My mind is a constant movie reel. Thoughts running continuously of every single situation that did or did not happen, that would happen, of conversations and replies in my head, of plans and anxieties of the unknown future, of memories and pains or joys of the past, sometimes of posts and content I surfed online; sometimes even while reading a book, I’m thinking of something else subconsciously until I realize I haven’t focused at all in what I was reading, sometimes talking to Allah in my mind cooking on the run; a constant non stop reel that keeps running.
And when something is more important to me, then it’s a mesh of wires entangled in the head with the reel running but that particular thing also rolling in my head simultaneously. Phew! What a tiring mess if you imagine it! SubhanAllah the brain; you can never understand how it works..
This morning, I forced myself to not depend on any device or book to read the adhkar, and just read out of memory, internalizing the meaning, and testing myself in memory. And those few minutes of trying to remember the right words, the virtues, the no.of times to repeat, the beauty in the ways of praising Him, those few minutes were when I realized, that reel wasn’t running. I was actually so focused, I forgot the world; even in my subconscious mind.
And that, was the sweetest loss of memory.
In dhikr… you forget the world.
When the worries of the world pain you, dhikr is the sweetness on the tongue that lightens the mind.
When you focus on WHO Allah swt is, and HOW you love to praise Him, your mindset changes.
I cannot fathom how the Prophet’s SAW and his companions life would have been when they were consumed in proper dhikr all day!!
True dhikr; its sweeter than honey, soothing to the heart and soul and when you taste it, you don’t want to ever stop.
Visualize this: Imagine eating your favorite sweet or chocolate while surfing through your phone. Within no time, you’ve finished it without even realizing. You lose out on those precious moments of devouring it. That’s how dhikr has become. The words pour thru the mouth, while the mind is absorbed somewhere else, and we are done without tasting its actual sweetness. Let’s try to put the world away instead for a xuple of minutes, and savor those moments.
Sameera Hameed 