The Effects of Various Adzkar

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is taken from “The Effects of Various Adzkar” by Habib Ahmad Mashhur ibn Thaha al-Haddad (q.s.) on 16th October, 2010. 

The effects of dzikr are immense and it is hard to fully understand them.  Often, one can feel an effect but not be too sure as to what sort of change is taking place in himself.  Perhaps there is a wisdom in that, that it keeps one focused in the dzikr and not self-aware.  Some of the effects of the adzkar mentioned explicitly in the sunnah are mentioned below, taken from Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad’s (q.s.) “Keys to the Garden.”  It is not easy to find literature on this but nonetheless, it is fascinating to read and gives direction and motivation for increasing one’s adzkar. 

The tasbih, “subhanallah,” also means “Transcendent is Allah.”  It is an affirmation of the Transcendence and Holiness of the Real.  It is to believe in His Exaltation and His being totally beyond comparison as regards His Essence, Attributes and Actions, so that He is above anything which might suggest a flaw in His Highness and Perfection.  Its result is to make one’s tawhid clear and unblemished, and to fill the heart with the Glory of Allah (s.w.t.) and the Uniqueness of His Perfection.  To Him is the highest analogy in the Heavens and on Earth. 

سُوۡرَةُ الرُّوم

وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى يَبۡدَؤُاْ ٱلۡخَلۡقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُ ۥ وَهُوَ أَهۡوَنُ عَلَيۡهِ‌ۚ وَلَهُ ٱلۡمَثَلُ ٱلۡأَعۡلَىٰ فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ‌ۚ وَهُوَ ٱلۡعَزِيزُ ٱلۡحَكِيمُ (٢٧) 

It is He Who begins (the process of) Creation; then Repeats it; and for Him it is most easy.  To Him Belongs the loftiest similitude (We can think of) in the Heavens and the Earth: for He is Exalted in Might, Full of Wisdom. (Surah ar-Rum:27) 

The tahlil, “laa ilaha illa Allah,” meaning, “There is no god but Allah,” brings forth a renewal of the kind of tawhid and faith proper to the elite.  Ordinary tawhid is an attribute of every believer. 

The takbir, “Allahu Akbar,” meaning “Allah is Greater,” inspires the reverence and magnification of Him Who is the Possessor of Might and Majesty, Dzu al-Jalal wa al-Ikram. 

The tahmid, “al-hamdulillah,” meaning, “Praise be to Allah,” and invoking the Names which denote His Benevolence and Mercy, such as the Compassionate, ar-Rahim; the All-Merciful, ar-Rahman; the Generous, al-Karim; the Ever-Forgiving, al-Ghaffar, and other similar Names, lead to three stations: gratitude, firm hope, and love, for it is inevitable that one who does good will be Loved. 

The Hawqala refers to “La hawla wa la quwatta illa billah,” meaning, “There is neither power nor ability save by Allah.”  And the hasbalah refers to “Hasbun Allahu wa ni’ma al-Wakil,” meaning, “Allah is our Sufficiency and the Best of Guardians.”  These result in reliance on Allah (s.w.t.), surrendering the management of one’s affairs to Him, and placing one’s trust in Him.  Names carrying meanings of knowledge and awareness, such as the Omniscient, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, the Near, and the Witness, lead to vigilance, muraqaba’. 

As for the invocation of blessings on the Prophet (s.a.w.), this yields a strengthening of one’s love and nearness to him and greater scrupulousness in following his sunnah. 

The istighfar, “astaghfirullah,” meaning, “I seek Allah’s Forgiveness,” results in steadfast piety, care about the conditions necessary for repentance, and extricating oneself from the snares of sin. 

If we wish to obtain all of these benefits, and attain to the highest ranks then we should search for a litany which includes all these kinds of invocations and prayers.  We find them in the litanies of our master, Imam ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Alawi al-Haddad (q.s.), such as Wird al-Lathif, Wird al-Kabir, Rathib al-Haddad, Hizb al-Fath and his Hizb an-Naswr.  Similarly, we should use the Rathib of Habib ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-‘Aththas (q.s.); the litanies of Imam Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shadzili (q.s.); of Imam Abu Zakariya Yahya ibn Sharaf an-Nawawi (r.a.), including the contents of his book, al-Adzkar; Hiswn al-Haswin of Imam Shams ad-Din Abu al-Khayr Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Jazari (q.s.); Hizb al-Akbar of Mulla Nur ad-Din Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn Sulthan Muhammad al-Hirawi al-Qari (q.s.), and many other litanies of great benefit that may be found- praise to Allah (s.w.t.) throughout the nation. 

Here are some words of wisdom that were given to Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad (q.s.) by one of the great saints regarding the invocation of “Subhanallah wa bi hamdih.”  He said, “To feel and perceive the meaning of ‘wa bi hamdih’ makes the invoker enter a vast space of gnosis, in which he comes to know the secret of the multiplication, growth and blessings of deeds.  That is because the personal pronoun in ‘wa bi hamdih’ relates to Allah, the Majestic and High.  When you say, ‘Subhanallah wa bi hamdih,’ you mean, ‘I extol Him with His Own Praise of Himself, which is an ancient and everlasting as Himself and which is circumscribed by no limits or boundaries.’  Thus, you are praising Him in a way with which He Praises Himself.  Similarly, in invoking blessings on the Prophet (s.a.w.), you are asking Allah to Bless His Prophet with His Blessing, which is as eternal and everlasting as Himself and which has no limit short of the extent of His knowledge.  Thus the reward for this is infinite and without limit.”  Invocation and prayer are founded on being attentive, collected, and able vividly to sense their meanings.  This will lead to the delight of the harvest and the flashing of lights.



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