Dhikr (Arabic "pronouncement", "invocation" or "remembrance") is the remembrance of God commanded in the Qur'an for all Muslims. To engage in dhikr is to have awareness of God according to Islam. Dhikr as a devotional act includes the repetition of divine names, supplications and aphorisms from hadith literature, and sections of the Qur'an. More generally, any activity in which the Muslim maintains awareness of God is considered dhikr. Dhikr is also spelled zikr based on its pronunciation in Turkish and Persian.

The Sufi orders engage in ritualized dhikr ceremonies. Each order or lineage within an order has one or more forms for group dhikr, the liturgy of which may include recitation, singing, instrumental music, dance, costumes, incense, meditation, ecstasy, and trance. (Touma 1996, p.162). Dhikr in a group is most often done on Thursday and/or Sunday nights as part of the institutional practice of the orders.

A group dhikr ceremony in Arabic

The hadrah section consists of the ostinato-like repetition of the name of God over which the soloist performs a richly ornamented song. Often the climax is reached through cries of "Allah! Allah!" or "hu hu" ("He! He!"), with the participants bending forward while exhaling and stand straight while inhaling. The articulation of the name of God progresses as follows, with upward beams indicating inhalation and downward beams indicating exhalation:

The hadrah is directed by a shaykh of the tariqa or one of his representatives; monitoring the intensity, depth and duration of the phases of the hadrah, the shaykh aims to draw the circle into deep awareness of God. Dhikr ceremonies

Modes of Dhikr

Depending upon the mode of Dhikr , it has been divided into 3 kinds

• Dhikr-e-Jalli--Dhikr with tongue loudly
• Dhikr-e-Khaffi--Dhikr in heart ( hidden dhikr - i.e not form tongue )

Sufis further divide the mode of meditative Dhikr according to the Latifa in which they are done . These include

• Dhikr-e-nafsi
• Dhikr-e-Qalbi
• Dhikr-e-Ruhi
• Dhikr-e-Sirri
• Dhikr-e-Khafi
• Dhikr-e-Akfha

Forms of Dhikr

Different Sufi Orders have different syllabus of dhikr . Most common ones are as follows

• Ya-Hayyu-Ya-Qayyum ( O Living & Giver of life )
• La illaha illallah ( There is no god but God )
• Allah Hu ( He is God )
• 99 Names of God
• Verses from Qur'an
• Darud Sharif ( Asking God to send peace & blessings upon Prophet Muhammad )
• Istaghfar ( Asking forgiveness from God)

Source

• Habib Hassan Touma (1996). The Music of the Arabs, trans. Laurie Schwartz. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0931340888.

Dhikr Dhikr Dhikr