Allah Ta’ala mentions in the Qur’ân the qualities of His beloved slaves—Mu’minîn (believers). One of them He says is that they are in remembrance of Allah Ta’ala whether they are standing, sitting or lying down. In other words it means that they are in remembrance of Allah Ta’ala always because a person can either be standing or sitting or in lying down position. Allah Ta’ala likes this quality of Mu’min (believer) and commands him to be in Zikr most of the times.

Allah Ta’ala says:

الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَى جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذَا بَاطِلًا سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ

“Men who remember Allah Ta’ala standing, sitting, lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (with the saying): “Our Lord not for naught hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the chastisement of the fire”. (3:191)

Here in this verse one can understand the sequence of events that follow the Zikrullah. Before describing that sequence of events, it is necessary here to recapitulate a few words which have been mentioned earlier. In those lines it was mentioned that as the eyes can see only in the presence of the external light, similarly human Qalb perceives things only in the presence of some sort of light or Nur. As eyes, though normal, are functionless in the darkness so is Qalb functionless in the spiritual darkness. Thus a person, whose Qalb is enveloped in darkness, has very limited range of thinking and has highly narrowed inner vision.

Maulana Abdul Gani Phulpuri (RA) states in the Tafsir (elucidation) of this that since Zikrullah is a Nur, it illuminates and enlightens the Zakir’s Qalb and removes darkness from it.When the Qalb gets illuminated and enlightened, its range of vision increases tremendously. It now starts thinking in the creation of the skies and the earth, from the stage of Zikr, he gets elevated to the next higher stage which is called the stage of speculation (Fikr), His Fikr was dead, now it has got revived because of Zikr.

Mukam-i-Fikr (The stage of speculation):

This is the second stage in the spiritual ascendance of a Mu’min (believer). This is the higher faculty of Qalb having wide ranging capabilities. Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) stated in a Hadith that Tafakur (process of Fikr) for a moment is better than sixty or seventy years of Ibâdat (worshipping). So one can imagine the value of Fikr. This Fikr can be compared with the word ‘Shaheen (falcon)’ often used by Alama Dr. Sir Mohammad Iqbal (RA) in his poetry. He addresses to the Mu’min as, "O Mu’min, you have the faculty of Fikr. So you are Shaheen (eagle). You just cannot contend yourself with this world alone. You cannot confine yourself to this world as you are Shaheen, your reach is beyond the skies, your goal is much higher than the skies”.

He gives an example of two birds, crow and falcon (Shaheen) and says that their worlds are different. Both of them start flight and take off together in the same space for their onward journey. While flying when a crow sees any filth lying somewhere on the ground it forgets his flight and his goal and comes down and gets busy with eating this filthy substance. On the other hand a falcon never looks back, it sees many beautiful things on its way but never becomes greedy, it never gives up its flight but moves towards its set goal, which is very high beyond one's imagination. On the prolonged journey whenever this falcon becomes a little tired and needs some refreshment so as to keep its blood warm, it pounces on its prey but leaves it immediately, it again pounces on it and again leaves it alone. Alama Iqbal says that this Shaheen does so only to keep its blood warm otherwise it has nothing to do with its prey. Even most precious (worldly) things do not deviate it from its journey.

لپٹنا جپٹنا لپٹکر جپٹنا

لہو گرم رکھنے کا ہے اک بہانا

Keeping above mentioned example in mind, one can think of a person who forgets his flight, which he ought to have undertaken in order to attain the heights of manliness for which he was sent to this world. This person can be compared to that crow who forgets his flight on seeing the filthy matter. This person forgets his flight and remains busy throughout his whole precious life in collecting the filthy matter of the world.

Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) says in a Hadith:

ألدنيا جيفة

"The world is filth"

On the other hand the real believer (Mu’min) is like an Shaheen. He does not make the accumulation of material things his goal but entirely dedicates himself to the real purpose of humanity. He soars higher and higher in this objective. He does not leave this world and adopt what is called renunciation (Rahbaaniyat), but he uses this world as a means to achieve his ultimate goal like a Shaheen who pounces upon its prey just as to keep its blood warm. This great lesson we learn from the Qur’ân and Hadith. Rasullullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) used to invoke to Allah Ta’ala in these words:

أللهم أعني على ديني و على الآخرتي بالتقوى

"O Allah Ta’ala! help me in my Deen (religion) by the Duniya (World) and in my Aakhirat (Hereafter) by Taqwa (Piety)."

Here one can understand that Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) teaches us that the worldly gains are also of importance for a believer (Mu’min) but, of course with a difference i.e., it is not ultimate goal of a believer (Mu’min) but is a means of achieving the real goal, that is why Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) asks Allah Ta’ala to help us in Deen (religion) by Duniya (world) and not vice verse.

عقابی روح جب بیدار ہوتی ہے جوانوں میں

نظر آتی ہے انکو آپنی منزل آسمانوں میں

Here again, Alama Iqbal refers to the same faculty of Fikr, if it gets enlightened in a believer (Mu’min), he gets elevated and his outlook changes entirely. This huge world which he was previously fascinated with, now looks very small to him and he feels suffocated if kept confined to these worldly affairs. He now understands that Allah Ta’ala has bestowed him with a great potential. He now realises that he has to explore himself, he has to exploit this great potential. If he exerts, gets proper guidance and has enough courage necessary for this purpose, he simply becomes a real great man. There are no words to express this greatness. It is well said "know thyself, that is all".

Coming back to the point under discussion, Allah Ta’ala in the above quoted Aayat, first mentions Zikr and then Fikr. He says that those who are in remembrance of Allah Ta’ala while standing, sitting or lying down positions i.e., always, make Fikr (i.e., ponder) in the creation of skies and the earth. Implying thereby that it is the Nur of this Zikr which illuminates and enlightens the Qalb of a man and he gets engaged in Fikr. This faculty of his Qalb i.e., Fikr, becomes much enlightened and attains so much height that it realises the real purpose of this universe. A common person void of the enlightened Qalb believes that Allah Ta’ala has created this universe and that it is not useless, but this belief is very weak and highly generalised. On the other hand, a believer (Mu’min) whose Qalb gets enlightened by Zikr understands the purpose of the creation of this universe in the real sense of the word. He sees the reason of the creation of the universe through the eyes of belief (Yaqîn). This thing can be appreciated only after one achieves it himself. These things cannot be expressed in words.

Allah Ta’ala says in the same Aayat that believers (Mu’minîn) whose excellence is that they always remain in Zikr, make Fikr (i.e., ponder) on the creation of the skies and the earth and (after realising the purpose of the creation of the universe by eyes of Yaqîn) then they say (from the core of their hearts):

رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذَا بَاطِلًا سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ

"Our Lord not for naught hast thou created (all)! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the chastisement of the fire”. (3:191)

We can say that it is the conclusion of their research work which they had started in the Fikr of universe. These people are the scientists of Islam, no other research is as high and as useful as theirs. May Allah Ta’ala make us to understand this claim of Muslim spiritual scholars.

"(Our Lord not for naught hast Thou created (all))" - this is being proved constantly by the modern scientific researches which are revealing the utility of different constituents of this universe every now and then. These Scientific discoveries in fact constitute a very small fraction of this absolute Reality which these Muslim Scholars have realised.