Zikr is the repeated repetition of the sacred text, deep meditation that comes from the Heart, this is the remembrance of the Divine. A practice that has its own characteristics, using various movements - prayer poses, circling, swaying. The material for the practice of dhikr is the Koran.
There are many processes involved in the technique of dhikr. It must be practiced when the Soul is free from everything, without abstract thoughts. It will help get rid of negativity and give a positive charge of life.
Meditation begins by sitting facing Mecca, placing your hands on your hips and closing your eyes. They say the prayer sincerely, from the Heart itself.
There are two types of dhikr: remembrance out loud and remembrance silently.
Breathing techniques, singing and silence are used. The breathing technique harmonizes a person and reunites him with the Cosmos. Breath is the power of the Creator. To perform the practice, wear clothes soaked in oils.
Zikrs take place in active movement - in the dance of dervishes or in a sacred round dance. This practice has a very positive effect on a person, helps spiritual development, and tunes one into one energetic wave.
Often the practice of dhikr is carried out with musical accompaniment, using howling or using quiet meditations. Sufis believe that creating vibrations with sound can purify the body and mind, and can heal people. The number of prayers said must be odd; for this purpose, special rosary beads are used for those praying.
In the process of spiritual development, the multi-layered meaning of prayers is revealed. When performed collectively, dhikr has a tremendous impact on those praying. The mentor plays an important role in collective dhikr. Every meditating person must turn inward, know himself and connect with God.
Long-term practices of Zaire allow prayers to penetrate deep into the Soul, boundaries with the Universe and the Creator disappear, and a state of good deeds begins.
The practice of Zaire is used in Islam, in the faith of Baha'is and people far from Islam. Zaire helps physical and spiritual development, relieves diseases, provides the opportunity to fulfill one’s desires, and forms a beneficial energy field.
When practicing dhikrs, remember that they are aimed at creation and improvement of our environment and living space. Only positive messages coming from our Heart will be fulfilled by the Creator. Wish yourself and people health, enlightenment and peace on Earth.
Every person dreams of something and believes that when his cherished desire comes true, he will finally become happy. Some dream of wealth, others of love, others strive to climb the career ladder or achieve success in creativity. However, when you get what you want, the long-awaited joy does not come, new goals and dreams appear.
The soul feels disappointment, fear of not succeeding in another matter. This can continue throughout life, nothing changes. The person feels dissatisfied and understands that he cannot change the situation. The years continue to pass, but happiness does not come.
No one thinks about the fact that a person comes into the world completely different. He was created by the Almighty to be happy. But pride prevents us from feeling this; people don’t even have a feeling of gratitude for their birth. To understand all this, you need to put your soul in order, understand what harmony is and why man came into this world. This is exactly what dhikr is used for in Islam.
This prayer helps you see the real world, feel gratitude to the Lord and understand your purpose, thank the planet and the Universe for the gift of life. Zikra helps to calm down and achieve harmony, begin to look at the world philosophically, accept everything that happens and forget about your desires, get rid of anxiety and vanity.
Types of dhikr
In Islamic culture, it is believed that one should always praise and thank Allah. There are three main types of dhikr. You can produce them with your tongue, heart or body. How to understand this? If a person reads the names of Allah out loud, then he is using linguistic dhikr. This is what all Muslims use every day in the morning, immediately after waking up.
In thoughts, a person should also always thank the Almighty and feel a continuous connection with him. Zikr of the heart allows you to pray without words. Here it is necessary to study, because no one can feel the movements of the heart. Well, you can also praise Allah with parts of your body.
You need to constantly feel the Almighty, not do evil and obey the laws, and not succumb to various temptations. Zikrs should be read in Arabic, but different nations use their own languages. Well, dhikr that comes from the heart does not need words at all.
Group reading of dhikr
All peoples of the world who profess Islam use dhikr. However, each nation has its own characteristics. In Chechnya, a special dance is performed that takes place during choral singing. The men move in a circle and sing songs of praise to Allah. This helps fill a person with strength, forget about anxiety and fear, and stop feeling tired and angry.
These prayers became famous during the war. People were surprised that men danced in circles. But this tradition comes from ancient times. Chechens gain courage in this way. In order to subsequently provide reliable protection for yourself and your family. Dhikr, which is pronounced in chorus, makes people united and friendly.
Dhikrs are used as psychological practices. Prayer is vital for those living in difficult conditions. People should know that the Almighty remembers them and will definitely help. Warriors also participate in dhikr, who constantly have to risk their own lives to protect their relatives. They must be sure that a loved one will not commit betrayal, but will always protect.
Ingush dhikr looks a little different. Only men also take part in the dance, but the movements can occur chaotically. It also helps to feel the presence of the Almighty and His approval.
Sufi dhikr
The singing that occurs during the dance is used to educate the spirit; the body feels wonderful vibrations and is filled with them. Sufi dhikrs can be individual or mass. It is group dhikrs that attract a huge amount of attention, because they are very beautiful and effective. Sufis are convinced that these sounds purify a person’s body and soul and allow one to get closer to the Creator.
This practice is also used in healing. When chanting dhikr, you can feel real bliss and receive divine energy. However, it is worth taking the help of a spiritual mentor to perform all actions correctly. It is this person who will tell you what to do during preparation for the event to achieve maximum effect.
It is believed that preparation for action is very important.
Only those who have adopted an ascetic lifestyle and wish to achieve enlightenment can take part in group dhikr. You should use aromatic oils and dress in special clothes intended for the ritual. Only initiates can participate in this holiday. Together these people clear the space and move closer to each other. Unprepared people cannot participate in the sacred action.
The meaning of dhikr
The philosophy of dhikr is that a person opens himself to the Almighty. You need to read the dhikr prayer every day to tune in to the right wave. This is what allows you to tune in to the event. Sufis strive to feel dhikr in their hearts. They do not need to say words; they should definitely feel their readiness to accept the Almighty. Group dhikr involves the heart, soul and tongue. All participants should feel unity with each other, feel a connection with the Almighty, and create a special atmosphere.
Many believe that group dhikr helps solve health problems. The names of Allah are constantly mentioned in the ritual. Dhikr involves the complete concentration of all participants on the Almighty and opening to him. The dance takes place over a long period of time so that all members of the group can concentrate as much as possible.
