In Islam Azkaar means praying to the Almighty Allah for all the blessings He has bestowed upon us and for all the times He has forgiven us for our sins. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has said, “ I swear by Him in whose hands is my soul, if you were a people who did not commit sin, Allah would take you away and replace you a people who would sin and then seek Allah’s forgiveness so He could forgive them.” (Muslim) When one finds himself in an environment which blinds him from viewing the Divine Power and Majesty of Almighty Allah, and which drowns him in the admiration of ‘apparent means’; an environment which makes one totally negligent of the existence of His Creator and robs his tongue and mind of attributing the affairs that exist around him to the Divine Doings of his Creator; an environment where the phrases, ‘if Allah wills – (Insha’Allah)’, and ‘this is what Allah had willed (MashaAllah)’ are never heard, if one wishes to rise above such an environment and remain a flag-bearer declaring the Greatness of his Creator in the lands of negligence, his first effort should be to initiate a course of reciting daily a stipulated number of Azkaar (phrases declaring the Greatness and the Majesty of Allah ). This zikr is a dose of spiritual medication and vitamins.
Through zikr, a state of the consciousness of Almighty Allah’s Presence shall be developed, which is known as Taqwa. One shall still falter and err, since man is prone to error, but his strong level of Taqwa shall quickly bring him back to his senses and direct him back onto the straight path.
Rasulullah (SAW) in great detail discussed the illnesses of the heart and soul and prescribed its remedies. All these prescriptions were then summarized and put forward in the following words: “For everything there is a polisher, and the polisher of the heart is the remembrance of Allah!” Through zikr, a state of the consciousness of Almighty Allah’s Presence shall be developed, which is known as Taqwa. One shall still falter and err, since man is prone to error, but his strong level of Taqwa shall quickly bring him back to his senses and direct him back onto the straight path. Together with this, one should engage in fervent Dua. Rasulullah (SAW) said, “Dua is beneficial in everything. It is efficacious in warding off misfortunes which have already descended as well as misfortunes which are about to descend. Therefore, the servants of Allah should be steadfast in making Dua.” (Tirmidhi)
