TAWHEED & DHIKR: A path to greater love for Allah

As-salaam Alaykum

Firstly, I want to say Jazzakallah khayr 🙏🏻 to everyone that read my first article. It’s no doubt that we’re all striving muslims, trying to perfect our Deen, so In sha Allah, I’m going to be using this medium to discuss core aspects of our Imaan which will help us to be identified as one of the believers on the day of Qiyamah.

Before I start talking about Tawheed, let me drop this simple and beautiful ayat;

Tawheed is the concept of monotheism in Islam, that Allah is One and Only illah (God), just as illustrated in the ayat above.

As Muslims, believing in the Oneness of Allah is a major part of our Deen and ultimately leads to loving Him abashedly. Tawheed and Dhikr fully encompasses this and this can be accomplished through the shahadah or tahlil. Taking a look into both;

a. The shahadah;
أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ ٱللَّٰه

ašhadu ʾal lā ʾilāha ʾilla -llāhu wa-ʾašhadu ʾanna muḥammadan rasūlu -llāhi

“I bear witness that there is no Lord but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”

b. The Tahlīl

لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ

lā ʾilāha ʾillā -llāh

“There’s no ilah/deity(God) except Allah”.

The Shahadah and Tahlīl is a way of testifying and believing that there’s no God except Allah, He is Unique, the First without predecessor, and the Last without successor. The King Who has no partner, the One Who has no competitor, the self-sufficient Master Who beget none and there’s nothing like Him.

Internalizing the sha’adah and tahlil properly leads to total submission, turning to Allah only, for judgement in all matters. Therefore, you obey and revere Him only, fear none but Him and LOVE none other as much as you LOVE Allah.

A little back story, I was going through a rough patch sometime ago and coincidentally through my search for deeper understanding I came across an article talking about conciously saying Dhikr, and I made a habit of saying the shahadah on waking up every morning, while pondering over the meaning.

Sincerely at the very beginning, I didn’t feel much but with time, saying the shahadah and “lā ʾilāha ʾillā -llāhu” (more frequently) while constantly ruminating on the meaning, I felt my burden lift, I felt the presence of Ya Rabb in every aspect of my life, the love for Him naturally grew stronger from seeking Him only and walahi I felt more at ease through the total submission to His Will.

Those words gave me a deep sense of reasoning especially and I started eliminating the many “whys" in my life. I know we are humans and we worry and bother about things but believing in the Oneness of Allah azza’wajal and submitting oneself entirely to His Will brings greater love for Him and automatically you’ll feel at ease and know happiness without bound.

The love of Allah makes our lives easy, which makes it easy for us to appreciate and Love the Creator and Designer and not the design/creation, then automatically the first thing that will come to your mind when you witness something beautiful/great will be SubhanAllah, Allahu Akbar or Ma’sha Allah . This gives us less attachment to these worldly affairs and a greater attachment to our creator, then everything we do will always be with the fear and love of Allah in our hearts, which becomes an act of iba’dah. This then reinforces in our minds what our real purpose on earth is; to Worship Him unabashed and make us prepare for akhirah.

Before I wrap up on this part, I would like to share a few of the excellence of Tahlīl:

• It’s the best of Dhikrs

• It’s a renewer of faith.

• If it’s the last word of believers, the believer is granted paradise.

Finally, a greater love for Allah, Ya Rabb fills us with a bigger sense of purpose, removes all our worries, fills us with infinite hope that He will always be there (cause He always is) and increases our sense of gratitude.

Focusing more on Dhikr, it means “remembrance of Allah”, our Lord. We all perform Dhikr conciously while pondering on it (Dhikr of the heart), subconsciously without putting much effort to the meaning (Dhikr of the tongue) and also do the two simultaneously i.e Dhikr of the heart and tongue together. May Allah subhana wa-ta’ala continue to make us steadfast in our acts of worship.

The excellence of Dhikr

As narrated in various hadiths;

Going by these above hadiths, Dhikr (remembrance of Allah) is very paramount and the simplest of them are the Tahlīl (as discussed above), the Tasbīh, Tahmīd and the Takbīr which we all do at the end of every Salat.

• The Tasbīh

سبحان الله

This means to glorify Allah above any imperfections or deficiency. Negating all defects and flaws which means Allah azza’wajal is free from all shortcomings.

• The Tahmīd

الحمد لله

This expression encompasses both gratitude to the Almighty for all He has blessed us with and affirming all of the attributes, perfection and majesty of Allah

• The Takbīr

الله أكبر

This means “Allah is greater than…….”, and by not specifying what He is greater than, it means Allah SWT is greater than Everything. His greatness is above all that we can imagine and He is Great in His Essence, His Actions, His Attributes and His Names. Allah is Supreme and Transcendent above every limitation and deficiency that is inherent in created things.

Summarizing the above, the most beloved statement is coined;

سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَلاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ وَلاَ حَوْلَ وَلاَ قُوَّةَ إِلاَّ بِاللَّ

Subhanallah walhamdulillah wala ilaha illallah wallahu akbar wala hawla wala quwwata illa billah

• The Dhikr and excellence of lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata ʾillā bi-llāh

لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِٱلله‎

This is a very simple, short yet comprehensive statement with which one proclaims the Oneness of Allah and expresses reverence, awe and need of Him. Below are collated explanations of the statement:

a. A slave cannot move from one situation to another (hawl), nor does he have the strength (quwwah) to do this except by the will and help of Allah.

b. There is no power to be obedient except by Allah, nor is there any strength to stop sinning except by Allah.

c. There is no power in averting evil, or strength in attaining good except through Allah.

In summary, this statement means total and utmost submission to the will of Allah.

I hope this article meets everyone well and I pray Allah give us the strength and ease to be steadfast on the path to Him and allows us to be part of the believers that LOVE Him above all in this dunya and make the akhirah our pre-occupation.

On a final note, please stay safe out there and practice social distancing by staying at home! May Almighty Allah forgive our sins and grant us ease in this time of distress and anxiety, may He control and stop the spread of coronavirus and grant healing & comfort to those that have been affected. (Aameen)

Until next time,

Maa’Salaam!