Reading dhikr
Those who do not have a spiritual mentor should know the specifics of reading dhikr. You must first say “la ilaha illa-Alahu.” It is this phrase that symbolizes faith among Muslims. You should sit comfortably on the mat and cross your legs. In group dhikrs, dervishes must circle around and make certain movements.
It is necessary to constantly pronounce the names of Allah, of which there are almost a hundred in the Koran. You need to pronounce them in a certain rhythm, and completely immerse yourself in this state. You need to wait until a person completely renounces everything earthly and immerses himself in communication with the Almighty. Energy should spread throughout the body. Sometimes during group meditation people go into a trance state. However, this should be monitored by mentors.
Daily Prayer
To achieve spiritual enlightenment, you need to go through a very difficult and long path. However, you need to start somewhere to get closer to your dream. You need to find a mentor to read dhikr every day, but if there is none, then you need to turn to the Koran.
Under no circumstances should you invent texts on your own; they are all mentioned in the Koran. It is necessary to list the names of Allah that a person remembers. Zikr is an exercise aimed at developing spirituality. You need to achieve solitude in order to read wonderful words.
A person must understand exactly why he reads dhikr. You should read the prayer an odd number of times, think only about the Almighty and renounce the outside world. After some time, the person will feel light in the chest area. Only then will it be possible to move on to dhikr of the heart. However, there is no need to rush to go to the next stage; a person should feel ready.
When to read dhikr
The Qur'an says that one can constantly praise Allah. You shouldn’t wait for a certain time, you need to do it when the desire arises. But reading dhikr is highly discouraged when a person looks untidy. The room and body must be clean. A terrible sin is resentment and anger, hatred. The main thing is to be responsible for your actions and strive for the goal, then you can achieve the divine. Prayer must be made an integral part of life.
Conclusion
In some cases, modern and civilized people perceive religion in a completely different way. If you want, you can indulge yourself, but if you don’t want to, you don’t need to. However, such an attitude will never produce results. After all, any religion involves working with the soul. You need to be confident in success and strive for unity with the Creator, only then everything can work out.
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Name: saltanat
Question text: zikir how to do it and what words to say
Answer:
Dhikr is any mention of Allah subhan wa tagaal. Maybe through the words “SubhanAllah”, “Alhamdulillah”, “Allahuakbar”, “Astagfirullah”, etc. Dhikr from Arabic from the word "Zakara" - remembrance, present tense. If you look from the point of view of Sharia, as we have already said, it is a mention of Allah. Dhikr can be reading the Koran, it can be reading a certain prayer, it can be tasbih (“SubhanAllah”, “Alhamdulillah”, “Allahuakbar”). This is all called dhikrullah - mentioning Allah.
When should you do dhikr? Dhikr can be done by a person at any time, in any place, except for certain places (toilet, shower, bathhouse, where there is nazhs, places of moral decay, blasphemy). In other places where there is no najas, not associated with sin, it is possible. I apologize, but sitting in a nightclub, looking at the moral decay of people, and doing dhikr is unreasonable. If a person simply wants to prevent this in his heart, then it is better not to go to such places. There is no prohibition in the time period.
It is better that the person is in taharat. If there is no ablution, then you can do dhikr. We should try to spend the time that we usually spend wasted in tasbih. For example, a person is traveling in a vehicle, so that time does not pass in vain, one can do dhikr. I personally know one person who memorized the Koran while studying at the university. Every day, when he rode the bus to the university and back, he taught, repeated, and read verses of the Koran. and during 5 years of studying at a secular university, he learned the Koran by heart.
Those. the main thing is that there is the right intention, and it is done with ikhlas (sincerity).
Who remembers me
I remember that too.
Age, changes in the emotional background, and physical activity change the rhythm of the heartbeat, breathing, the tone of the vascular and muscular systems, and the functioning of internal organs. The rhythm of the heart is a good indicator of a person’s general condition. Therefore, it is important to take into account and understand its changes, to know your individual rhythm. To do this, you should monitor your working pulse at different times of the day, before and after physical activity, before and after performing breathing exercises.
Sufis believe that a person is able to feel the heartbeat not only directly from the pulse, but also to feel the rhythms of his body in certain zones (dhikrs) of the body. Thus, changes in rhythm are reflected in each zone. There are five such zones - five dhikrs (Fig. 19):
Sultan (“supreme ruler”);
Akhfa (“hidden square”);
Sirr (“secret square”);
Makad (“seat”);
Markab (“vehicle”).
Each disease is in one way or another connected with one or another area of the body. Sufis call these zones dhikr because they associate each of them with the practice of remembrance of God (this is how the word “dhikr” is translated). Sometimes researchers are confused about what to call dhikr - practical methods of harmonizing the body, zones of the body, or spiritual practice performed by Sufis around the world. For a Sufi, all of the above has a common divine nature, but for the convenience of the common person, I will more often call the dhikrs of the body zones, some types of hidden dhikrs - energy trajectories, and the practice of connecting with the highest divine essence - dhikrs. But let me remind you once again that for a Sufi it is all one thing - dhikr.
Zikr Sultan
This zone is responsible for the senses (vision, hearing, taste, smell) and speech. Vision carries most of the information about the world. Scientists have proven that when a beam of light falls on the eyes, overall sensitivity decreases. One of the main functions of vision is to control danger. Since vision is used to the greatest extent: television, newspapers, books and other visual means, the remaining sensitivity channels are in an underdeveloped state.
The point of meditation is precisely to reduce the role of vision and in solitude, preferably in the dark, to activate, awaken the sensitivity of other dhikrs, other zones. Again, in order to harmonize the general condition.
Vision diseases are initially caused by overload of dhikr Sultan: prolonged perception of what you don’t want to see: quarrels between parents, angry looks from classmates, too much mental work, etc., etc.
In the Naqshbandiyya Sufi tradition, vision therapy has always been aimed not at private work with strengthening the eyes, but with the harmonization of the entire system of dhikrs, that is, zones of the human body. Whoever invented glasses probably had good intentions, and his kind words will be remembered by everyone who works in the medical industry in one way or another. The reader's choice is whether to help sell glasses or not.
Dhikr Akhfa (control)
The word “akhfa” means “hidden square” or, closer to the European understanding, “secret office”. This zone is responsible for controlling the body's actions. It extends from the jugular fossa (at the base of the neck) to the solar plexus (xiphoid process).
Dhikr Sirr
This word translates as “secret square”. The third zone extends from the solar plexus to a point located at the distance of a spear down from the navel. Make the “victory” sign (raised index and middle fingers). This is “rohatina”. This zone is associated with self-confidence, intestinal and liver activity.
