundation of the way (tariq). Without dhikr, no maqam can be stabilized.”

The dhikr session (hadra): The Sufi orders (turuq) developed the collective dhikr session — an organized gathering for group recitation, often with breath control, physical movement, and sometimes music. These sessions are understood as collectively creating a spiritual “field” (baqa’ al-jam’) more powerful than individual dhikr.

The Ismaili Approach: Dhikr as Walayah in Practice

The Ismaili tradition holds that dhikr is genuine and effective only when performed in the proper framework of walayah — remembrance of the divine through the medium of walayah to the Imam:

The integration of salawat: The Ismaili dhikr always includes salawat on the Prophet and his family, because the divine cannot be genuinely remembered in isolation from the chain of those through whom the divine’s guidance reaches creation.

Dhikr al-Da’wa: The daily recitation of the da’wa’s awrad (prescribed litanies) — specific combinations of tasbih, tahmid, takbir, tahlil, and salawat, in specific numbers, at specific times — is the structured dhikr practice of the Bohra community. These awrad are transmitted through the Da’i and carry the chain’s blessing.

The living dhikr: The presence of the Da’i al-Mutlaq is itself, for the mu’min, a living dhikr — a constant reminder of the divine’s reality and the Imam’s presence. To be in the community’s gatherings, to hear the Da’i’s words, to fulfill the misaq — these are forms of dhikr beyond the verbal formulas.

The Relationship Between Dhikr and Ghafla

The spiritual life can be understood as a continuous movement between dhikr (remembrance) and ghafla (heedlessness), with the path leading to a state in which dhikr becomes so natural and constant that ghafla becomes increasingly difficult:

Ghafla as the primary spiritual pathology: The Quran’s description of those who go astray is consistently in terms of heedlessness — not active atheism but the quiet, pervasive forgetting that allows the soul to be dominated by worldly preoccupations. “And be not of those who neglect” (7:205) — the gentle but firm command.

Dhikr as the antidote: The Quran prescribes dhikr specifically as the cure for the heart’s disease of heedlessness. The image of 13:28 — “Verily, in the remembrance of Allah hearts find rest” — implies that heedless hearts are restless, seeking rest in things that cannot give it (wealth, status, pleasure) while the true rest is available in remembrance.

The progressive naturalizing of dhikr: As the maqamat are ascended, dhikr becomes less a disciplined practice and more a natural condition. The early practitioner must remind themselves to remember; the advanced practitioner’s challenge is not to remember but to attend to worldly necessities while the dhikr continues as an undertone. The fully realized state (nafs al-mutma’inna) is one in which dhikr is constant — not as a performed practice but as the soul’s fundamental condition.

Dhikr and the Bohra Liturgical Calendar

The Bohra community’s liturgical life is structured around dhikr:

Salah: The five daily prayers are the five pillars of dhikr — the body’s physical prostration expressing the soul’s metaphysical orientation. Every element of salah is dhikr: the Fatiha, the Quran recitation, the tasbihat in ruku’ and sujud, the tashahhud, the salawat, the taslim.

The Friday Jumua: The weekly communal gathering includes the khutba (reminder of the divine’s commands) and the communal prayer — a weekly reset of the community’s collective dhikr.

Ashara Mubaraka: The ten days of Muharram are the most intense dhikr period in the Bohra calendar — every gathering a form of dhikr centered on the Imam al-Husayn’s memory, renewing walayah, and the soul’s own Karbala.

The awrad and wazifa: The specific daily litanies (awrad, singular wird) prescribed through the da’wa are the structured dhikr practice of individual community members — morning, evening, and after salah.

Ta’wil of Dhikr

The zahir of dhikr is the spoken or mental remembrance — the words and formulas through which the soul invokes the divine.

The batin of dhikr is the soul’s fundamental condition: the nafs (ruh) is from the divine — “And He breathed into him from His Spirit” (15:29) — and the breath of the divine within the soul is the soul’s deepest identity. Dhikr is the soul’s recognition of what it already is at its deepest level: a breath of the divine, longing to return to its source.

The soul’s existence is itself a dhikr — a continuous testimony to the divine’s creative act. Every heartbeat is a takbir; every breath is a tasbih. The wird of creation is constant; human dhikr is the conscious alignment with the dhikr that everything, at every moment, is already performing.

“The seven heavens and the earth and all that is therein praise Him (tusabbihu lahu), and there is not a thing but glorifies His praise, but you do not understand their glorification.” (17:44)

Dhikr — The Remembrance of Allah