Dhikr: The Islamic Practice of Remembering Allah

The word dhikr is used in the Quran over 250 times, in every form its root allows: as a noun, a verb, a command, and a name. This frequency is not incidental. The Quran does not simply instruct Muslims to remember Allah — it returns to the theme repeatedly, from different angles, as though pressing the point into the reader's chest. "Remember Me; I will remember you" (2:152). "Remember Allah with abundant remembrance" (33:41). The command is not only ritual. It is existential: what the human being is for is the remembrance of Allah.

The root dh-k-r carries the sense of keeping something present in the mind — the opposite of ghaflah, heedlessness, which the Quran treats as one of the most dangerous states a person can fall into. Dhikr and ghaflah are opposites in the Quran's vocabulary: the person who remembers Allah is awake; the one who forgets is asleep to what matters. This is why the Prophet ﷺ described the one who remembers Allah among the heedless as "like a green tree among dead trees" — alive when those around are not.

Dhikr is also not only verbal. The classical scholars distinguished three dimensions: the verbal dhikr of the tongue (lisani), the inner dhikr of the heart (qalbi), and the tafakkur — reflection — that moves the heart toward awareness of Allah through contemplating His creation and His signs. Beyond these, the scholars included muhasaba al-nafs — the self-accounting that turns the gaze inward and evaluates the day before Allah — as itself a form of dhikr, because it holds Allah as the reference point for every judgment.

The Three Types of Dhikr

The scholars categorised dhikr in several ways. The most practically useful division is into three types that correspond to the three dimensions of the human being: tongue, heart, and action.

The Most Virtuous Phrases

Among the many formulas of dhikr, the Prophet ﷺ specifically highlighted certain phrases for their weight and closeness to Allah. These are worth knowing precisely, because the tradition gives them a specific character that general remembrance does not have.

"Two phrases are beloved to the Most Merciful, light on the tongue, heavy on the scale: SubhanAllah wa bihamdihi, SubhanAllah al-Azeem."

SubhanAllah wa bihamdihi (Glory be to Allah and all praise is His) and SubhanAllah al-Azeem (Glory be to Allah, the Magnificent) are described as light on the tongue — easy to say, brief, requiring nothing — yet heavy on the scale before Allah. The Prophet ﷺ made this explicit so that his community would not overlook these phrases in search of longer or more elaborate forms of remembrance.

La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah (There is no might or power except through Allah) the Prophet ﷺ described as a treasure from the treasures of Paradise (Bukhari 7386). Unlike the tasbeehat — phrases of glorification — la hawla is an acknowledgment of complete dependence: the servant affirming that no movement, no capacity, no outcome is from themselves but only through Allah. The scholars said it is the dhikr of the one who has been tested, and the shield of the one who has been struck.

La ilaha illAllah — the shahada — the Prophet ﷺ described as the best dhikr (Tirmidhi 3383, hasan). It is not only an entry point into Islam but the statement that, renewed continuously, renews the heart's orientation. Every repetition is a re-affirmation of tawhid: there is no object of worship except Allah. The scholars note that this phrase drives out every attachment that has begun to sit in the heart in place of Allah.

Benefits of Dhikr in the Quran and Sunnah

The Quran and Sunnah enumerate specific fruits of dhikr that are worth knowing as named realities, not as general encouragements. These are not metaphors for feeling good — they are precise descriptions of what dhikr does to the person who practises it.

Ibn al-Qayyim's Classification in al-Wabil al-Sayyib

Ibn al-Qayyim's al-Wabil al-Sayyib is one of the most thorough classical treatments of dhikr. In it, he produces a four-level hierarchy of dhikr that the tradition has consistently returned to as the clearest map of the practice's depth.

Dhikr and Muhasaba: The Correct Seal

Al-Ghazali, in the Ihya Ulum al-Din, places muhasaba and dhikr in a precise relationship: muhasaba ends with dhikr, and dhikr is its correct seal. The evening self-accounting — reviewing the day's acts, acknowledging shortfalls, making tawbah — is an exercise in honesty before Allah. But if it ends there, in the record of failures, the heart is left in a state of remorse without connection. Dhikr is what closes the circle: after accounting for the day's deeds, remembrance of Allah returns the heart to His presence rather than leaving it in its own self-preoccupation.

This is not simply a devotional preference. It reflects the logic of the practice. Muhasaba is about seeing clearly. But what you see, when you look honestly at your day, is the gap between who you were and who Allah has asked you to be. The natural response to that gap — tawbah, acknowledgment — must close in dhikr, because dhikr is the affirmation that Allah is greater than the gap. He is Al-Ghafur (the Oft-Forgiving), Al-Tawwab (the Ever-Returning), Al-Rahman (the Most Merciful). The dhikr of His names at the end of muhasaba is not a way of changing the subject — it is a way of correctly framing what the muhasaba has revealed.

For this reason, the Muhasaba app closes each session with a closing dhikr — a short remembrance that transitions the heart from self-examination to Allah's presence. This follows Al-Ghazali's framework directly: the muhasaba is honest about the servant's state; the closing dhikr is honest about Allah's character. Both are required. See the full framework in our guide to what muhasaba al-nafs means.

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