Refuting the Sufis on Collective Dhikr
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, he says: How do we refute the Sufis who remember Allah with prescribed adhkar and invocations, but in a collective manner, and they cite the Qudsī hadith as evidence, fromSahih Ibn Hibban 6:21?
Answer:
Remembering Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) is prescribed. They gather and remember Allah individually, each one alone, or with the voices of hymns and the voices of innovation. It may be a true innovation, meaning it has no basis in any athar, or it may be an additional innovation. So, collective dhikr is an additional innovation.
Because the original dhikr is prescribed, but its being done with a collective voice is an innovation. So, it is a systematic innovation; they added this innovation to the Sunnah. They created them all together. As for the gathering, it means in one place where they are not remembering Allah with one voice. Some of them remember, they remember Allah (Mighty and Majestic), or they remember Allah while listening. The gathering listens to their speech, listens to their dhikr of Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
Honorable Shaykh, he says: How do we refute the Sufis who remember Allah with prescribed adhkar and invocations, but in a collective manner, and they cite the Qudsī hadith as evidence, from
Whoever remembers Me within himself, I remember him within Myself, and whoever remembers Me in a gathering, I remember him in a gathering better than them
ذكرني في نفسه ذكرته في نفسي، ومن ذكرني في ملأ ذكرته في ملأ خير منهمAnswer:
Remembering Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) is prescribed. They gather and remember Allah individually, each one alone, or with the voices of hymns and the voices of innovation. It may be a true innovation, meaning it has no basis in any athar, or it may be an additional innovation. So, collective dhikr is an additional innovation.
Because the original dhikr is prescribed, but its being done with a collective voice is an innovation. So, it is a systematic innovation; they added this innovation to the Sunnah. They created them all together. As for the gathering, it means in one place where they are not remembering Allah with one voice. Some of them remember, they remember Allah (Mighty and Majestic), or they remember Allah while listening. The gathering listens to their speech, listens to their dhikr of Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 45 من 64/شرح القصيدة النونية/تالله قد لاح الصباح لمن له عينان/صالح الفوزان / العقيدة / كبار العلماء — youtube.com (57:47)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.