Dhikr Makad
This zone extends from the end of the previous zone - the horn below the navel - and up to the knees inclusive. Responsible for potency, for the groin areas. Psychologically, it contains respect for the body.
Dhikr Markab
The Markab zone is responsible for the ankle and for the movement of the body. All fungal diseases, foot pain and the like appear in this area.
Now, having studied the meaning of each zone, determine which of them you need to work with in order to restore. You can practically do this with the help of the chapter on energy trajectories. But for general harmonization of the body, it is recommended to master one of the dhikrs most often used by Sufis - dhikr around its axis.
Dhikr around its axis
Only humans have two specific forms of energy movement: in a straight line and in a spiral at the same time. They create a certain vibration in the body aimed at healing. This vibration promotes the development of intuition.
Let's do the following exercise, which was created by Sufis several hundred years ago. Until recently, it was hidden from the uninitiated, but the situation has changed. Ibrahim Haji, may God grant him many years of life, pir (master of masters) of the Naqshbandiyya brotherhood, following his inner vision, realized that the time had come to break the strict law on concealing the secret of performing dhikr around the axis. Modern Sufis believe that there should be nothing secret about what can help a person to be healthy, since a person must be healthy in order to glorify God and work in His name. But to master this dhikr you will need endurance and discipline.
Preparation
Before the main part of the dhikr begins, it is necessary, while standing still, to sway slightly from side to side, back and forth. Then we smoothly move on to swinging in a circle: the top of the head seems to describe an oval, and the person himself resembles a funnel with the top at the feet. Only after a smooth, free rotation is achieved, do we move on to the main part of performing dhikr.
Main part of dhikr
Stand up straight. The back is straight. Feet together. Uprightness is symbolically associated with the number 1. The number one is integrity and uniqueness, health and self-esteem. The body sways slightly. We focus our attention on the feeling of the integrity of the body. After some time, the amplitude of the swaying increases slightly. The head describes a small circle around its axis. The body follows it in a circular motion. Outwardly it may seem that we are standing still, but internally we feel that we are creating a “funnel”. In general, the sensation of rocking is more internal than external (Fig. 20).
Let your attention focus on the big and index toes of your left foot. Imagine your thumb is glued to the floor. An imaginary line along the left leg represents the axis of the heart. It is around this that we will now move.
Raise your right foot slightly and hit the floor with your heel. It doesn't have to be too loud. Make several attempts until you feel the vibration throughout your body from bottom to top: from your heels to the top of your head and above. If you feel excessive effort, then it means you still need to work. The sensations should be pleasant: a sort of tickling throughout the body. This vibration slightly lifts the body, but the left foot does not leave the surface - remember that our big toe of the left foot seems to be glued to the floor!
If you manage to create some semblance of vibration, then begin to move clockwise around the axis of the heart.
Your attention is turned to the area of the heart, thoughts are stopped, complete peace.
The very concept of dhikr means remembering the name of God in the heart. Imagine something sublime, sparkling. Breathing is voluntary. Listen to the sensations of your body.
When you have generally mastered the movements, start performing them with your eyes closed. Thus, the thought seems to remain in the body, we develop a sense of the body. Let us remember the principle: “Where attention goes, energy comes.”
It seems like it couldn’t be simpler, but that’s how difficult it is! Not everyone succeeds right away. After doing a couple of circles, carefully read the description of dhikr again, imagine the movements of your body in detail and perform the exercise again.
Intuition is an inner feeling, an inner knowledge of what to do. This is a feeling of the whole organism, and not just rational knowledge. By performing this dhikr, you not only perform a kind of energetic massage of your body, but also develop the ability to listen to the advice of the body, which often knows what it needs and how to act. By performing dhikr, we “turn off” our head.
If you are swaying, you cannot maintain your balance, if you somehow forcibly jump in one place when performing dhikr around an axis, then you have something to work on. If you experience discomfort on the left side, it means you are doing something wrong. Unfortunately, the book does not allow the authors to give you personal advice. This is exactly the area in which a mentor is needed. But if you do not have the opportunity to come to our courses, then read the assignment carefully again and LISTEN TO YOUR BODY, FOLLOW ITS RHYTHM. Remember the ancient formula: “Know yourself, you will know God.”
In everyday life, we spend a lot of energy on creating something external, insignificant. The methods of the ancient Sufis are aimed precisely at creating, with God's help, internal harmony.
By improving in the performance of dhikr, we create vibration along the “heel - crown” axis. Mechanical vibration is absolutely useless, an empty shaking of the body, which can even cause harm if used frequently. You should feel the vibration on an energetic level. Some people compare it with the sensations of an awakened, stretching person, and others with the feeling of “frost on the skin.” Find your image, your name for this vibration.
In the area of the crown of the brain, the active zones of all organs of the human body are concentrated - this is what modern science says. Vibration activates these zones. Who knows how this connection was found thousands of years ago?
Modern computer health diagnostic systems can accurately record changes in the activity of these zones during the performance of dhikr. Positive changes are created with the help of dhikr, but how can they be maintained? One of the best ways is to meditate before bed. This is a kind of consolidation of good health. When falling asleep, a person experiences pleasant sensations on a subconscious level, which contributes to a longer preservation of a balanced, harmonious state even after waking up.
The dhikr procedure restores a person’s aura. The word “aura” itself is translated as “breath”. This breath can really be felt when performing dhikr around its axis - as if a light breeze touches your face.
Open dhikr
This dhikr is called Yassawi after Ahmad Yassawi, who used it in Sufi practice in ancient times. His grave still remains an object of pilgrimage for Muslims around the world. It is performed twice a year.
So, now we will get acquainted with the so-called formal dhikr. It is also called open, loud. At the preparatory stage, we perform dhikr in a small circle: in 11 beats we describe a circle around its axis. Eyes are closed, breathing is even and rhythmic.
After preparation, we perform several approaches. Each approach consists of a large circle: 33 steps, moving with the right side counterclockwise, and 11 steps around its axis, clockwise.
It is believed that it is necessary to complete about 8 approaches (33 + 11). We perform approaches at an average pace. It is best when there are 11 people in a large circle and 1 person in the center of the circle (total 12 people).
A person in a circle counts and rotates around its axis - 11 beats while passing the circle with open eyes, attention concentrated in the liver area. Then - 11 beats with eyes closed, attention in the heart area.
