Remembering God is interwoven in your being like energy. You and energy are apparently separate, but in fact both are one and the same. So, at every moment there are bounties of God all around you which you can remember. If you awaken in yourself this consciousness at every moment, then you are remembering God at every moment. This is a way in which you can be engaged in the constant zikr of God.

In a report contained in the Sahih al-Bukhari, the Prophet’s wife Aisha reports that the Prophet used to remember God on each occasion by making it a point of reference for God’s remembrance. So, for the Prophet, remembering God, or zikrullah, and other tasks were not two separate activities, rather both were intermingled.

The human mind has enormous potential. An American writer, Walt Whitman, has said: “I am large enough to contain all these contradictions.” He said this in a different context. However, this saying applies here as well. While being engaged in different tasks throughout the day, we can be engaged in zikr as well, reflecting on God’s bounties in the context of the tasks we are doing or the things we are seeing. Zikr means living with divine consciousness. When you have attained this state of consciousness, at every moment you will be in a state of zikr, even though you may not be uttering any specific words.

Sometimes, you may find yourself lamenting the past, experiencing negative feelings and thinking about negative experiences. In this way, your mind is diverted from zikr of God. This is a very common occurrence. But you can convert even this into a means to remember and thank God. If you have had some painful or negative experience in the past, when you recall it today you can convert it into something to be thankful to God. You can think of it as yet another reason for shukr, or thankfulness to God. You can thank God that He did not make you stay on in that negative moment, and that, instead, He made you reach a better situation today. So, in this way, you can even make the memory of a negative or painful experience into yet another opportunity to engage in zikr or remembrance of God.

Source: Spirit of Islam May 2019

The Quran repeatedly tells us to remember God. This is what is known as zikrullah. One should remember God as often as one can. There may be some distractions in which you are engaged or some work in which your mind is focused, but even these may also lead, in an indirect manner, to the remembrance of God. When your own divine feelings, your remembrance of and love and praise for God, take expression in words, which is zikr. These words could be in your own language or in the Arabic language.

It is very simple to remember God—to engage in zikr—and it is also quite natural. For instance, when you are walking, you can bring to your mind the fact that you are doing so entirely because of the blessings of God. While outdoors, you see the sun up in the sky, and you remember that it is God who is providing you sunlight. You breathe in fresh air while taking a stroll and you remember that it is He who is supplying you with oxygen. When you set your foot down on the ground and lift it up, you remember that it is He who has created gravity, otherwise you would be floating in the air and would not be able to walk on the ground at all. You bring to your mind the realization that without these divine blessings—of sunshine, of the air, of gravity—you would not be able to go out for a stroll. If you recount all these divine bounties associated with your walk, then you are remembering God, you are engaging in zikr while walking. So, in this way, at every moment, no matter what activity you may be engaged in—you can be doing zikr, remembering God, praising, glorifying and thanking Him.

This is a way in which you can engage in zikr—remembrance of God— throughout your daily life, not just for a few minutes a day, but rather, all through the day.

Source: Spirit of Islam May 2019

Zikr means remembrance of God. Remembrance of God is one of the basic teachings of Islam. Forgetfulness of God shows indifference, whereas remembrance of God shows attentiveness to the divine will.

Such remembrance is a natural reality. A human being at every moment, experiences such things as are directly related to God. That is, he observes the sun and the moon, the rivers and the mountains, the air and the water,—and sees that everything has been created by God. Similarly, all the creatures that he sees in the world are reminders of the Creator. Right from the earth to the heavens, all things are reflections of God’s beauty and perfection. With their entire existence, they testify to God’s being. As such, they draw a person towards his Creator.

At every moment, an individual is reminded of God by the things amidst which he spends his days and nights in this world. Influenced by these things, his heart and mind overflow with spiritual feelings of remembrance of God.

Throughout his life a person repeatedly experiences such a connection with God, as causes him to ponder upon his existence, and his heart is filled with the sense that it is God who has created him in the best of moulds and given him all kinds of abilities in abundance. These feelings come to his lips in various ways in different words again and again. This is a true form of remembrance.

A person in his daily life has to come to grips with various ups and downs, and undergo different kinds of experiences, both pleasant and unpleasant. At these times, he focuses his attention on God. Again and again, he remembers God in different words.

In this way, during his daily worship, he repeats aloud various words and phrases. These words are sometimes derived from the Quran and Hadith, and at other time, in acknowledgement of his Lord’s beneficence, they spring spontaneously to his lips. All this is remembrance of God.

Source: The Spirit of Islam

One of the commandments of the Quran is given in these words: “Believers, remember God with much remembrance.” (33: 41) According to this Quranic verse believers must remember God very much, every day and every moment. This is the greatest teaching of the Quran, and it is the highest form of worship. One who does this will be blessed with the greatest reward from God Almighty.

What is meant by ‘much remembrance’ of God? Remembrance does not refer to the repetition of some words, but it is in the sense of thinking. Much remembrance, or zikr-e-kathir, is not a kind of lip service. It is rather a high kind of intellectual activity and a sign of God realization. Remembering God much, is a result of a chain reaction in the thinking process; that is, a series of thoughts in which each thought causes the next one. Zikr-e-kathir, or much remembrance, is a result of creative thinking.

It is a product of a prepared mind. If you possess a prepared mind, then your mind is bound to get activated at every experience or observation. You will start discovering one aspect of God-realization after another. In this way a chain reaction will be initiated in your mind.

Zikr or remembrance does not refer to the repetition of some words, but it is in the sense of thinking.

It is this intellectual activity that is called zikr-e-kathir in the Quran. For example, if it is raining, a believer will very soon present his shukr, that is, acknowledgment to God. Then he will start thinking further: what caused this downpour? He will discover the natural processes that resulted in rain. He will then think that when the water was in the ocean, it was salty, but when it took the form of downpour, it turned into fresh water.

So step by step, he will discover how God created various processes which finally provided him water to drink. This is an example of chain reaction in thinking, and through this chain reaction, one by one, you start discovering aspects for realization of God. If you are a prepared mind, then this process will continue without limit.

This chain reaction of zikr will enhance your maarifah, that is, realization. It will improve your relationship with God, increasing your wisdom and power of analysis.

Source: Spirit of Islam December 2014