To be part of the dhikr gathering during this special night is a great blessing from Allah ta'ala. We should be thankful. Every single second of these days of Dhul Hijjah carries a great sacred status.
We must revive our hearts during these blessed days, and in return we will attain immense goodness. The heart should possess a deep longing for a righteous life. The vision of the heart is superior to the vision of the eyes. Thus, we should ask Allah ta'ala to enlighten our hearts. When a person’s heart is enlightened, he becomes truly grateful and understands what he should be grateful for.
We should ask Allah ta'ala for both: the sight of the eyes and the light of the heart, so that we may navigate through this world correctly. By receiving these two blessings, we will attain sincerity. We will worship in the correct manner, as though we are seeing Allah ta'ala. We will perform actions solely for the sake of Allah ta'ala and not for our own desires.
بَلِ اللَّهَ فَاعْبُدْ وَكُن مِّنَ الشَّاكِرِينَ
"Rather, worship Allah ˹alone˺ and be one of the grateful." [39:66]
Deen is very concise and easy. It is easy for a person to practise Islam. He does not need to study huge books of Ahadith in order to understand the religion. Rather, a person can understand the religion very quickly by performing two actions. The first is to worship Allah ta'ala constantly, and the second is to remain grateful to Him at all times.
We often suffice ourselves with only the five pillars of Islam, whereas in reality we are unable to perform these five acts of worship constantly, for example, only compulsory five prayers are obligated upon us.
Thus, the scholars have explained فَاعْبُدْ to mean that a person’s heart should constantly remain focused upon Allah ta'ala. This is the true definition of worship, and we should strive to fulfil our prayers and other acts of worship in this manner as well.
Prayer is only fulfilled correctly and r
epties his mind of worldly thoughts and focuses entirely upon Allah ta'ala.
When we pray, we should feel as though Allah ta'ala is watching us, or as though we are witnessing Him. This level is required in order to perfect our worship. However, even if we are weak in practice and have not reached this level, we must still continue to fulfil our prayers.
We pray in order to fulfil the obligation of compulsory worship, yet we fail to go beyond that and focus upon Allah ta'ala every moment of our lives. Every passing second, our minds should be connected to Allah ta'ala. We should live amongst society while remaining detached from worldly distractions, with our hearts focused upon Allah ta'ala.
قَلِيلًا مَّا تَشْكُرُونَ
"Little thanks do you give." [67:23]
What should we be grateful to Allah ta'ala for?
There are two types of blessings. One is being grateful for the blessings that we recognise and enjoy. The other is being grateful for those blessings which we fail to recognise as blessings at all. We think we are grateful, but in reality we are not.
For example, a man may become attached to a woman and sacrifice a great deal for her. He may even compromise his Deen and religious practice in order to marry her. He considers this to be a great treasure and success for himself, whereas in reality he is merely fulfilling his lusts and desires.
After marrying her, he believes himself to be successful and is extremely grateful for it. However, a person only recognises something as a true blessing when he sees the lasting result of that “treasure.” Allah ta'ala has already defined what true treasure is.
A marriage established upon desires alone often fails once those desires fade away. Such people live unsuccessful lives because they abandoned the Deen for temporary worldly desires.
Eventually, the husband notices faults in the wife, and the wife notices faults in the husband, leading to conflict and sometimes divorce. This happens because the relationship was not built for the sake of Allah ta'ala and there was no foundation of Deen. They will be held accountable for this in the Hereafter.
We regard
those things that fulfil our desires as treasures. If we do not receive what we want, we feel deprived and unhappy.
Instead, we should be grateful for the treasures granted by Allah ta'ala, and His greatest treasure is Deen. We should be grateful that He has allowed us to remember Him, for this is a blessing beyond comparison. Wealth and possessions can never equal this bounty. The person engaged in dhikr is the wealthiest person in the world, and not everyone is granted the ability to remember Allah ta'ala.
It is truly unfortunate that we do not regard dhikr as a great treasure, which is why we run away from it. If we truly understood the blessings granted by Allah ta'ala, we would never miss a single prayer in congregation. We would value the Fajr prayer and remain cautious about missing it.
The gatherings of dhikr are an immense blessing, even though many people fail to recognise them as such. We consider money and worldly assets to be great treasures and sacrifice everything for them, even though they will not benefit us in the Hereafter.
On the other hand, those matters which Allah ta'ala has defined as blessings, we neglect and reject.
Hadhrat Abu Dardah رضي الله عنه reported that Nabi ﷺ said that on the Day of Judgement, some people’s faces will shine like the sun and they will be seated upon jewelled thrones.
That Day will be extremely severe. People will endure immense hardship and will be drowning in their sweat. They will look with envy towards those who are seated upon thrones with illuminated faces. They will ask Allah ta'ala who these people are, and Allah ta'ala will reply that they are the men and women who engaged in dhikr during the mornings and evenings of the worldly life. This deed will hold tremendous value in the Hereafter.
It is unfortunate that dhikr is performed so little today despite its great virtues and rewards.
Instead of complaining that it is difficult to wake up and attend the dhikr gathering in the morning, we should be grateful to Allah ta'ala for granting us the ability to participate.
Allah ta'ala spreads His dhikr through today’s technology so that we may remember Him. Those who join the dhikr gatherings while tired will receive the same reward as those who are energetic and fully engaged in dhikr. Likewise, those who participate online will a
lso receive the same reward.
Unfortunately, many people today have divided into sects and criticise the Sahabah رضي الله عنهم. In reality, every Sahabi carries an extremely high status, and no one in this world can come close to their rank.
Allah ta'ala has commanded us to accompany the righteous people and benefit from them. Learn dhikr from them, and your heart will become purified.
May Allah ta'ala allow us to implement these precious pearls of wisdom. Ameen.
