Remembrance of Allah — Page 21
Misunderstandings about Dhikr 21 Dhikr-e-Il a h i is a bad thing. Yes! It can be said that these innova- tions which these people have created are bad. These people, however, are not bothered in the least, despite the fact that the Holy Prophet s as has said: كُل ُّ بِدْعَة ٍ ضَلَلَة ٌ وَكُل ُّ ضَلَلَة ٍ فِي النَّار. ‘Every innovation that is introduced into the Faith is misguidance and misguidance leads to Hell’ ( Sunan an-Nasa’ ī , Kitāb S alātul- Īdaini, Bāb Kaifal-Khu t bah; Hadith 1578). This indeed is why the forms of dhikr invented by these people are incapable of taking them closer to Allah; on the con- trary, they take them even further away from Him. Thus, ever since these types of dhikr have been introduced—precisely since then—the Muslims have been drifting farther and farther away from God Almighty. As all of these are innovations, and when people act contrary to the directives of Allah and the Holy Prophet s as , their spirituality will inevitably weaken, and it is for this reason that spirituality is being obliterated from among the Muslims. Secondly, these innovations have a particular quality that makes one feel pleasure and exhilaration on the surface, but because all that pleasure and exhilaration is artificial, for that rea- son—ignorant of true pleasures—a person chases the artificial ones and is thus destroyed. This is like a person suffering from a stomach ache who, instead of seeking proper treatment, takes opium and sleeps. The temporary result of this will be that the person will feel comfort due to the loss of consciousness but, in reality, he will be moving towards destruction and there will be a time when that very pain will kill him.