بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
و الصلاة و السلام على أشرف المرسلين
و على اله و اصحابه أجمعين
According to a famous rule in fiqh:
“The legal value is everything is lawful until the contrary is proved”.
So anyone who has a good heart and an ounce of intelligence would understand that nothing in the sunnah forbids the use of the subha and on the contrary the Sunnah orders each muslim to do dhikr in abundance.
‘Abdullah ubn Busr (radiAllah ‘anhu) said: “two bedouins cameto the Prophet ﷺ and said: “Messenger of Allah, the laws of Islam have become too many for us, so [give us] a means of access to which we can cling which is comprehensive.” The Prophet ﷺ said: “Keep Your Tongue Moist With Remembrance of Allah””
[sunan ibn Maja, Hadith N°3791].
Abu Huraira reported that Allah’s Messengerﷺ was travelling along the path leading to Mecca that he happened to pass by a mountain called Jumdan. He said: “Proceed on, it is Jumdan, Muffaradun have gone ahead.” They (the companions of the Holy Prophet) said: “O Allah’s Messenger, who are the Mufaarradun?” He said, “They are those males and femaes who remember Allah much”.
[sahih Muslim, hadith 4841].
Allah describes in the koran the hypocrites (munafiqqun) as people who do not remember Allah much so the one who will often remember his Lord, he will be distinguishable from them at least on the face of it. This is why surah al Munafiqoon finishes on an order from Allah to not be diverted from remembrance of Allah by wealth and children. He who will be diverted from remembrance of Allah by those two things will be part of the Khassireen (the losers).
According to some companions, Ar rabi’ ibn Anas said: “the sign of Allah’s Love is the abundance of his remembrane because more we love something more we talk about it”.
Fath al Mawsuli said: “The Lover of Allah never forgets Him, even the time of the blink of an eye”.
Dhu Nun said, “He who will fill his heart and his tongue with dhikr Allah, Allah will put in his heart the Light of his desire”
Ibrahim ibn al Junayd said, “We say that among the signs of Allah’s Love, there is His continual remembrance by the heart and the tongue, more someone tries hard to remember Allah more his love for Allah will increase”.
Abu Ja’afar al Mahuli said: “The heart of the Waliy who is in Love with Allah is never empty from the remembrance (dhikr) of his Lord and he never gets tired of serving Him”. This is why ‘Aisha (radi Allah anha) narrated that the Prophet ﷺ always remembered Allah at any time, when he was standing, when he was walking, when he was lying, when he was seated, in a state of purity or not. As for Musa’ar, he said: “while the beings of the sea have kept quiet, Youssuf ﷺ never stoped remembering Allah in prison.”
Abu Hurayra (radi Allah ‘Anhu) had a cord with a thousand knots and he did not sleep before using his tasbeeh. Khaleed ibn Ma’dan deed each dy forty thousand tasbeeh ibn addition to reading Kkoran and when he died, while people were performing the ritual bathing, his finduer was still moving like he was doing tasbeeh.
And Abdul’Aziz ibn Abi Rawwad said: “There was a woman in Mecca whi deed each day twelve thousand tasbeeh and when she died during he burrial, she disappeared”.
Even when he was not in a state of purity and in ajanaba state, Al Hassan Al Basri often repeated “Subhan Allahi l Adhim”. Someone told it to a faqih (jurist) from Mecca who replied : “Your companion is certainly a faqih. Indeed he does not repeat those words without having a house in the heaven for him”.
As well as the biggest part of Ibn Sirin’s dhikr was: “Suban Allahi al Adheem, Subhan Allahi wa bi hamdi”.
“Al Mughira ibn Hakeem Sin’aniy, when people were sleeping he went to the sea and stood on water remembering Allah with the living people of the Ocean”
[Jami’ al Ulum wal Hikam].
A man who slept near Ibrahim ibn ‘Adham said: “each time I woke up, I saw him performing dhikr of Allah. I regreted I could not do the same. Then I consoled myself with the verse: “That is the bounty of Allah, which He gives to whom He wills and Allah is the possessor of the great bounty”.
[surah al Jumu’a verse 4]
So the Sunnah orders us to remember Allah in abundance as the Koran does. Contrary to the fasting which is obligatory in a specific days, contrary to the prayer which must be performed in precise hours, the order to perform dhikr has no limits in a partiular time and can be done at any time.
Therefore, Allah ﷻ said: “O you who have believed, remember Allahwith much remembrance. And exalt him morning and afternoon. It He who confers blessing upon you, and His angels that He may bring out from darkness to The Light. And ever is He, to the believers, Meriful”.
[surah al ahzab, verse 41, 43].
Dhikr in abundance means the continious remembrance made by the heart of the one who constantly sees the divine Light and who is tottaly devoted to His Lord. Wandering in the Light of the divine Proximity (qurb), His mind never turns away neither from the soul (rouh) of the Beloved,nor from the reality of the Secret (sirr).
According to Abi Sa’id, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: “Remember/ mention Allah as much as you want, until people say that you are crazy and foolish”
[musnah Ahmad ibn Hanbal, hadith 11461].
The real remembrance begins with the dawn of the heart and continues until the twilight of the soul. Its different levels are the remembrance with tongue, then with the heart, then with the mind and finally wih the secret. The subha is one the remembrance (dhikr) conditions because of its clear advantages and its secrets and its hidden meanings.
First of all, the subha is an help for dhikr, in particular for those who mention Allah a lot. Those for whom only using fingers is no more feasible. The subha is also the symbol of the letter “Ha” in the ism al Jami’ (Allaah) and when the mureed looks at the subha, he remembers his Creator and he remembers that he has no might and no power except in Allah. Its shape reminds the zero which means the extinction (fana) and the number of bead is equal to the divine names (99). a lot of other hidden meanings could be mentioned about the subha but this is not the aim of this book. We will stick to those quoted examples.
Allah ﷻ :”And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship me.”
[surah addhariyat/ verse 56].
Sayiduna ibn ‘Abbas (radi Allah anhu) said about this verse in his tafsir that “liya’budoon” means “liya’rifoun” ( to know Allah).
Allahﷻ shows us through this verse that He only created jinn and mankind to know him. But it is only with the abundance of his mention that we can reach His Knowledge and the abundance of dhikr necessitates the use of the subha.
Consequently: “Something becomes obligatory when the obligatory could not be executed in absence of it.”
