A Finite Number of Breaths

Allah endows a human being with a finite number of breaths. Some scholars, by scientific estimate, calculate five hundred million breaths across a lifetime. The measure that matters, in the end, is how many of those breaths were spent in the remembrance of Allah — everything else being mere diversion, laʿib wa lahw. Whatever objection is raised, and whoever raises it, dhikr remains a compulsion placed on every believer, being an obligation upon every Muslim.

Some regard dhikr itself as an innovation, seeking Allah's forgiveness at the thought; told to practise it, the reply given is refusal — no dhikr, no attendance even at the mosque, out of a fear that is itself confused. Dhikr admits no such condition and no such restriction. It is worship of the highest order, greater than jihād, greater than charity, greater than any other deed — the remembrance of Allah.