Three Ranks of Remembrance

According to the scholars there are three levels, marātib, of dhikr. The first is the dhikr made by the tongue, lisān. The second is the dhikr made by the heart. The third rank is the dhikr made by the soul itself, the rūḥ. But the door to the soul has to be passed through by way of the dhikr of the tongue, which is why dhikr must begin with the tongue: lā ilāha illallāh. Eventually it penetrates into the heart, and the heart makes dhikr while the tongue is not moving.

Many of the masters, when they first teach a person how to make dhikr, say that lā ilāha illallāh must be said perhaps a thousand times, aloud, so that the one saying it can hear himself say it. After a couple of years, when this dhikr has become a habit, they say: stop saying it with the tongue — close the mouth, do not move the tongue, and say lā ilāha illallāh in the heart alone; let the heartbeat say lā ilāha illallāh. If the heart is beating lā ilāha illallāh, nobody can hear it; even a stethoscope put to the chest would pick up nothing — unless the listener's inner sight, baṣīrah, is open, as in the account already given of the teacher who listened to the clock, for even inanimate objects make dhikr of Allah (swt).

At this second level, when the heart begins to make dhikr of Allah (swt), a person's reflection, tafakkur, and perception open up. The thinking opens, and the doings, afʿāl, of Allah (swt) begin to be seen — how beautiful they are; the reality of things is seen. But when this dhikr penetrates into the innermost sanctuary that is the soul, a person begins to understand everything. Allah (swt) gives him knowledge of Himself, maʿrifah; he becomes one who knows Allah, ʿārif billāh, never questioning Allah (swt), seeing everything He does, outward or inward, ẓāhir or bāṭin, as done with wisdom and with beauty. He is in constant witnessing, mushāhadah, of Allah's creation, and a constant recipient of the self-disclosures, tajalliyāt, of Allah (swt); he sees the names, asmāʾ, of Allah, the attributes of Allah (swt), in harmony throughout the universe. That is a different world altogether. This is again the level of the prophets and of the elect among the friends of Allah (swt), the khawāṣṣ al-awliyāʾ, at which the decree, qadar, of Allah (swt) is never questioned: at this level a person is rāḍiyatan marḍiyyah — Allah is pleased with him, and he is absolutely pleased with Allah.