What is the best form of Dhikr in Ramadan?
What's the best form of Remembrance of Allah (Swt) In Ramadan?
Where as the Imam Az-Zuhri (Rah) Narrates one Subanallah in Ramadan
is a thousand times Subanallah outside of Ramadan.
Subanallah, when you're talking about the aspect of Dhikr,
when you look through
the entire body of Hadith from the Prophet (pbuh) on dhikr,
Sometimes when you read about the virtues of one statement of dhikr,
you would think that that's the only dhikr that
you should be saying, like if you read about Fadhilah istighfar
for example, the virtues of seeking forgiveness from Allah (swt),
you would say I should be doing nothing
but saying astaghfirullah all the time.
or one of the various iterations of seeking forgiveness from Allah,
O My Lord, forgive me and have mercy on me, accept my repentance.
All of these different iterations up is istigfar/ seeking forgiveness.
And then you'll find the Hadith where the Prophet (pbuh)
is receiving advice from Ibrahim (a.s) about
the seeds of the soil of Paradise.
Subanallah Alhamdulillah Allah Akbar.
And then you find the Hadith where the prophet (pbuh) says
that there are two phrases that are beloved
to Ar- Rahman /The Merciful, light on the tongue heavy on the scales,
Tasbeeh/ the glorification of Allah.
And then you find the Hadith were the Prophet (pbuh) said,
the most beloved, the best of all
Remembrance is la ilaha illallah, keep your tongue moist with la ilaha illallah,
and then you find hadith of ibn Kab (Ra), where he asked
the Prophet (pbuh), how much of his duas should be dedicated
to Salawat /sending peace and blessings on the beloved (pbuh)
and it could take up all of your dua,
and that would be sufficient, Peace be upon him,
And we know that it's the day of Friday, the most beloved day
of sending salawat on the Messenger (Pbuh).
So I probably just confuse you further.
All of these hadith, you read them and you say that's the one
or your Lord loves praise.
So just say it Alhamdulillah over and over again, right?
So subanAllah, it's every single chapter you find these Adhkars, and
you say they're amazing on which one should I prioritize?
And then you find statements from the pious predecessors,
And all of this is an introduction to the question, by the way,
statements of the pious predecessors like
Fazle and Ibn Taymiyyah (Rah); when they were asked
about prioritizing: seeking forgiveness or glorifying Allah;
Istighfar over Tasbeeh
And the example that they gave was that if you have a garment
and it is stained, then you don't embellish the garment before
cleaning the stain.
So istighfar cleans the stain,
Tasbeeh, saying Subhanallah or the buttons on the garment,
Are the embellishments on the garment, and so they prioritized
istighfar over Tasbeeh, but they never neglected Tasbeeh.
Where does that leave us in Ramadan? Where as imam Az Zuhri (Rah)
Narrates one Subanallah in Ramadan is a thousand times,
subhanAllah, outside of Ramadan. This month in which the mercy
from Allah is descending upon us constantly.
And this is where you find some of the scholars start to
give some beautiful insights.
Number one, The best form of Remembrance is Quran, and the best
way to read the Quran is in prayer.
The best form of Remembrance is Quran.
It is the best form of Remembrance.
So as you are reciting your Quran throughout the day,
it's a part of your dhikr,
It's a part of your Remembrance of Allah (swt),
And the best way to recite the Quran is in your prayer.
Why?
Because in your two units of qiamullail (night prayer)
you will combine all of adhkar, just to have a proper prayer.
You'll have Takbir, you'll have Tasbeeh, you'll have Istighfar,
you'll have Salawat. So just two rakats with the Quran it
combines all of the best forms of dhikr,
and that's the mercy of Allah (swt).
the all of the best forms of Remembrance are combined in Salah.
And then the Quran,
The Quran is a reminder to the world, as well as a book that is
full of the reminders and the Remembrance of Allah (swt).
You recite it at all times and you have that intention.
And they said, We can take insights from two things.
Number one, look at the way the Prophet (pbuh)'s prayer was.
Can you recite Quran in sujood/ prostration?
No, you can't recite in your prostration.
There were some nights, but the Prophet (pbuh) would stand
and his qiamullail, and he would read Quran for so long.
You would think he was never going in ruku /act of belt-low bowing or sujood.
And there were some nights that the Prophet (pbuh) went
into prostration where all you do is make
dua and remember Allah, you don't read Quran in your prostration
to where if you would have saw him (pbuh)
you would have thought he died in his sujood.
Can you imagine that sight? you see him in a prostration,
You think he (pbuh) must be dead because he's not getting up from his prostation.
Umm salamah (ra), narrates two hadiths, said
the prophet would spend an entire night with one ayah of the Quran,
one ayah, and then he would spend other nights peace be upon him,
and it was as if he was going to recite the whole Quran
in his standing up (at night).
And so when the prophet (pbuh) would stand, he would read Quran,
and he would bring with his Quran, duas to Allah (swt) /
Remembrance of Allah.
