It is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the virtue of dhikr that he said: “Indeed, Allah has angels who glorify Him on earth.”
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The questioner : There is a hadith in Sahih Muslim regarding the virtue of the circle of dhikr. It says: Sunan an-Nasa'i 1282Sahih (Darussalam) The hadith. He said: Does this hadith imply gathering for dhikr? Meaning that a group says Subhan Allah, Alhamdulillah, and La ilaha illa Allah.
The Shaykh : No, it does not imply that. You naturally mean the gathering that the Tariqah practitioners do?
The questioner : No, I don’t mean them.
The Shaykh : Then what do you mean?
The questioner : I mean, for example, we sit in a normal gathering, not the Sufi gatherings, and we say Subhan Allah together with one voice.
The Shaykh : No, you do not say it together. Each person says it; there is no harm in that.
The questioner : Even if it is with a loud voice?
The Shaykh : No, a loud voice causes disturbance. But first, collective dhikr is not established in the Sunnah. Collective dhikr means with one voice. However, if they gather to remember Allah (Mighty and Majestic), each in his own self, and it is not a condition that you say Subhan Allah and the others say the same, you may say Subhan Allah, another may say Alhamdulillah, and a third may say Allahu Akbar, and so on. These people are correctly described as having gathered to remember Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and the angels surround them.
And I say on this occasion that it is not permissible to take newly invented meanings from the verbal hadiths; rather, they are to be interpreted according to the reality practiced by the earliest generations. We know for certain that the Companions used to gather, and one of them would recite the Qur'an while the others listened. This is the first thing to which the hadith you are mentioning applies. And it was, for example, as came from Mu'adh ibn Jabal, that he would say to one of his companions: “Sit with us so we may believe for a while,” and so on. They would remember Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and remember the hadiths of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And I do not exclude that all gatherings of knowledge are included in this hadith, because Allah must be mentioned in them, even if we are not sitting saying: Subhan Allah, Subhan Allah, Subhan Allah. But that comes during the scholarly research in the Book and the Sunnah. Please proceed.
The student: May Allah reward you with good.
Allah (SWT) has angels who travel around on Earth
إن لله ملائكة سياحين في الأرض ...And Allah (Mighty and Majestic) asks them—and He knows them best—how He left them. They said: They glorify You and praise You at all times.
ويسألهم الله عز وجل ـ وهو أعلم بهم ـ كيف تركتموهم قالوا : يسبحونك ويحمدونك في كل وقتThe Shaykh : No, it does not imply that. You naturally mean the gathering that the Tariqah practitioners do?
The questioner : No, I don’t mean them.
The Shaykh : Then what do you mean?
The questioner : I mean, for example, we sit in a normal gathering, not the Sufi gatherings, and we say Subhan Allah together with one voice.
The Shaykh : No, you do not say it together. Each person says it; there is no harm in that.
The questioner : Even if it is with a loud voice?
The Shaykh : No, a loud voice causes disturbance. But first, collective dhikr is not established in the Sunnah. Collective dhikr means with one voice. However, if they gather to remember Allah (Mighty and Majestic), each in his own self, and it is not a condition that you say Subhan Allah and the others say the same, you may say Subhan Allah, another may say Alhamdulillah, and a third may say Allahu Akbar, and so on. These people are correctly described as having gathered to remember Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and the angels surround them.
And I say on this occasion that it is not permissible to take newly invented meanings from the verbal hadiths; rather, they are to be interpreted according to the reality practiced by the earliest generations. We know for certain that the Companions used to gather, and one of them would recite the Qur'an while the others listened. This is the first thing to which the hadith you are mentioning applies. And it was, for example, as came from Mu'adh ibn Jabal, that he would say to one of his companions: “Sit with us so we may believe for a while,” and so on. They would remember Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and remember the hadiths of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And I do not exclude that all gatherings of knowledge are included in this hadith, because Allah must be mentioned in them, even if we are not sitting saying: Subhan Allah, Subhan Allah, Subhan Allah. But that comes during the scholarly research in the Book and the Sunnah. Please proceed.
The student: May Allah reward you with good.
Source
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