The whole world talks about meditation, and different kinds of meditation. Today we will talk about meditation in the Sufi mode. The word dhikr or zikr, which means remembrance, is at the essence of Sufi meditation. There are many different forms of Sufi meditation, but it mostly has to do with the repetition of the names that are associated with God. These names can be found in the Asmā’ ul-Husnā, the compilation of the names of God.
A sample of zikr is the repetition of Yā Shakūr, Shakūr means Gratitude, or Rahmān or Rahīm, Mercy or Compassion. The point being that the repetition of these words is supposed to engender inside of us the meaning of that word. When we recite God’s names, it is not like we are just saying a word, over and over and over, we are reciting a word with a specific meaning, over and over and over. If we are not conscious of this meaning then the meditation is lost.
If we are saying Yā Rahmān, the Merciful One, Yā Rahīm, the Compassionate One, if we say these words, we need to simultaneously attempt to bring about that emotion, that understanding, that quality within ourselves. The meditation is two-fold, first it is constant repetition, second, it is an act of intention within us to bring about the meaning of that word within ourselves.
We need to work at bringing about an emotional reaction to mercy, or an emotional reaction to compassion, or an emotional reaction to love. These are the higher emotional states which take us to higher levels of consciousness. If we are actually doing a zikr meditation, it needs to involve becoming that which we recite. If we do not become that which we recite then in a very real way we are not accomplishing very much, we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing. The intention of zikr is to bring about within our being the qualities that we are reciting. We need to be able to picture the qualities that we are reciting, we need to be able to picture the emotion that we are trying to engender, we need to be able to get in touch with that part of us that is that name of God.