And when the prophet (pbuh) would make Sujood,
then the Prophet (pbuh) would focus entirely on dhikr and dua
And so the scholars say what we see from the Prophet (pbuh)
is engage yourself between that which is the
Quran; the recitation, and that which you would say to
Allah (swt) in your sujood.
We have flexibility in it,
The point is, don't miss a moment.
The point is engaged in one of those two things,
and the fact that if you saw the Prophet (pbuh) on a particular
you didn't know which one he was going to be longer
than the other is assigned for us that you know what,
one night you might go into sujood,
and you have your khatam (completing the Quran) to finish;
But you're going into sujood and you want to finish
your recitation of the Quran.
But as you got into your sujood, you started to make your
dua to Allah and you were immersed in your dua;
Keep going, don't get up.
Keep going.
Continue to remember Allah.
One day you might finish your allocated times of how much
you're going to do Tasbeeh, say SuhanAllah, but you're looking
around and you're saying Subanallah, subhanAllah and your heart is present.
It's better to go extra 10 Tasbeeh delay
than next thing that you're going to do
because your heart is in that Tasbeeh.
And so the best dhikr is the dhikr that coincides with
the Prophet (pbuh)'s dhikr that is diversified, that your heart is
most present in. That's the first thing.
The second thing, the best dhikr outside of Ramadan is the
best dhikr inside of Ramadan, meaning the reward for your
morning Remembrance and evening Remembrance in Ramadan is
even greater than what it would be outside of Ramadan.
The Prophet (pbuh) would not pause the morning of adhkar and
the evening of adhkar, the things he would say in the morning
and the things he would say in the evening after asr, because
Ramadan came around.
If anything, they are greater at that time.
And that is the best time to learn the habits of those things.
So to really bring them into your life and to not let go
of those things that would be like a person who focuses on
praying taraweeh, and then they forget all of the other sunnah.
The sunnah that the prophet (pbuh) would not
forget to pray outside of Ramadan or inside of Ramadan.
May Allah (swt) enable us upon them, Allahumma ammen.
And the third thing, and this is something that is
really powerful to pay attention to with what the prophet (pbuh)
gave us of the best duas in the best seasons,
the best 10 days of the year are the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah,
the best 10 nights of the year are the last 10 nights of Ramadan.
The best of the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah is the day of Arafah,
and the best of the last 10 nights of Ramadan is Laylat al-Qadr, right?
In the first 10 days of the Dhul Hijjah the day of Arafah;
May Allah (swt) call us back to Arafah, Allahuma Ameen.
On Arafah, the prophet (pbuh) said
the best of what I and the prophets that came before me have said,
because all of the prophets observe the day of Arafah was
Praising the oneness of Allah, declaring the oneness of Allah (swt)
Who has no partner, Who has Dominion over all things.
He has no partner.
He has no equal.
He is the only one worth seeking and the only one who bestows reward
and subhanAllah that's the best dua in the day of of Arafah,
some of the scholars say that is the culmination of Hajj, like
when you're going to Hajj, everything surrounds affirming
the oneness of Allah, right? doing tawaf (circumambulating) around kaaba
saying 'Labaik Allahumma Labbaik'
here I come, Oh Allah. Here I come.
Everything surrounds this element of tawheed / this oneness of Allah;
And so on the culmination of that oneness of Allah, or of
the days of hajj, you affirm in the most beautiful way,
the oneness of Allah (swt).
When it comes to Ramadan, the theme is what to be forgiven
for all of the sins that you brought to Ramadan.
....hadith, whoever fast Ramadan, whoever praise in the nights of Ramadan,
whoever observes Laylat al-Qadr will be forgiven
for all of their previous sins and Ayesha (ra) asked prophet (pbuh)
if I feel like I am in Laylat al-Qadr, if Laylat al-Qadr has come upon me,
The night of power has come upon me.
What dua should I say, and we all memorize it am in
Oh Allah! you are the forgiver, you love to forgive, So forgive me.
and the scholars say that that is the
theme of Ramadan that throughout the month of Ramadan,
the prize of Ramadan is asking Allah to forgive you.
As you are changing your ways and turning your page with Allah (swt)
let the core of your your dua, Oh Allah! forgive me.
oh Allah! forgive me.
Oh Allah, as I'm turning my page,
Let the page on the day of judgment also be turned so that
none of the sins that I brought with me before this month
are going to show any more on my record.
oh Allah! forgive me.
And so it's not just the dua for the last 10 nights.
It's not just the dua for laylatul qadr.
It's a dua that represents the essence of all of Ramadan.
Oh Allah! forgive me and embark on the journey of making sure that
your dua / your witr dua every night, your dua in the
last moments before you fast are surrounding asking Allah (swt)
for forgiveness because that's the culmination of Ramadan.
May Allah (swt) forgive us,
Allow us to reach laylatul qadr and allow us to say the dua
that we should be saying on laylatul qadr, allow us to be accepted
on laylatul qadr and have our entire Ramadan accepted, Allahuma Ameen.