Verily, in the remembrance of ALLAH do hearts find REST..!!

 
Bismillah-ir-Rahmaan-ir-Raheem

Allah said,

الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَتَطْمَئِنُّ قُلُوبُهُمْ بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ

 

(Those who believed, and whose hearts find rest in the remembrance of Allah.)
 for their hearts find comfort on the side of Allah, become tranquil when He is remembered and pleased to have Him as their Protector and Supporter. So Allah said,

أَلاَ بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ

(Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest.)
 and surely, He is worthy of it.
(Tafseer-Ibn-Katheer)

One of the great early Muslims said, “Everything that hearts find of worries and sadness is because of what they have been denied of beholding Allah.”

 

What is remembrance (dhikr) of Allah?

Imam Sha`rani explains in his Lawaqih al-Anwar al-Qudsiyya that its essential meaning is to have Allah in heart and mind at all times. Remembrance of the tongue and worship of the limbs is a means to this.

Normally, of course, ends are not reached if the proper means are not taken.

Sayyidi Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi said,

“Be with AllahYou will find Allah with you.”

Allah (Subhanahu wata’ala) has said to us, in plain yet beautiful words that our hearts will find serenity in His remembrance. This means that the tranquility of hearts and obedience of ALLAH (Subhanahu wata’ala) go in hand in hand. If you loose one you loose the other as well.
His remembrance does not only mean zikr by tongue, but He should be in our minds and hearts all day long, in every situation, in every phase of our life. His remembrance also means to thank Him put of love, gratitude and servant-hood. His remembrance means to obey Him, to follow His commandments in all our affairs. By doing each and everything that Allah (Subhanahu wata’ala) loves and wants us to do. That is the key to eternal bliss in this world and the hereafter.

Everything stays perfect until we comply with His commandments but our lives take a turn, a complicated turn, when we start a conflict with the nature of our heart (that is to obey ALLAH). When we start committing  sins (as it’s human nature), we don’t remember Him (in any aspect) and disobey Him, THEN we lose the serenity of our hearts. We feel a kind of  restlessness deep inside and the sad thing is that, we pretend as though we don’t know the reason behind it  but in any corner, a dark corner of our hearts we know the reason. It is very simple that  we strayed away from Him. This restlessness gets worse when we have knowledge of that particular sin, but in spite of that we commit it. Seriously, it hurts a lot and by constant sinning we get into the phase of depression. This affliction can lead us to a state of mind where we lose hope in everything, we just can’t think of any good from ALLAH (Na’uzu’billah), we become hopeless of HIS mercy, we become totally negative. All this happens because we forgot the meaning of ‘Taqwa”, while committing sins, we followed the footsteps of our plain enemy “Sheytan”, when a whisperer was whispering that “Ittaqillah” (Fear ALLAH) we became deaf.

 Woe to us! When we have to see, we become blind. When we have to listen, we become deaf, when we want to stop something from happening, we become crippled. This detriment hurts, it damages us inside when we realize this crucial dilemma of our lives.

 This phase of depression is an agony on one hand, and a blessing on the other. When we are paralyzed due to our depressed minds and restless hearts, we want seclusion; we want to be away from everything and everyone, and who do we want to be with? Yes! It’s ALLAH.

Our ALLAH never gives us anything without a purpose. If HE would not give us that anxiety, would we be able to realize the worth of serene hear? If HE would not take us to that messed up state of mind, would we  go back to Him and ask for forgiveness? If HE would not give us that wound, would we want seclusion and in seclusion would we seek healing from Him? No, we would not! He is merciful beyond the limitations of our thoughts. Indeed, He loves us more than 70 mothers. Like a mother whose child wants to play with fire, but the mother never lets her child do that and punishes him, but the child only notices the punishment but doesn’t realize the love and care behind it. That’s how we humans become, unable to see the love behind that restlessness. He wants us to go back to Him. He wants us to repent again and again and again before we die.

On the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), who said:
I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say:

“Allah the Almighty said:

‘O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.'”

[At-Tirmidhi (also by Ahmad ibn Hanbal). Its chain of authorities is sound.]

 We just need to believe in ALLAH, His powers and His mercy, but unfortunately we fail to do so. We say He has all the powers, but we don’t believe in our own words. That is why we are trapped in our hopelessness and afflictions. Ultimately He is going to take us from the darkness to the light. From a vacuous soul to a blessed soul. Our journey starts from Him to Him, from His love to only His love. He is our final destination. The contentment of our hearts lies in His love and His obedience.

The paths that can lead you out of that dejection are constant repentance, sincere supplication with full trust in Him, patience. Wait for the good time because…

Our beloved Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) has said that;

“Allah the Most High said, ‘I am as My servant thinks (expects) I am. I am with him when he mentions Me. If he mentions Me to himself, I mention him to Myself; and if he mentions Me in an assembly, I mention him in an assembly greater than it. If he draws near to Me a hand’s length, I draw near to him an arm’s length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed.’”

[Sahih Al-Bukhari]

We just need to believe in ALLAH, His powers and His mercy, but unfortunately we fail to do that. When we say He has all the powers but we just don’t believe in our own words. That is why we are caught up by hopelessness and afflictions. Ultimately He is going to take us from darkness to light. From a vacuous soul to a blessed soul. Our journey starts from Him to Him, from His love to only His love. He is our final destination. The contentment of our hearts lies in His love and His obedience.

The ways that can take you out of that dejection are constant repentance, sincere supplication with full trust in Him and patience; wait for the good time because…

	Verily, with every difficulty there is relief.
	(Surah Al-Inshirah 94:6)