Precious Treasur e of the Virtues of Dhi kr & Dhākireen

Abstract

"In the like manner our spiritual master as-Sayyid ‘Ali al- Hujwiri (Allah be well pleased with him) writes in his famous book Kashf al-Mahjub: “It is recorded that Abu Muhammad ‘Abdullah B. Khubayq has said: ‘Whoever desires to be living in his life, let him not admit covetousness to dwell in his heart,’ because the covetous man is dead in the toils of his covetousness, which is like a seal on his heart; and the sealed heart is dead. Blessed is the heart that dies to all save God and lives through God, inasmuch as God has made His praise (remembrance) the glory of men’s 1. Jila ’ al-Khatir , p. 75 (English translation by Prof Shetha al- Dargazelli). Prefa ce 15 hearts, and covetousness their disgrace; and to this effect is the saying of Abdullah B. Khubayq: ‘God created men’s hearts to be the homes of His praise (remembrance) but they have become the homes of lust; and nothing can clear them of lust except an agitating fear or a restless love.’ Fear and love are the two pillars of faith.”1 It so happens that when heart is inundated with the remembrance of Allah and the servant is lifted out of himself in the ecstasy of love, the divine bliss enters the blood stream and illumines every cell of the body with a glow. Imam Abu’l-Qasim al-Qushayri has recorded an incident in al-Risala al-Qushayriya (Sufi Book of Spiritual Ascent) illustrating this station of the rememberer of Allah: “I heard Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami say … that al- Jurayri said, “There was a man among my companions who was always chanting: God, God! One day a tree fell on his head and fractured his skull. Blood flowed, and it wrote upon the earth: God, God!”2 All praises are for Allah (). This collection of the Qur’anic verses and the Prophetic traditions on remembrance of Allah in your hand inspires us with a state of mind that brings us bountiful blessings of Allah."(pg 14-15)