Is It Permissible for a Person to Say ‘Allah’ Repeatedly as a Form of Remembrance?

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Question: Assalam’aleykum,

Is it permissible for a person to say ‘Allah’ repeatedly as a form of Remembrance?

I thought we were supposed to worship Allah only in the ways He has delineated for us…

Answer: Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

I pray this finds you in the best of health and spirits.

The Divine Command to ‘make much remembrance of Allah’ is general, and anything considered ‘remembrance’ (dhikr) fulfills it. Given this, it is permitted by general agreement of the majority of Sunni scholarship to make dhikr of individual names of Allah, such as the Supreme Name, ‘Allah.’

Regarding worshipping Allah ‘only in the ways He has delineated for us’, one must understand:

a) what innovation is;

b) that the ways delineated for worship and practice in the Qur’an and Sunna are two types:

i) specific;

ii) general.

Specific implementations of general ways of worship and practice are accepted if in accordance with the principles of the Shariah, and rejected otherwise.

Please see: The Concept of Bid’a in the Islamic Shari’a

And Allah alone gives success.

Faraz Rabbani

Photo: GourangaUK