The Best of Remembrance and the Many Names of the Kalimah

A further matter concerns the manner, kayfiyyah, in which dhikr is best made. In one hadith the Prophet (peace be upon him) names the best of remembrance and the best of gratitude together: the best remembrance is to say lā ilāha illallāh, there is none worthy of worship but Allah, and the best gratitude, shukr, is to say al-ḥamdu lillāh, praise belongs to Allah — the very words with which the Qur'an itself opens — the most beautiful supplication, the most beautiful sūrah in the Qur'an — Allah (swt) teaching His servants how to praise Him.

This declaration of oneness, kalimat al-tawḥīd, is known among the scholars by a number of further names, each naming one of its effects though the words themselves never change: kalimat al-ikhlāṣ, the word of sincerity; kalimat al-islām, the word by which a person becomes Muslim; kalimat al-taqwā, the word of God-consciousness; kalimat al-nūr, the word that brings light into the heart; kalimat al-najāh, the word of salvation; kalimat al-raḥmah, the word of mercy; and al-kalimah al-ʿulyā, the exalted word — all resting on hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him), all naming the very same declaration. This is the foundation, asās, of faith and the key to happiness, saʿādah, in this world and the next; the Prophet (peace be upon him) called it, in the same breath, the price of Paradise, thaman al-jannah, and its key, miftāḥ al-jannah: the key to the door of Paradise, and the value with which Paradise is bought, is lā ilāha illallāh.