Traditionally, muslims have always based their actions on the Book of God (Quran) and the actions and sayings of the Prophet (hadith). We have included this section on relevant appropriate quotes from both the Quran and the Hadith in relation to some of the things that were seen on the documentary.
Everyone is welcome to look through these though they might be more accessible for muslim guests on the site. Should you have any questions regarding any of these please do not hesitate to contact us.
The headings of some of the themes below relate to some of the theological controversies within the muslim world. Some of these came to the fore in the documentary. In the documentary the discussion did not take place within the deeper theological realm as it would have been inaccessible to the non muslim (and some of the muslim!) participants.
Remember Me, and I shall remember you (2:152)
Believers, remember God with much remembrance (33:41)
…those who remember their Lord standing, and sitting, and lying on their sides contemplating creation (3:191)
…for prayer restrains and from that which is abominable and disavowed and remembrance of God is even greater (29:45)
For those who believe, and whose hearts are satisfied by the remembrance of God: Oh, it is by the remembrance of God that hearts are truly satisfied (13:28)
The believers are those who, when they hear God mentioned, their hearts tremble (al-Anfal),
…and the men and women who remember Allah abundantly (33:35)
A'isha (the wife of the Prophet) said, as narrated by Muslim, that the Prophet mentioned / remembered Allah at all times of the day and night.
The Prophet said: If your hearts were always in the state that they are in
during dhikr, the angels would come to see you to the point that they would
greet you in the middle of the road. Muslim narrated it. Imam Nawawi in his
Sharh sahih muslim commented on this hadith saying: "This kind of sight is shown to someone who persists in meditation (muraqaba), reflection (fikr), and anticipation (iqbal)".
Abu Hurayra said that the Prophet said, Peace be upon him: "The earth and
everything in it is damned, except for dhikr and what attends dhikr, and
a teacher (of dhikr) and a student (of dhikr)." Narrated by Tirmidhi who
said it is hasan, Ibn Majah who said the same, Bayhaqi, and others. Suyuti
cites it in al-Jami` al-saghir from al-Bazzar's similar narration from Ibn
Mas`ud and he declared it sahih. Tabarani also narrated it in al-Awsat from
Abu al-Darda'.
In a hadith narrated by Bukhari, the Prophet compared those who engage in
dhikr as opposed to those who don’t as being comparable to the difference between the living and the dead: mathalu al-ladhi yadhkuru rabbahu wa al-ladhi la yadhkuru rabbahu mathalu al-hayyi wa al-mayyit. (Book of Dawat Ch.66 ‘The Merit of Dhikrullah’ by
Ibn Hajar. He further comments in Fath al-Bari (1989 ed. 11:250):
What is meant by dhikr here is the utterance of the expressions which we have been encouraged to say, and say abundantly, such as the enduring good deeds -- al-baqiyat al-salihat -- and they are: subhan allah, al-hamdu lillah, la ilaha illallah, allahu akbar and all that is related to them such as the hawqala (la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah), the basmala (bismillah al-rahman al-rahim), the hasbala (hasbunallahu wa ni`ma al-wakil), istighfar, and the like, as well as invocations for the good of this world and the next.
Dhikrullah also applies to diligence in obligatory or praiseworthy acts, such as the recitation of Qur'an, the reading of hadith, the study of the Science of Islam (al-`ilm), and supererogatory prayers.
The Prophet once praised a man who was awwah -- literally: one who
says ah, ah! -- that is: loud in his dhikr, even when others
censured him. Ahmad narrated with a good chain in his Musnad (4:159)
from `Uqba ibn `Amir: "The Prophet said of a man named Dhu al-Bijadayn: ‘Innahu
awwah’, ‘He is a man who says ah a lot’. This
man was known as doing a lot of dhikr and Qur'an-recitation out loud
and he would raise his voice high when supplicating."
In the Quran the Prophet Abraham is described as: Verily, Ibrahim is awwah and halim" (9:114,
11:75). According to the famous Quranic exegisis the Tafsir al-jalalayn: "Cried
out frequently in anguish out of awe and a sense of powerlessness in relation
to his Lord." The Prophet Abraham was also halim (merciful gentle).
The Prophet himself prayed to be awwah in the following invocation: Rabbi
ij`alni ilayka awwahan which means O Allah, make me one who often cries
out ah to you. Narrated by Tirmidhi (Book of Da`awat No.102, Hasan
Sahih), Ibn Majah (Du`a' No. 2) and Ahmad (1:227) with a strong
chain extending down from Yahya ibn Sa`id al-Qattan and Sufyan al-Thawri to Shu`ba
to `Amr ibn Murra to `Abd Alah ibn al-Harith to Taliq ibn Qays al-Hanafi to
Ibn `Abbas] with the following wording:
…O my Lord! make me abundantly thankful to You (shakkaran laka), abundantly mindful of You (dhakkaran laka), abundantly devoted to You (rahhaban laka), perfectly obedient to You (mitwa`an ilayks), lowly and humble before You (mukhbitan laka), crying out and return to You (awwahan muniban)!…
In Bukhari and Muslim: The Prophet said that Allah has angels roaming the roads to find the people of dhikr, i.e. those who say La Ilaha Illallah and similar expressions, and when they find a group of people (qawm) reciting dhikr. He didn't say: ‘when they find one person’.