The Medicine of the Sinners

The teachers of this path used to describe dhikr in a series of names: the medicine of the sinners; the familiarity of the estranged, uns al-munqaṭiʿīn; the treasure of those who rely upon Allah, kanz al-mutawakkilīn; the provision of those who possess certainty, ghidhāʾ al-mūqinīn; the adornment of those who are connected to Him, ḥilyat al-wāṣilīn; the starting point of the knowers, mabdaʾ al-ʿārifīn; the carpet of those brought near, bisāṭ al-muqarrabīn; and the wine of the lovers, sharāb al-muḥibbīn. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, further, that the remembrance of Allah is certain knowledge, ʿilm al-yaqīn, of one's belief; immunity from hypocrisy, barāʾah min al-nifāq; a fortress against Shayṭān, ḥiṣn ḥaṣīn; and a guarded refuge from the Fire, ḥirz min al-nār.

Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ was asked by what measure a servant may be counted among those who remember Allah much, the dhākirūn and dhākirāt — how one is to know whether one belongs among those praised in the Qur'an for this. He answered that if a person perseveres in the forms of dhikr — difficult at first, but sustained — he is of those who remember Allah much. It is like saving toward a house: two dollars, five, twenty, a hundred, a thousand — no one has the full price at once, and it is only by continuing, as an ordinary working person does, that one becomes eligible for the house at all; that is merely the beginning. In the same way, a person who perseveres in the forms of dhikr handed down in the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him), morning and evening and at the various times of the day, is of those who remember Allah much.