“Here the poem mentions all the princes of blood, the Grand Vizier, the Muftee, all the Pashas of the empire, the ʾUlemas, all the Sheikhs, benefactors of the Order, and of all the Mussulman peers, invoking the benediction of heaven on the success of their arms against the enemies of the empire. ‘Finally, let us pray for all the Dervishes present and absent, for all the friends of our holy society, and generally for all the faithful, dead and living, in the east and in the west.
“The ceremony terminates by chanting the Fâtiha, or first chapter of the Koran.”
(John P. Brown, The Dervishes, or Oriental Spiritualism, p. 218 seqq.)
These ceremonies of ẕikr would at first sight appear to have little in common with original Muḥammadanism, but there appears to be little doubt that the practice of reciting the word Allāh and other similar expressions, commenced in the days of Muḥammad himself, and this even the Wahhābīs admit, who at the same time condemn the extravagances of the Howling and Dancing Darveshes of Turkistan, Turkey, and Egypt.
A chapter is devoted to the Prophet’s injunctions on the subject in all large books of traditions, called Bābu ʾẕ-Ẕikr, from which the following sayings of Muḥammad have been selected:—
Whenever people sit and remember God, they are surrounded by angels which cover them with God’s favour, and peace descends upon them, and God remembers them in that assembly which is near him.
Verily there are angels who move to and fro on the roads and seek for the rememberers of God, and when they find an assembly remembering God, they say to one another, “Come ye to that which ye were seeking.” Then the angels cover them with their wings as far as the lowest heaven, called the region of the world. The Prophet said:—When the angels go to the court of God, God asks them, while knowing better than they, “What do my servants say and do?” Then the angels say, “They are reciting the Tasbīḥ, the Takbīr, the Taḥmīd, and the Tamjīd for Thee.” And God says, “Have they seen Me?” The angels say, “No, by God, they have not seen Thee.” Then God says, “What would their condition be if they had seen Me?” The angels say, “If they had seen Thee, they would be more energetic in worshipping Thee and in reciting the Tamjīd, and they would be more excessive in repeating the Tasbīḥ.” God says, “Then what do they want?” The angels say, “Paradise.” Then God says, “Have they seen Paradise?” The angels say, “We swear by God they have not.” Then God says, “What would their state have been had they seen Paradise?” The angels say, “If they had seen Paradise, they would be very ambitious for it, and would be excessive wishers of it, and very great desirers of it.” God says, “What thing is it they seek protection from?” The angels say, “From hell fire.” God says, “Have they seen the fire?” The angels say, “No, by God, if they had seen the fire——.” God says, “How would they have been had they seen the fire?” The angels say, “If they had seen the fire, they would be great runners from it, and would be great fearers of it.” Then God says, “I take ye as witnesses that verily I have pardoned them.” One of the angels said, “There is a person amongst them who is not a rememberer of Thee, and is only come on account of his own needs.”
There is a polish for everything that takes rust, and the polish for the heart is the remembrance of God, and there is no act that redeems from God’s punishments so much as the remembrance of Him. The Companions said, “Is not fighting with the infidels also like this?” He said, “No, although he fights until his sword be broken.”
“Shall I not inform you of an action which is better for you than fighting with infidels and cutting off their heads, and their cutting off yours?” The Companions said, “Yes, inform us.” The Prophet said, “These actions are remembering God.”
ʿAbdullāh ibn Aus said:—An ʿArabī came to the Prophet and asked, “Which is the best of men?” The Prophet said, “Blessed is the person whose life is long and whose actions are good.” The ʿArabī said, “O Prophet! which is the best of actions, and the most rewarded?” He said, “The best of actions is this, that you separate from the world, and die whilst your tongue is moist in repeating the name of God.”