Dzikr

You know,

muslims have always tried to find

ways of remembering God in their everyday lives,

So at times when they are not remembering God in the best way possible,

by making the Sala,

sometimes they will just talk to God

about what is happening in their lives,

in a way that is called Du'a.

And often they try to stay aware of God

by using what is known as Dzikr.

Dzikr is simply the Arabic word for remembering,

and because it is Arabic,

when it's written in the Roman alphabet it will sometimes be written in different ways,

such as Dhikr,

but however it is written in English

remember its meaning is the same.

But trying to remember something all the time can be very hard.

Life is full of distractions.

So it can be useful to find a way of constantly reminding ourselves that God is with us

and how wondrous that is,

and many muslims will take a word to remind them of God

and repeat it over and over to themselves.

And that can be the main thing that they are doing at the time,

or just in the background

while they are doing something else.

And of course the best words to use to remember God are God's Names,

repeating one of the ninety-nine Beautiful Names,

the Asma 'l-Husna,

which show us ways to see how God is present in the world around us,

or repeating the Name of Names, Allah.

Or perhaps you would prefer to repeat God's praises,

rejoicing in the reasons you have for singing God's praises in that way.

Or perhaps the most common Dzikr of all

a repetition of God's praises in a form that the Messenger gave to his family to use.

Subhan Allah, Al-Hamdulillah, and Allahu Akbar,

thirty three times each.

Vast numbers of muslims use this Dzikr after their prayers,

and because the phrases are repeated

it can be easy to forget how many times you have said what,

so people will use a string of thirty three beads,

or ninety nine beads with two spacers,

so that they can keep track.

And it is enough to praise God,

but even better when we see how God's praise and presence benefits our everyday lives.

Can Dzikr really be useful in our everyday lives?