We provide a description of open dhikr for those interested in Sufi practice. Those who are reading this book only for the purpose of improving their health can skip it.
Hidden dhikr
If open dhikr can (of course, only conditionally) be compared with gymnastics, then hidden dhikr is similar to meditation. The Sufis of my line, the Naqshbandiyya line, practice precisely the hidden, or silent, dhikr. This is one of the specific features of this direction in Sufism. Hidden, silent dhikr is a gift from the Sufis of the Naqshbandiyya line to people - a unique way of harmonizing the spiritual and physical spheres of life, giving an indescribable experience of communication with the Almighty.
Hidden dhikr 1
Inhale - exhale into the area of the solar plexus - inhale - exhale into the area of the heart - inhale - exhale into the area of the left kidney - right kidney - liver - solar plexus.
We create feelings of gratitude, appreciation and admiration in the solar plexus area. We inhale and, as we exhale, move to the heart area. We inhale and, as we exhale, lower ourselves to the area of the left kidney. We inhale and, as we exhale, move the sensations to the area of the right kidney. As you inhale, we raise sensations to the liver area, exhale, while inhaling - to the solar plexus area, exhale (Fig. 21).
Hidden dhikr 2
Solar plexus - jugular fossa - solar plexus - heart - left kidney - liver - right kidney (Fig. 22).
Zikrs are associated with all vital functions of the body. Breathing, for example, can be felt in each zone. The fingers correspond to the five dhikrs. They also correspond to the five senses. The sixth sense - intuition - is located between the fingers.
People in Central Asia love pilaf and always eat it with their hands. Tasting pilaf begins before it enters the mouth; it begins from the moment your fingertips touch it, feel its warmth, when your nose senses the extraordinary aroma of the dish, when your sense of smell connects with the sensations of your fingers. No cutlery familiar to a European will allow you to truly enjoy this dish. Pilaf eaten with a spoon or fork is only part pilaf - it has lost the sensual fullness of taste.
Unlike the description of yogic chakras, dhikras are not connected to the spine (like chakras). The components of the body: blood, stomach, body organs, etc. are more or less independent and do not obey orders from above. The same can be said about the “intangible” components of the body: thoughts, attitudes, feelings. The person himself does not understand how he could end up in such an unpleasant situation. Literally “had a hard time with it.” As soon as the harmony is broken, each of them begins to “declare themselves.” After some time, illness may begin. Sufi techniques are aimed at harmonizing the entire organism as a whole.
You can get acquainted with other types of dhikrs in the chapter on energy trajectories.
Preparing to work with the Sultan zone
Performing Zikr Sultan helps to normalize, activate and synchronize the work of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. This exercise helps optimize vision function, since the nerve endings related to the eyes, when performing this task, acquire an optimal state, and brain activity improves.
This exercise also helps improve coordination of movements, activates the hearing organs, and stabilizes the activity of the vestibular apparatus.
1. Sit more comfortably, relax, close your eyes. Mentally imagine that you are moving along a triangular trajectory: from both eyes simultaneously to the area between the eyebrows (“third eye”). As you inhale, slowly raise the resulting triangle to the crown of your head. As you exhale, return to the starting position. Do this exercise several times for 3 minutes. Everyone perceives this movement in their own way; in particular, you can try to imagine the flickering of this triangle.
2. Mentally create a movement along the contour: right eye - left eye - between the eyebrows. As you inhale, we raise this sensation to the level of the crown, but in parallel, grabbing the ears - we move from the ears along the surface of the skull. As you exhale, slowly return to the starting position. We exhale “through the ears.” Just like in the previous exercise, we perform the actions several times within 3 minutes.
Once I was returning with my friend Muisin Khan from Kokand to Jizzakh via Tashkent. Muisin Khan's friend, journalist and psychic Rustam Abid, suggested a trip to the Bakhman district, famous for various extraordinary phenomena. For example, there is one place in the mountains in this area where unusual phenomena in the atmosphere are often observed. This is some kind of strange zone. For some reason, all pets that disappear from the surrounding villages sooner or later end up there.
It took us a long time to get to the destination of our trip by car, and a couple of kilometers before the end of the journey a river blocked our road. We had to leave the car and continue on foot. When we got to the place, night had already fallen. There were many stars in the sky, but besides them, some strange lights, similar to stars, flickered. If you blink a flashlight, then these lights blink in response. After some time, a completely unusual phenomenon occurred: several dozen stars began to move and formed a star circle - Muisin Khan filmed all this with a video camera. The phenomena with stars and lights lasted for about half an hour. It was already late and time to return to the car.
When we returned back, the car was not there, although the signs by which we determined the return route remained unchanged. The car, abandoned near the river, was not immediately found, far from the water. No matter how hard we tried, we could not find any traces of the car, although there should have been at least some wheel imprints on the ground.
Returning to Tashkent, at Muisin Khan’s house, we wanted to look again at the movements of the stars and lights captured on film, but in vain - the film turned out to be empty.
Like the nature around us, humans have many obvious and hidden capabilities. But he often gets in his own way. You need to pay attention inside yourself, be surprised at yourself, enjoy yourself, understand yourself, learn to revive everything inside. No external beauty, no elegant “packaging” will help if it’s dark and deaf inside.
Dhikr is a great opportunity for self-knowledge and self-awareness. This is an opportunity to discover something hidden in yourself that fills life with meaning, brings health and prosperity. The whole secret is that dhikr can only happen if you are in the present time and not trying to think about how this dhikr will benefit you in the future. Then you will be left with nothing, like a person filming the dance of the stars instead of enjoying it here and now.
Usually the main attention during the performance of dhikr is directed to the area of the heart and liver. But it is also permissible to direct the beam of attention to the areas that require treatment, alternating them with the areas of the heart and liver.
Dhikr must be performed at least once a week. In Central Asia, there is a special time for this procedure - every Friday.
In the human body there is a division into left and right parts. This is one of the reasons for dissatisfaction with yourself when, figuratively speaking, the right eye becomes the enemy of your left eye. This division is due to the location of the organs (the heart is only on the left side). According to Sufi teaching, negative emotions and negative experiences accumulate in the left zone. If this part predominates excessively, the integrity of the body is violated, its internal core collapses.
The dhikr procedure is aimed at harmonizing a person, and thanks to it the left side is activated. This part is a little further from the axis of the body, so organs located further away cause problems. That is why left-handers are recommended to eat, write, and wash with their right hand from time to time, and right-handers, on the contrary, with their left hand.
