The Heart’s Invasion by Dhikr and Detachment from Needs
Man often makes his supplications solely to be freed from worldly troubles or to obtain certain benefits. However, the peak of the spiritual journey (Sufism) is for the servant to set aside his personal worries and preoccupy his heart entirely with God’s remembrance. Abdülkadir Geylani (q.s.) announces this unique station with a sacred hadith narrated by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): “Whoever engages in my remembrance without asking me for anything, I will give him more than those who ask.” The servant remembers God with such deep love that he has neither the time nor the desire to remember his worldly or afterlife needs. Dhikr invades his heart so much that worldly ambitions, fear of poverty, or worry about sustenance are erased and cast aside from that heart.
God’s Protection of His Servant
The servant whose heart is filled only with the remembrance of God seems to be secluded from all means (instruments). God Almighty sometimes subjects this faithful servant to various hardships, burdens him with debt, or restricts his sustenance in order to test him and protect him from reaching out to worldly means. All these trials are for the servant not to seek anything from anyone but God, to take refuge only in His remembrance. When the servant continues “engaging in His remembrance” with patience instead of seeking help from people like a beggar, God Almighty pays off all his debts, removes his difficulties, and bestows sustenance upon him through unexpected doors 28, 29. The servant does not even need to ask for his needs verbally, and God lays before him what He loves most.
Murakaba and True Tawakkul
The truth of Dhikrullah is for the heart to feel that it is under God’s constant observation (murakaba). The perfect believer who is devoted to remembrance knows that asking for needs from mortal creatures is a rudeness against God’s absolute attribute of Ar-Razzak (the Sustainer). The servant who attains the secret of “Indeed, my Guardian is Allah, who has revealed the Book and He is the Observer of all righteous servants” (Al-A’raf, 196) becomes completely independent (needless) from making material requests. These hearts, which find peace only in God’s remembrance and enrich themselves with His presence, are the most free and fortunate sultans of the earth.