Making Dhikr: The Sunnah way VS. the Sufee way

بسم الله والحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله ، وبعد

In the Sunnah, it is prescribed to add a prefix or suffix to the name, “Allaah”, while making Dhikr (Allaah’s remembrance). Example: if one were to merely say "Muhammad", it does not give us any information on what is being discussed. But when one says: “Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah”, here the sentence is complete and is full of meaning.

So similarly one says:

سبحان الله

(Sub-haan-Allaah) [Glory be to Allaah]

الحمد لله

(Al-hamdu-lillaah) [Praise be to Allaah]

الله أكبر

(Allaahu-akbar) [Allaah is the greatest]

۞۞۞

But the Sufees, when they are in “trance” or “hyper” mode or when they are overexcited, they not only don’t add a suffix or prefix to the name “Allaah”, they even break up the name into two words.

They say: الل (Alla) – pause and then say هُ (Hu) (i.e. they break the word into two different words). This is not at all the proper way, leave alone being prescribed.

The worse is when they don’t even mention Allaah’s name at all, and they just go هُ هُ هُ (Hu Hu Hu). This is definitely not the remembrance of Allaah. This is not even addressing Allaah. The word in the Qur’aan is هُوَ (Huwa, which means “He” in English) and not merely هُ (Hu, which is only making a sound, without any meaning).

Even if they were to say هُوَ (Huwa), they are only saying: “He”, which is again an incomplete sentence, void of any meaning. He what?! Are they referring to His greatness; or His Mercy?

In the Qur’aan, while referring to Allaah, the word هو (Huwa) is always preceded or followed by a description:

﴿اللَّـهُ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ﴾

{Allaahu La ilaaha illaa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He), the Ever Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists}

﴿هُوَ الرَّحْمَـٰنُ الرَّحِيمُ﴾

{He is the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful}

﴿هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ﴾

{He is the One Who accepts repentance, the Most Merciful}

﴿وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ﴾

{And He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower}

﴿هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُم﴾

{He it is Who created for you…}

۝۝۝

اللهم أعنا على ذكرك وشكرك، وحسن عبادتك

Allaahumma a`innaa `alaa dhikrika wa sHukrika, wa Husni `ibaadatika

O Allaah, help us in remembrance of You, expressing gratitude to You and worship You in the best manner.

۞۞۞۝۞۞۞

On September 24, 2016, one of my friends forwarded me the following whatsapp message that someone in his group had the following complaint:

Dear All:

There are many wrong things posted on this group for example my brother shared a post in which he said ("In the Qur’aan, WHILE REFERRING TO ALLAAH, the word هو (Huwa) is always followed by a description")

But I found verses without description like:

اللَّـهُ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ

sura Nisa verse 87

sura Anam 102

Also there are many cut-paste forwarded without ascertaining the truth. so please do not share any Islamic information by just forwarding until u personally get to check that from original source.

Bcz Allah says:

O ye who believe! If a wicked person comes to you with any news, ascertain the truth, lest ye harm people unwittingly, and afterwards become full of repentance for what ye have done. (6) الحجرات

****

The response:

The two Aayaat quoted above are further evidence in support of the post. This is the response and a further explanation to these two Aayaat which are very simple to understand if one were to read the complete Aayaat and contemplate on their meaning.

1) Is the word “Huwa” in these two Aayaat mentioned by itself?

Answer: The word “Huwa” (He/Him) is part of the Aayaah and is already following a description:

﴿اللَّـهُ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ﴾

{Allaah! None has the right to be worshiped except He} [Surah al-Nisaa’ (4): 87]

The word “Huwa” (He) is a pronoun which is referring back to the Name “Allaah” which is mentioned at the beginning of the Aayaah. The description is already mentioned that “None has the rights to be worshiped except Allaah”.

Whenever we read the Shahaadah we say:

لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا الله

None has the right to be worshiped except Allaah

But anyone who reads the Qur’aan will easily note that whenever Allaah refers to Himself in the first person or the third person, His Name “Allaah” is always before the phrase: “لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ” {…none has the rights to be worshiped except Him}.

Here is another example:

﴿إِنَّنِي أَنَا اللَّـهُ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاعْبُدْنِي وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ لِذِكْرِي﴾

{“Verily! I am Allaah! None has the right to be worshiped but I. So worship Me, and perform As-Salat for My Remembrance.”} [Surah Taha (20): 14]

In this Aayah word “Ana” (I) is mentioned in place of “Huwa” (He) as Allaah is referring to Himself in the first person. In the above Aayaat, the words “Huwa” and “Ana” are pronouns and are referring back to Allaah that He alone has the right to be worshiped and none else.

The description is always there, either before it or after it. There is NO Aayah which only says: “اللَّـهُ هُوَ”.

 2) The two Aayaat quoted above, do they end at “Huwa” or is there more to them?

Answer: The complete Aayah of Surah al-Nisaa’ is as follows:

﴿اللَّـهُ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ لَيَجْمَعَنَّكُمْ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ﴾

{Allaah! Laa ilaaha illaa Huwa (none has the right to be worshiped but He). Surely, He will gather you together on the Day of Resurrection about which there is no doubt. }

In the word: “لَيَجْمَعَنَّكُمْ” (layajma`annakum) the letter “Laam” at the beginning of the word is in fact the response for “al-Qasm al-Muqaddar” (underlying oath), so as to mean: “By Allaah! He will surely gather you together…”. Based on this, the phrase is affirmed by three confirmations: “al-Qasm al-Muqaddar”, the “Laam”, and the “Noon al-Tawkeed”. [See the Tafseer of this Aayah by Shaikh Ibn al-`Uthaymeen]

So the word: “لَيَجْمَعَنَّكُمْ” is again giving the description of what Allaah تعالى is going to do, and it is referring back to the Name “Allaah” which is mentioned at the beginning of the Aayah.

***

As for the Aayah No. 102 from Surah al-An`aam, one has to start from Aayah No. 95 to see how beautifully Allaah تعالى described the things He does, from the sprouting of the seeds; to the sun, the moon, and the stars; the creation of man; the descending of the rain etc.

Then in Aayah 100, Allaah تعالى says that He alone does all these and yet the people ascribe Jinns as partners to Him in worship and say that He has daughters.

So in Aayah 101, He refutes their claim saying: How can he have children when He has no wife? He has created all things and is aware of everything.

And again in Aayah 102, He says:

﴿ذَٰلِكُمُ اللَّـهُ رَبُّكُمْ ۖ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ خَالِقُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ فَاعْبُدُوهُ ۚ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَكِيلٌ﴾

{Such is Allaah, your Lord! None has the right to be worshiped but He, the Creator of all things, so worship Him (Alone), and He is the Wakeel (Trustee, Disposer of affairs, Guardian, etc.) over all things.}

So again one sees that the word “Huwa” is referring back to Allaah, while refuting the claims of the people who ascribe partners to Him in Worship.

***

The simple message of the post was that nowhere in the Book of Allaah or the Sunnah of His Messenger, have we been ordered to remember Allaah by only saying “Huwa”, “Huwa” or “Hu”, “Hu”, “Hu” or by just saying “Allaah!”, “Allaah!”; nor do we find it from the actions of the Companions. There has to have a description preceding them or following them as was already mentioned earlier.

If anyone who deduces that we can say “Huwa” (He), “Huwa”, “Huwa”, as a remembrance of Allaah because of the Aayah: اللَّـهُ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ…

Then can we use this same logic to say “Ana” (Me) as a remembrance of Allaah based on the Aayah of Surah Taha: لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا أَنَا??!

Obviously not!

Baarak Allaahu feekum