Dhikr is a ritual of remembrance of God, therefore, speech is involved in its performance. Just as ordinary speech can be divided into verbal (through words) and non-verbal (through facial expressions, gestures, intonation, posture, tone of voice, etc.), so can the speech involved in performing dhikr be classified.
Zikr is communication with God within oneself.
Zikr is communication with God around me.
Zikr is communication with God in others.
Was read twice on the radio and many times
published in parts and in full in magazines
and even in a collective scientific monograph
Ritual round dances with singing arose in ancient times as an attempt by people to magically influence nature, full of dangers and fascinating secrets.
This is on the one hand, and on the other... Along with the development of the art of movements (dance, ritual, ceremonial) and voice (singing, prayers, spells, rhetoric), the intellect and soul developed harmoniously.
In television programs from Chechnya during the first Chechen war (1994-1996), viewers often saw strange male round dances. Mustachioed people in fur hats run after each other, singing something gutturally. There is a crowd around.
Round dances among all peoples, including the Chechens, are ritual actions for mental and physical exercise or, conversely, for relaxation and relaxation.
For some Chechen clans, the communal round dance became an Islamic prayer ritual - zikr.
History of Zikr
Among Russian Muslims, the Chechens and Ingush were the last to convert to Islam, in the 16th-17th centuries. This is 800 years later than the Volga Tatars, 600 years later than the Bashkirs. And even the neighbors of the Chechens in the North Caucasus, the Kabardians, Balkars, and Circassians, adopted Islam 300 years earlier than the Chechens and Ingush. Why?
There are different opinions. The famous researcher of the peoples of the Caucasus, Leontovich, wrote that the small (until the 16th century) Vainakhs (now Chechens and Ingush) lived in inaccessible mountains and attracted little attention from Islamic preachers. There is another opinion: the Chechens and Ingush, with their special desire for independence, stubbornly preserved their Christianity. And now in the mountains of Chechnya the graves of ancient ancestors, marked with stone crosses, are treated with great respect.
Many historians believe that the war with Russia contributed to the rooting of Islam in Chechnya. Islam united disparate clans, its militant preachers turned the ethnic love of freedom of the Chechens into a religious struggle for freedom - jihad. “Jihad” is “sacred effort” not only in war, but also in building a temple, writing a book with instructions for worthy students, etc.
An important psychological element of Islam is religious exaltation. It manifests itself differently in different peoples. Initially among the Arabs, it strengthened their tendency to nomadize, conquer spaces and conquer countries.
Then, among the poetically sensual Persians, Islam contributed to the awakening, literally explosion, of poetic talents.
And Islam led the spontaneously warlike mountaineers of the North Caucasus to a military organization. Their fighting talents awakened. Let us remember the famous Shamil and his murids - a caste of religious warrior-officials.
The spread of Islam was facilitated by the orders of dervishes, who have been wandering around the world for probably thousands of years. They took up the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. There are many such orders, Sufi communities. "Sufi" means a pious, truth-loving Muslim. Each order has its own prayer ritual - dhikr.
"Dhikr" means "memory", "reminder". During dhikr, first there is repentance, remembering oneself, one’s sins and good deeds. Then, prayerful remembrance of the names of God. There are 99 of them. All of them are a list of virtues that people should have. And all these names - the virtues of God - are used as personal names for Muslims.
The antiquity of the rituals of Sufi dhikr (the fact that they existed before the Prophet Muhammad) is recognized by Muslim scholars: “The seeds of Sufism were sown in the time of Adam; they gave birth during the time of Noah; they began to bloom under Abraham; their fruit appeared under Moses; it ripened under Christ; and produced pure wine under the Prophet Muhammad."
Orthodox Muslims claim that the Prophet Muhammad introduced the secrets of Sufism and the ritual of dhikr to the Archangel Gabriel at the behest of God. Prophet Muhammad taught them to his disciples.
"No matter the city, it has its own temper"
Time flows, changing a lot. Uneven changes in life, even in communities close to each other, create differences in ways of thinking and... the need for unequal rituals. A common religion restrains the too rapid divergence of co-religionists, but confessional differences accumulate.
Christianity was irreconcilably divided into Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and many forms of Protestantism. Religious wars broke out between different Christian denominations.
Although Islam was divided into Shiism and Sunnism, irreconcilable with each other, thanks to Islam, many spiritual paths arose - Sufi tariqas, which, as a rule, interact successfully.
The foundations of Sufism existed in deep pre-Islamic antiquity. There were two types of Arab communities: meshayuns (moving, walking) and shirahayuns (contemplating).
Psychologists know that in responsible, extreme conditions, the numerous differences between people can be reduced to two: stress makes some active, mobile, violently emotional, others - passive, contemplatively experiencing grief and joy.
Is it not with these characteristics of people that manifest themselves under stress that the stormy prayer round dance of the Kadyrite Chechens and the quiet prayer of the Naqshbandi Chechens are associated? If this is so, then the difference in Sufi prayer rituals creates priority opportunities for emotional manifestations and spiritual development for different psychological types of people: the Sufi order - the Naqshbandi community - prone to passivity under stress, the Qadiriya order - prone to activity. Let this hypothesis not seem fantastic to the reader. Muslims have other characteristics that may seem unlikely to us.
Sufism has become a religious and philosophical teaching that contributes to the adaptation of the Islamic world to the diversity of changing reality. Moreover, it is quite possible to assume that different Sufi communities provide complete self-realization to people with different lifestyles and psychological differences.
However, not all Muslims belong to Sufi orders. During Stalin's times, these Islamic associations were brutally oppressed. Now many Russian Muslims have only a vague idea of Sufi orders.
Dhikr in the North Caucasus
Two orders reached the North Caucasus, each professing a different path of man to God. The sacred path of the order-community is called “tariqa”. One of them is the Naqshbandi tariqa. He was confessed by Imam Shamil. The main thing in the Naqshbandi ritual is secret prayer, that is, dhikr Khufiya. Remembering the names of God in the heart. Educating the heart with blessed (meditative) “blows” on it - this is Sufi psychotraining. At the heart of this cult: “I am alone with God. My destiny is the creation of values and beauty.”
The founder of the order, Sheikh Bakhauddin Naqshband, was an embossing artist. He lived in Bukhara at the beginning of the 14th century. Naqshband outlined his teachings and biography in a book of poems: “Drops from the Source of Life.”