To be part of the dhikr gathering during this special night is a great blessing from Allah ta'ala. We should be thankful. Every single second of these days of Dhul Hijjah carries a great sacred status.
We must revive our hearts during these blessed days, and in return we will attain immense goodness. The heart should possess a deep longing for a righteous life. The vision of the heart is superior to the vision of the eyes. Thus, we should ask Allah ta'ala to enlighten our hearts. When a person’s heart is enlightened, he becomes truly grateful and understands what he should be grateful for.
We should ask Allah ta'ala for both: the sight of the eyes and the light of the heart, so that we may navigate through this world correctly. By receiving these two blessings, we will attain sincerity. We will worship in the correct manner, as though we are seeing Allah ta'ala. We will perform actions solely for the sake of Allah ta'ala and not for our own desires.
بَلِ اللَّهَ فَاعْبُدْ وَكُن مِّنَ الشَّاكِرِينَ
"Rather, worship Allah ˹alone˺ and be one of the grateful." [39:66]
Deen is very concise and easy. It is easy for a person to practise Islam. He does not need to study huge books of Ahadith in order to understand the religion. Rather, a person can understand the religion very quickly by performing two actions. The first is to worship Allah ta'ala constantly, and the second is to remain grateful to Him at all times.
We often suffice ourselves with only the five pillars of Islam, whereas in reality we are unable to perform these five acts of worship constantly, for example, only compulsory five prayers are obligated upon us.
Thus, the scholars have explained فَاعْبُدْ to mean that a person’s heart should constantly remain focused upon Allah ta'ala. This is the true definition of worship, and we should strive to fulfil our prayers and other acts of worship in this manner as well.
Prayer is only fulfilled correctly and r
epties his mind of worldly thoughts and focuses entirely upon Allah ta'ala.
When we pray, we should feel as though Allah ta'ala is watching us, or as though we are witnessing Him. This level is required in order to perfect our worship. However, even if we are weak in practice and have not reached this level, we must still continue to fulfil our prayers.
We pray in order to fulfil the obligation of compulsory worship, yet we fail to go beyond that and focus upon Allah ta'ala every moment of our lives. Every passing second, our minds should be connected to Allah ta'ala. We should live amongst society while remaining detached from worldly distractions, with our hearts focused upon Allah ta'ala.
قَلِيلًا مَّا تَشْكُرُونَ
"Little thanks do you give." [67:23]
What should we be grateful to Allah ta'ala for?
There are two types of blessings. One is being grateful for the blessings that we recognise and enjoy. The other is being grateful for those blessings which we fail to recognise as blessings at all. We think we are grateful, but in reality we are not.
For example, a man may become attached to a woman and sacrifice a great deal for her. He may even compromise his Deen and religious practice in order to marry her. He considers this to be a great treasure and success for himself, whereas in reality he is merely fulfilling his lusts and desires.
After marrying her, he believes himself to be successful and is extremely grateful for it. However, a person only recognises something as a true blessing when he sees the lasting result of that “treasure.” Allah ta'ala has already defined what true treasure is.
A marriage established upon desires alone often fails once those desires fade away. Such people live unsuccessful lives because they abandoned the Deen for temporary worldly desires.
Eventually, the husband notices faults in the wife, and the wife notices faults in the husband, leading to conflict and sometimes divorce. This happens because the relationship was not built for the sake of Allah ta'ala and there was no foundation of Deen. They will be held accountable for this in the Hereafter.
We regard
those things that fulfil our desires as treasures. If we do not receive what we want, we feel deprived and unhappy.
Instead, we should be grateful for the treasures granted by Allah ta'ala, and His greatest treasure is Deen. We should be grateful that He has allowed us to remember Him, for this is a blessing beyond comparison. Wealth and possessions can never equal this bounty. The person engaged in dhikr is the wealthiest person in the world, and not everyone is granted the ability to remember Allah ta'ala.
It is truly unfortunate that we do not regard dhikr as a great treasure, which is why we run away from it. If we truly understood the blessings granted by Allah ta'ala, we would never miss a single prayer in congregation. We would value the Fajr prayer and remain cautious about missing it.
The gatherings of dhikr are an immense blessing, even though many people fail to recognise them as such. We consider money and worldly assets to be great treasures and sacrifice everything for them, even though they will not benefit us in the Hereafter.
On the other hand, those matters which Allah ta'ala has defined as blessings, we neglect and reject.
Hadhrat Abu Dardah رضي الله عنه reported that Nabi ﷺ said that on the Day of Judgement, some people’s faces will shine like the sun and they will be seated upon jewelled thrones.
That Day will be extremely severe. People will endure immense hardship and will be drowning in their sweat. They will look with envy towards those who are seated upon thrones with illuminated faces. They will ask Allah ta'ala who these people are, and Allah ta'ala will reply that they are the men and women who engaged in dhikr during the mornings and evenings of the worldly life. This deed will hold tremendous value in the Hereafter.
It is unfortunate that dhikr is performed so little today despite its great virtues and rewards.
Instead of complaining that it is difficult to wake up and attend the dhikr gathering in the morning, we should be grateful to Allah ta'ala for granting us the ability to participate.
Allah ta'ala spreads His dhikr through today’s technology so that we may remember Him. Those who join the dhikr gatherings while tired will receive the same reward as those who are energetic and fully engaged in dhikr. Likewise, those who participate online will a
lso receive the same reward.
Unfortunately, many people today have divided into sects and criticise the Sahabah رضي الله عنهم. In reality, every Sahabi carries an extremely high status, and no one in this world can come close to their rank.
Allah ta'ala has commanded us to accompany the righteous people and benefit from them. Learn dhikr from them, and your heart will become purified.
May Allah ta'ala allow us to implement these precious pearls of wisdom. Ameen.