Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Ahmet T. Karamustafa, God’s Unruly 

Friends: Dervish Groups in the Islamic Later Middle 

Period 1200–1550 (Salt Lake City: Utah University 

Press, 1994); Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimen-

sions of Islam (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina 

Press, 1975); Spencer Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in 

Islam (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971).

Devil

  See s

atan

.

dhikr

 

(

zikr, zikir)

Dhikr is Arabic for recollection, or remembrance. 

The  q

Uran

 calls upon humans to recollect God 

and not to forget him: “O you who believe! 

Remember God often” (Q 33:41); “O people! 

Remember the blessing God has given you” (Q 

35:2); and “Remember your lord when you forget. 

Remembrance causes people to discover the real 

reason they were created to begin with—to serve 

God. Indeed, people will be held accountable on 

the Judgment Day if they forget God (Q 18:24).” 

The Quran also calls upon believers to remember 

God’s 

prophet

s, the bearers of previous revela-

tions. The Quran itself is called a “remembrance” 

(dhikra), and its verses are signs (ayat) revealed 

so that people recall God and his sovereignty over 

heaven and earth. Muslims believe that the obli-

gation of remembrance rests upon a primordial 

covenant

 that God established with Adam’s prog-

eny (all humans), wherein they recognized him as 

their lord (Q 7:172).

Occasions for remembering God arise through-

out a Muslim’s life—a birth and death, before eat-

ing a meal, beginning a journey, on feast days, and 

in the performance of the F

ive

  p

illars

 of Islamic 

worship. During the month of Muharram and at 

other times of the year, the Shiis remember their 

holy imams, who were martyred for their belief 

in God. The idea of remembrance has assumed an 

especially important place in s

UFism

, in which dhikr

refers both to a word or phrase pronounced repeat-

edly during their ritual practices and to the ritual 

practices themselves. Among the sacred words and 

phrases used most commonly by Sufis in this regard 

are a

llah

, or one of God’s other divine names; la 

ilaha illa Allah “there is not god but God”; Allahu 

akbar “God is greater”; al-hamdu lillah “Praise 

God”; and simply hu “He.” For some Sufi orders, a 

single litany may be repeated 70,000 times.

The introduction of dhikr performances into 

the life of the Sufi orders began around the 11th