The external sign of the servants of this cult is a white cap. Many who vacationed on the Black Sea coast bought white felt hats. They had long hairs hanging from the edges of their wide brims - the edge. Who would have guessed that this is a Naqshbandi dervish hat. The edge makes it difficult to look, so that a Muslim does not look at the external charms and thinks only about God, improving in his soul.
In Chechen villages I saw men wearing Muslim caps of different shapes and colors, brought from Islamic countries. The Chechens had no idea that they were wearing on their heads the insignia of the wrong tariqats to which their teips belonged.
The second sacred path established in the Caucasus, tariqa - qadiriya. Its founder El-Sagid Abdul-Kadir-Gilani lived in Baghdad in the 12th century. He bequeathed to his followers a loud collective prayer-dhikr Jagriya during an energetic round dance.
I observed how such a dhikr in Chechnya during the first war was used to rally the people in battle. It was a powerful psychological procedure, a ritual round dance.
There are teips (clans) in Chechnya, in which during dhikr the worshipers do not sit or run in a circle, but jump up and down in one place. This prayer ritual was founded by Bamat-Girey Mitaev, a Chechen from the village of Avtury. After his death, he was recognized as an ustaz (holy teacher of Islam). Above his grave stands an elegantly decorated ziyat (crypt house). When passing by, Chechens, without stopping the car, stand up in it as a sign of respect for the saint.
In Chechnya, the graves of not only the Ustazes are honored, but also the Evliyas (magicians-foretellers), recognized as saints after death. This probably contains echoes of recent Chechen paganism, coexisting with Chechen ideas about Islam.
Zikr in the First Chechen War
In April 1995, talking with the prefect of the mountainous Shatoi region Daud Dabaevich Akhmadov (before the war he headed the department of physics at the University of Grozny, by the end of the war he became the commander of the Shatoi militant detachment), I asked:
What gives courage and perseverance to the Chechens in this war?
The prefect replied:
Only dhikr! If we are tired, dhikr helps us. In misfortunes and in joys we have dhikr.
An experienced teacher, a calculating mathematics professor, accurately assessed the power of the psychotechnics of the Sufi rite.
It may seem that dhikr in the square occurs spontaneously. However, it is run by a sheikh. He knows when and where to begin ritual prayer. He can be recognized in a circle of worshipers by his headdress.
Different hats are the main differences between different Muslim tariqas. Pieces of cloth are wrapped around the hats, showing the degree of spiritual perfection of a Muslim. It turns out - a turban. The more significant the spirituality, the more turns around the cap you are allowed to make. The sheikh has more than others.
Mountaineers of the Caucasus wrap a turban over their hat. The color of their turbans was established by the famous Shamil - white. This is a symbol of "perfect submission" to the sheikh.
A Muslim cap is often made from several wedges, and here's why: at the end of his life, the Prophet Muhammad called his assistants, tore his cap, a symbol of honor and power, into pieces and silently distributed them. The assistants realized that just as a torn hat is useless, the power it symbolizes must be united. The assistants gave their pieces to the most worthy - Ali (cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet), recognizing him as the successor of Muhammad.
Muslims of the North Caucasus know that seven companions of the Prophet were next to him who was departing for another world. Therefore, the Muslim cap is made of seven wedges.
In Central Asia, Muslims believe that there were four people at Muhammad's deathbed. The Central Asian skullcap is quadrangular. There are other versions of the legend and, accordingly, caps.
Then in 1995, next to the sheikh in the crowd in front of the Shatoi prefecture, shouts are heard, the crush intensifies, a ring begins to spin, expanding and drawing people into it.
The Chechens are skipping and running quickly in a circle. The movements are rhythmic. They clap their palms, beating out the rhythm of the dance. It could last for hours. They repeat loudly, in a chant, calling on the Lord: “La illaha illa-llah!”
The feeling of sacred involvement in eternity, in Allah, whom the Chechens praise in an incomprehensible Arabic, euphonious language, unites the singers. Rotating in dhikr in the square in the middle of the crowd is a ring of inflamed bodies, like an eye turned to the sky. Everyone, tirelessly rushing in a circular dance, feels like an eyelash of this eye, the eye of the people finding the Almighty Patron. Waves of emotions radiate from the dhikr ring through the crowd of people crowding the square. At times the dancers seem to get tired, but their voices soar above the crowd again. A new wave of excitement spreads across it, the eyes become animated, the talk of the crowd, discussing their affairs to the sounds of dhikr, becomes louder.
Standing in the crowd, I could not help but succumb... in my chest I felt a feeling of unity with something incomprehensible and strong.
Psychophysiology of Zikr
The trembling voice of those praying enters everyone’s head and chest equally. But this should create synchronization of electrophysiological rhythms in the dancers’ bodies. And, as a result, a unity of feelings among those rushing in a circular dance. Deep breathing in the rhythm of singing causes collective bursts of ecstasy (this phenomenon is used in yoga and other psychotechniques).
Looking at the flying singing mouths and the shine of the eyes above them, I remembered a huge centrifuge. Once upon a time, many years ago, we explored the stress of upcoming interplanetary flights, subjecting volunteers and ourselves to painful tests on it, rotating continuously for many weeks.
Rapid rotation, affecting the body, changes the psyche and the mood of the soul. When people rush around in circles for hours, for them the space behind the circle is blurred and alienated. But those flying in the dance see each other in the same places. The attitude takes root in everyone: “Only we, singing and flying, are stable and real. The world around us is unstable.”
For the Chechens in dhikr (and once for us in the centrifuge), the rotation and delight of being chosen created an amazing fusion of the extremes of existence, a rare form of stress... with the awakening of strength, delight and will.
Silent and loud dhikrs are only elements of integral prayer rituals performed in other Islamic tariqas far from the Caucasus. For example, the “loud” dhikr of the Muslim community of Rufai, after collective singing and a frantic round dance, ends with the silent ecstasy of the participants. The imam allows those especially in a rage to inflict burns on themselves with a hot iron, cutting themselves until they bleed. Psychologists know that in a person overwhelmed by joy, “small pain” shades, intensifies, and makes more sophisticated the “great pleasure.”
