Zikr on the Go - ANNAH HARIRI

Zikr on the Go

www.annahariri.com

It’s morning. I sit at my kitchen table, sipping a mug of coffee and smiling as the sun glints across my immaculate countertops. The only sounds I hear are the chirping birds outside my window and the flipping pages of my Quran. I breathe deeply and settle in for my Fajr devotions with God . . .

End scene.

The truth is, my mornings look nothing like this.

I usually start my day rushing for Fajr, then making breakfast, running to work, work, groceries, and back home to cook or arrange the house.

During the hustle and bustle of our frantic lives, the day seems to go by so quickly that it is not until a rare quiet moment late at night that we may realise we have not remembered Allah throughout the day. Apart from the five daily prayers (which themselves are forever threatened to be rushed through or forgotten), did we take a single moment from our day to remember the Creator? A flimsy “Alhamdulillah” may slip from our tongues but little reflection may go with it.


Below are my personal and very easy examples of incorporating zikr in our daily life and getting rewards for this.

Firstly, there are two types of dhikr:

a) Qalbi dhikr (remembrance with the heart)
b) Lisani dhikr (verbal remembrance)


1. The road to work usually takes ca. 30 mins. During this time, play the morning and evening (on the way back home) athkaar. I personally cancelled listenign to music long time ago - any time I drive anywhere I would listent to athkar or quranic ayat and repeat them with the reciter. In this time you would be doing both lisani and qalbi (if not driving and not concentrting on the road) dhikr.

2. Allow yourself time slots when you are performing chores that do not require your mental presence (e.g. washing dishes, cooking) to perform conscious lisani dhikr that implies absorbing the gravity that these words (adhkaar) hold.
You may choose a specific dhikr to be said while doing a particular chore every day. For instance, you can write “subhanAllahi wa bihamdihi” on a post-it note and paste it on your kitchen cabinet as a reminder to recite it while cooking. Try to avoid monotony and use the different times of day for various adhkaar (plural for dhikr) as prescribed in the Qur’an and Sunnah.

3. When the family gathers home in the evening, instead of discussing meaningless topics, bring up a hadith you recently discovered. I would usually look for something very interesting and causing vivid imaginary. For example, I read once about the food which will be given at 1st to the people who enter in Paradise (find it, it is amazing). 

This brough upt a lengthy talk about Jannah and Mercy of our Creator.

And did you know, that angels surround such gatherings where Allah subhanahu wa taala is remembered?



Abu Hurairah reported Allah ‘s Apostle (may peace be upon him) as saying Allah (SWT) has mobile (squads) of angels, who have no other work (to attend to but) to follow the assemblies of Dhikr and when they find such assemblies in which there is Dhikr (of Allah (SWT)) they sit in them and some of them surround the others with their wings till the space between them and the sky of the world is fully covered, and when they disperse (after the assembly of Dhikr is adjourned) they go upward to the heaven and Allah (SWT), the Exalted and Glorious, asks them although He is best informed about them: “Where have you come from?”

They say: “We come from Thine servants upon the earth who had been glorifying Thee (reciting Subhan Allah), uttering Thine Greatness (saying Allah-o-Akbar) and uttering Thine Oneness (La ilaha ill Allah) and praising Thee (uttering al-Hamdu Lillah) and begging of Thee.”

He would say: “What do they beg of Me?”

They would say: “They beg of Thee the Paradise of Thine.”

He (God) would say: “Have they seen My Paradise?”

They said: “No, our Lord.”

He would say: “(What it would be then) if they were to see Mine Paradise?”

They (the angels) said: “They seek Thine protection.”

He (the Lord) would say: “Against what do they seek protection of Mine?”

They (the angels) would say: “Our Lord, from the Hell-Fire.”

He (the Lord) would say: “Have they seen My Fire?”

They would say: “No.”

He (the Lord) would say: “What it would be if they were to see My Fire?”

They would say: “They beg of Thee forgiveness.”

He would say: “I grant pardon to them, and confer upon them what they ask for and grant them protection against which they seek protection.”

They (the angels) would again say: “Our Lord, there is one amongst them such and such simple servant who happened to pass by (that assembly) and sat there along with them (who had been participating in that assembly).”

He (the Lord) would say: “I also grant him pardon, for they are a people the seat-fellows of whom are in no way unfortunate.”

Sahih Muslim, Book 35, Number 6505:

4. When decorating the home, try to incorporate reminders about our beautiful deen whenever you can.

This will benefit your eyes and in sha Allah the heart in constant remembrance.

I love these prints by nayma.co 

Not to make this blog post too long, I will continue writing about zikr on the go in my future posts in sha Allah. You can also share your ideas in the comments below.


Fe amanillah dearest sisters,
A H

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15 comments

i love you for the sake of Allah!?❤️
greaaat post. i loved it!

Bushra

Benefiting suggestions …thank you :)

Anaya

Salaam, mashaaAllah I throughly enjoyed reading this piece of article, and found it refreshing. We often find our “naf” striving more for dunya, and less on praising and glorify our Lord. Jazzakallah khair for the beautiful reminder.

kadra

JazaKumllah kharan, helpful advices

Haleemah

Jazaki Allahu kheyran for your reminder! Great post, Allahumma barik :-)

Donya

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