In addition to pronouncing Allah's name, as we discussed earlier, we are urged to utter athkâr (extollments and supplications) every evening to protect us from evil throughout the night. Allah (the Exalted) says:
O you who believe, extoll Allah with much extollment, and exalt Him morning and afternoon. [Quran (33):41-42]
And Allah (the Exalted) says:
So be patient (O Muhammad): Allah's promise (for victory) is true; beseech forgiveness for your sin; and exalt your Lord with praise in the evening and the morning. [Quran (40):55]
And Allah (the Exalted) says:
So be patient (O Muhammad) over what they say, and exalt your Lord with praise before the sun's rising and before its setting, exalt Him part of the night, and after the prostration (of prayer). [Quran (50):39-40]
From the above āyāh, as well as other texts that we will cite later in this section, we note that it is strongly recommended to say athkâr every evening. The time for saying the evening athkâr starts from mid-afternoon, and extends into the night. Some of the evening athkâr, however, are specifically prescribed to be said at night, i.e., after sunset.
Power of Thikr
The regular evening athkâr provide rewards and protection for those who say them. Al-Harith al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (Peace be upon Him) said:
...And I command you to extoll Allah. The example of this is like that of a man who is being closely chased by enemies ─ until he reaches a secure fortress where he takes shelter against them. Similarly, a person cannot protect himself from Satan except by extolling Allah. [Recorded by at-Tirmidhi, Ibn Hibban, and others, Verified to be authentic al-Albani (Sahih ut-Targhib wat-Tarhib no. 552).]
When we say an extollment, understanding its meaning, believing in its power, and trusting its outcome, it forms a strong shield around us that protects us from Satan's attacks. Without these conditions, the extollment is not as effective.
Also, the more extollment we say, the stronger that the shield becomes ─ making it harder for Satan to penetrate it and harm us.
Which athkâr to Say?
In the future, we will cite the most important of authentic evening athkâr. It should be apparent from their number and variety that it can take a long time to properly say them all in one evening. So should we limit ourselves to just a few of them? And which ones?From the above subsection, we conclude that we should say as many evening athkâr as our time permits, making some of them part of our regular daily extollment. Those that carry similar meaning may be alternated over a sequence of days. With this, we may hope to form a strong protective shield around us during our evening and nights.
This reasoning also applies to the pre-sleep and post-awakening athkâr that are presented in the upcoming posts.
Counting Extollments
In our forthcoming discussion of evening, pre-sleep, and post-awakening athkâr, we will see that it is recommended to repeat some of them a number of times that may reach or exceed one hundred.It is important to note that it is NOT recommended to use beads, rosaries, pebbles, counters, or other devices for counting athkâr. Rather, we should count them on our fingers, because this was the Prophet's (Peace be upon Him) way. Abdullah Bin 'Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) reported:
I saw Allah's Messenger (Peace be upon Him) count the extollments on the fingers of his right hand. [Recorded by Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, and others, verified to be authentic by al-Albani (Sahih Abi Dawud no. 1346)]
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) commanded us, women, to be consistent in saying takbir, takdis (glorification or tasbih) and tahlil. He also commanded us to count our extollments on our fingers, because they will be questioned and will be made to speak (on our behalf on Resurrection Day). [Recorded by Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, and others, verified to be authentic by al-Albani (Sahih Abi Dawud no. 1345)]
0 Comments:
Post a Comment