Particularly interesting is the dhikr of Sheikh Jimal Eddin-Er-Rumi, an outstanding poet of the Middle Ages (his poems are now in great demand in America and Europe), who founded the Mevlevi Sufi order of Whirling Dervishes. This dhikr contains both loud and silent prayers. First, a mad rotation on the left leg. Pushing with the right. To the point of frenzy. But suddenly, at a signal from the sheikh, everyone stops, turns to stone in the position in which they found the team. Then more rotations, stops... Many times. For what?
All this is complex management of the psyche, and if day after day, then education of it. Not only in the East, the Sufi sheikh - the poet Rumi, but also in Europe, the Christian saint Francis of Assisi used rotations with stops on command for his disciples to find the True Path.
If you try to spin like this and after 15-20 minutes you don’t fall or vomit, then your initial mood will turn into a rather strong feeling. Were you sad? - sadness will come. And if you started with enthusiasm, you will be overcome with joy.
We conducted such psychophysiological experiments. This almost magical procedure pumps up the emotional, imaginative and logical centers in the cerebral hemispheres due to the tension of various muscles and balance organs.
Why does a Mevlevi praying in dhikr rotate while standing on his left leg?
This is no coincidence.
The left one is connected by nerve pathways to the right hemisphere of the brain. There is a reflection of continuous images of the world, existence, emotions. And the right leg, pushing, sends signals to the left hemisphere. It contains an analysis of fractional, “push” events.
So, information that is specific and understandable to each hemisphere of the brain comes and hits the target. One is filled with the “knowledge” that the support, the Earth, the World are continuously stable. Another is that: “No! Everything is wrong! The world under the right foot is undoubtedly fragmented and discontinuous.” A conflict arises between two seemingly true signals about the support of our body.
Our many years of research, hundreds of different experiments have shown that sensory conflicts lead many to a state of so-called “altered consciousness.” There is a breakthrough from the subconscious of dreams and visions that have been hidden in it for years. Like a waking dream. Ecstasy and insight that can delight or frighten a person.
Spiritual teachers of the East warned that practicing dhikr without preparation and without an imam-mentor is dangerous.
From historical chronicles it is known that Imam Shamil more than once in the dark basement of the mosque, completely alone, without sleep or food, rotated in silent dhikr and, freezing on the earthen floor, prayed to the Prophet for advice. And Muhammad gave insight.
Instant petrification during a fast dance, when someone even falls like a sculpture, without a stand, was used by Gurdjieff to teach magic. He was called the great magician of the 20th century. There is evidence that he was the spiritual mentor of two dictators: as a senior comrade of young Stalin at the Kutaisi seminary, then in Europe, teaching the occult to Hitler. Gurdjieff believed that when stopping in a dance, emotional-motor energy turns into intellectually creative energy, into the energy of a “silent cry”, “worthwhile running”.
The trembling voice of those praying enters everyone’s head and chest equally. But this should create synchronization of electrophysiological rhythms in the dancers’ bodies. And, as a result, a unity of feelings among those rushing in a circular dance. Deep breathing in the rhythm of singing causes collective outbursts of ecstasy (this phenomenon is used in yoga and other psychotechniques)...
Another feature of the dhikr of the Chechen-Kadyrits. Why does their round dance rotate counterclockwise? The Mevlevite Sufis also rotate.
This goes back to the ancient ritual dances of sun worshipers. So, we residents of the northern hemisphere meet the sun with every turn. A new turn - a new morning. And “the morning is wiser than the evening.”
There are ritual rotations in other religions as well. Thus, among Buddhists, a thousand turns of the body of a person praying is equivalent to one visit to a datsan (Buddhist monastery) on the path of spiritual perfection. A thousand visits to the datsan, in which you need to walk in a circle, rotating many sacred drums, is equivalent to one visit to the Tibetan center of Buddhism - Lhasa.
Sufism: his followers talk about the need to perform dhikr with the heart, without moving the tongue and lips, and prefer it to dhikr performed with the tongue and lips. And as confirmation of this and evidence, they cite an amazing story, which we retell below.
“Sheikh ‘Abdul-Qadir al-Gajdavani read the Koran from Sheikh Sadr-ad-din and reached the words “Call upon your Lord humbly and in secret. Verily, He does not love transgressors." (Barriers, 55). He told the sheikh: “What is secret dhikr and how to perform it? Truly, when a slave makes dhikr out loud and moving his organs, people look at him, and if he makes dhikr with his heart, Shaitan looks at him. After all, he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Verily, Shaitan flows with the stream of blood in the veins of the son of Adam.” The Sheikh replied: “This is mystical knowledge, and if Allah wishes, He will connect you with one of His wali, and he will teach you how to perform secret dhikr.” And he waited for the fulfillment of this good news until al-Khidr (peace be upon him) came to him. He taught him wukuf ’adadi and secret dhikr. And he began to plunge into the water and repeat in his heart: “La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasulullah,” and a great insight came to him.”
Sheikh Muhammad Mustafa Abul-‘Ulya says: “The best purification is performing dhikr of the Naqshbandi tariqa. This is when the person performing dhikr pronounces the word “Allah” with the tongue of his heart. For the heart is a tongue, and is a hearing, and is a sight.”
I say: these words are not true, and the heart is the heart, the hearing is the hearing, the sight is the sight, and the tongue is the tongue. These are all completely different things, sharply different from each other, and one of them is not called the other.
The difference between the heart and the tongue is indicated by the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “The faith of a servant will not be upright until his heart is upright, and his heart will not be upright until his tongue is upright.”
Ahlu-s-Sunnah: it is said that this term “secret dhikr” or “dhikr with the heart,” which is used by Sufis to mean dhikr without moving the tongue and lips, is something that has nothing to do with Islam. He was not known to the righteous ancestors of the Ummah. And this Sufi history of theirs testifies that this dhikr traces its history back to ‘Abdul-Qadir al-Gajdavani. Dhikr, recognized by Ahlu-s-Sunnah, is the one during which the tongue and lips move. Moreover, their argument is what is mentioned in authentic hadiths.
1) ‘Abdullah ibn Bisr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that one person said: “O Messenger of Allah! Truly, the rules of Islam are too many for me, so tell me something that I would adhere to.” He said: “Let your tongue always be moist with the remembrance of Allah.”
2) Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reports the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): “Verily, Allah Almighty says: “I am with My servant when he remembers Me and moves his lips in memory of Me.”
3) The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “May each of you have a grateful heart, a tongue that remembers (Allah) and a believing wife to help him win (the reward of) Eternal Life.”. And the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) attributed gratitude to the heart, and dhikr to the tongue.
