Ask the people of dhikr, if you do not know

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.
May prayer and peace be upon the noblest of the Messengers, upon his family and upon all his companions.

Allah ﷻ says: “And We sent not before you except men to whom We revealed. So ask the people of the remembrance (dhikr), if you do not know.” [1]

In mentioning dhikr, Allah ﷻ mentions here the door of the divine Presence and the announcement of contemplation, the Secret of the theophanies, the door of spiritual openings, the water of the ablutions that purifies both from the minor impurity that is the contingency of the worlds and from the major impurity that is physical sensory perceptions. It is through it (dhikr) that the individual attains success in this world and honour in the next. Encouraging us to dhikr, and praising those who practise it, he ﷺ said: “Go on, this is Jumdan; the mufarridun have gone ahead.” The companions asked: “Who are the mufarridun, O Messenger of Allah?” He answered: “Those men and women who remember Allah abundantly.” [2]

And according to ‘Abdullah ibn Busr (may Allah be pleased with him), a man said: “O Messenger of Allah, the laws of Islam are too many for me, so inform me of something I may hold fast to.” He answered: “Let your tongue never cease to be moist with the dhikr of Allah.” [3]

And according to Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him), the Prophet ﷺ said: “The example of one who remembers his Lord and one who does not is that of the living and the dead.” [4]

And according to Abu al-Darda’, the Prophet ﷺ said: “Shall I inform you of the best of your deeds, the one that most pleases your Sovereign, the highest in your degrees, that is better for you than spending gold and the goods of this world, and better even than meeting your enemy, killing him and being killed by him?” They said: “What is it, O Messenger of Allah?!” He answered: “The dhikr of Allah.” [5]

The people of dhikr are thus the forerunners in the enveloping Glory of the divine. They are a mercy for the people of the earth; those who take part in their gatherings are not afflicted, and those who cling to them suffer no oppression. The least of them is in reality very great with Allah, and the most despised of them is in truth glorious and honoured with Allah. Their state of divine Presence illuminates their hearts and purifies their hearts of any consideration of other than Him, so that they are able to receive in them the Magnificence of the Master. Their dhikr is the establishment of a Luminous bond that the torments of heedlessness cannot interrupt. Neither buying nor selling distracts them from the dhikr of Allah, and He ﷻ says: “And keep yourself patient [by being] with those who call upon their Lord morning and evening, seeking His Face. And do not let your eyes pass beyond them, desiring the (false) adornment of worldly life. And do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance and who follows his own desire and whose affair is ever [in] neglect.” [6]

And He ﷻ also mentioned the pre-eminence of the people of dhikr in the degrees of Nearness by saying: “Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and patient women, the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable women, the fasting men and fasting women, the men who guard their private parts and the women who do so, and the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so – for them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward.” [7]
This verse lists ten degrees, dhikr being the noblest and highest among them.

Consider, then, may the Master guide you, how the Real has enjoined us to ask the people of dhikr, how He has chosen and elected them from among all the people of knowledge… for it is the people of dhikr who are truly the people of knowledge (‘ilm): they are those who act in accordance with what they know, the knowers of the meanders and manoeuvres of the nafs, the contemplators of the divine Power (qudra) beyond the veil of Wisdom, those who plunge into the Oceans of Lordly Knowledge.

If you have a question, then turn towards the people of the Lights, for they are the keepers of the remedy leading to the Presence of the Real. Their nearness is a mercy, and entering their presence a favour and a divine election.

Question those whose being is perpetually imbued with the state of Presence, those whose Knowledge through Allah is established, those who have read, by the Name of their Lord, the reality of their own souls, so that when they had known it they knew through it all souls. From then on, no (inner) illness can be hidden from them. Their antidotes are the Lights of Nearness, healing from the darkness of differentiation and of the created world.

And may Allah reward Sayyidi al-Bouzidi, who says in verse:

Every jurist knows the obligations (fard) and the sunna
As for me, my Knowledge is immeasurable, endless

I am the one who gives to drink, and the wine is mine
I am the one who lifts the veil, and the Presence is mine

How many ignorant ones have come and entered my path
They have become people of deep meanings, kings of divine providence

Take off your sandals and efface your being, if you wish to meet me
If you wish to know us: I am the Spring (‘ayn) of Life

I am the very realisation (‘ayn at-tahqiq), O you who ask to see me
I am the journey of the path, and the universe is in my Grasp (qabda)

The universe is like a mirage, as the verse states,
of dust scattered in the air, among the people of esoteric reality

From the Oceans of the Jabarut, my Point appeared
It took on the colour of the Nasut, and of the Secret of the Malakut.

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[1] Surat an-Nahl, verse 43.
[2] Sahih Muslim, Hadith no. 4840.
[3] Jami‘ at-Tirmidhi, Hadith no. 3322.
[4] Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith no. 5955.
[5] Sunan ibn Majah, Hadith no. 3788.
[6] Surat al-Kahf, verse 28.
[7] Surat al-Ahzab, verse 35.