The fact that the recognized dhikr is the dhikr performed with the tongue, and not the one performed only with the heart, is indicated by the fact that the prayer does not count if the words necessary for it are pronounced with the heart, without moving the tongue and without hearing oneself. The necessary words of prayer (arkan qauliyya) include takbirat-l-ihram (opening takbir), reading al-Fatiha, the last tashahhud, salawat and the first salam (taslim). All these verbal ruknas must be performed with the tongue and in such a way that at least one can hear oneself, otherwise the person’s prayer will not be counted and correct. Both the defiled person (junub) and the woman during menstruation are allowed to recite the Qur'an silently in their hearts, since this does not count. As for reading with tongue movements, this is not allowed for them. The same goes for greetings. If someone greets you in such a way that you hear the greeting, you must answer him with your tongue, and you cannot limit yourself to answering with your heart, since this does not count.
The fact that language plays an important role and is of great importance in Shariah is indicated by the fact that scholars agree that one who has accepted Islam must (in order to be considered a believer) necessarily pronounce the Shahada with his tongue, and faith is not enough without pronouncing the Shahada. And even if a person believes in everything that needs to be believed, and claims that he said the Shahada in his heart, but at the same time he did not pronounce it with his tongue, he is not considered a believing Muslim. And it is not enough to pronounce it “with the tongue of your heart,” as representatives of Sufism put it. Isn't this clear evidence that it is the tongue in the mouth that counts, and not the tongue of the heart (if the heart can even have a tongue)? And if pronouncing the Shahadah in this way, answering a greeting, reading the Koran, performing the verbal hands of prayer does not count... I say: if all these things, which are the most important dhikrs, are not counted when pronounced with their hearts, how can other words of remembrance of Allah be counted?
Indeed, the hadiths of the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) which talk about various dhikrs indicate that dhikr is performed with the tongue, since they all relate to recitation. Like the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “Whoever says this…”. And one can say it only with the tongue that is in the mouth, and not with the “language of the heart,” as the philosophizing Sufis claim.
The tongue is great and plays an important role, and on the Day of Judgment it will testify to what it has uttered, testifying against the kaafir about evil, and testifying in favor of the believer about good. Like other members of the body, who will testify to what they did - if good, then good, and if bad, then bad. How do the Sufis want to silence them and remove them from the remembrance of Allah, leaving it to the heart, as they claim? Is it not desirable to increase the number of those who testify to good in favor of a Muslim?.. What is more ignorant than them? Moreover, what is more disgusting than them?
The source of a Muslim is the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), about which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “I have left you something, if you adhere to it, you will never fall into error - the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet.”. Even the prophets and messengers of the past, from Adam to ‘Isa, none of them have the right to come and add something to Islam, or remove something from it, or change it. Even if we assume that one of the great messengers other than Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came to us and we followed him, this means that we have fallen into error, since the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) greetings) said: “I swear by Him in Whose Hand my soul is, if Musa appeared among you and you followed him and left me, you would fall into a far error. You are my portion from the communities, and I am your portion from the prophets.”
And if this is the case, and the Sharia is limited by the Book of Allah and the Sunnah, and no one, not even the great messengers, has the right to come and change something in Islam, and Allah testified to the completeness of Islam by saying “Today I have completed your religion for you...” (Meal, 3). How can a Sufi al-Khidr, so many centuries after the death of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), come to al-Gajdavani and change the method of performing dhikr (which was used by the righteous ancestors before the advent of al-Gajdavani), and teach him this method and prefer his method, which was known in the best centuries? Truly, my brothers in faith, this is a disgusting and insidious attempt to destroy the knowledge of Islam brick by brick, beware of this!
Truly, dhikr and the method of performing it, as we have already mentioned more than once, refers to types of worship of divine origin, to which a person is not allowed to add anything, and from which nothing can be taken away, and which cannot be changed. At the same time, it is surprising that Sheikh Sadru-d-din or Sheikh 'Abdul-Qadir al-Gajdavani understand this verse mentioned in their history, completely different from how the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), the companions and imams. If the Sufis say that they understood him in the same way as these two, we will say: how then did al-Gajdavani need al-Khidr to come to him and teach him this? Why didn't he take it from the imams who came before him? If they say that they did not understand him, then this is a statement that the knowledge of al-Gajdavani and those who lived after him and his way of performing dhikr is higher and more perfect than the knowledge of those who came before him. Isn’t the inconsistency of this statement obvious? And who knows that the one who came to al-Hajdr in the guise of al-Khidr was not Shaitan, who took on the guise of al-Khidr to mislead him?
And if someone in our time claims the same thing and introduces another change in the religion of Allah, should we believe him, especially if he backs it up with the performance of the supernatural? If we say “Yes,” we will open the door through which anyone who wants to harm the religion of Allah can enter. And if we say: “We should not believe,” then what is the difference between the mentioned al-Gajdavani and any other Sufi wali of our time?
In this matter, it is worth saying decisively: “We do not accept anything other than what is confirmed in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
Further, dhikr, together with immersion in water, was not included in the religion of any of the prophets, and was not included in the religion of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). But this is an exercise of yogis, with the help of which they achieve different spiritual states. And what was not part of the religion of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is not part of the religion for his Ummah, otherwise what is the meaning of following? And what is the meaning of the hadith: “Whoever has done a deed that is not in accordance with our deed will have it rejected.”?
Verse mentioned in Sufi history “Call upon your Lord humbly and in secret.” (Barriers, 55), does not mean at all that one should stop pronouncing du’a and limit oneself to pronouncing it with the heart without the participation of the tongue, since “in secret” here does not mean keeping the tongue from dhikr. But this verse was revealed to prohibit yelling and raising one’s voice when reading du’a. It is said in the tafsirs of Ibn Kasir and at-Tabarani: “Ibn Jurayj said: “Raising one’s voice, loudly calling and shouting in du’a is undesirable, but it is ordered (to show) humility and (to maintain) calm.”
This is the meaning of the verse - that dhikr and du'a should be performed with a lowered voice. And if it were as al-Gajdavani and Sadru-d-din claim in their “mystical knowledge,” it would not have escaped the attention of the greatest interpreters of the Koran.
From all this it follows that the story of al-Khidr was invented to justify the innovation (bid'a) called "secret dhikr." This is a fable and a lie, and this cannot in any way be attributed to al-Khidr (peace be upon him). And the one who came to al-Gajdavani under the guise of al-Khidr was Shaitan.
