There are three types of Zikr:

1. Practical
2. Verbal
3. Silent

1. Practical

Practical Zikr, also known as “Zikr-e-Faily”, is performed with one’s
obedient actions. It comprises of obedience to:

i) The commandments of Allah (swt)
i.e. Prayer, Fasting, Hajj, umrah, Zakaat, charity etc

ii) The Sunnah of our Holy Prophet (saw)
i.e. eating, drinking, sleeping, walking, talking, dressing etc.

2. Verbal

Verbal Zikr, also known as “Zikr-e-Lisani”, is observed with one’s
tongue. It comprises of:

i) Loud zikr; i.e. Azan, Takbir, Collective zikr etc
ii) Low tone zikr, i.e. Tasbihat, masnoon duas etc

3. Silent

Silent Zikr, also known as “Qalbi Zikr”, “Zikr-e-Khafi”
and “Daimi Zikr” is performed within one self.. There are many stages
to silent zikr. The first and foremost of which is Qalbi Zikr: Remembrance of
Allah (swt) from within the heart.

Most, if not all, of us are familiar with both practical and verbal forms of
zikr and we’ll have at some point practised them within our life. Silent zikr,
on the other hand, is less well known. This is because this form of zikr is
practised and taught only by the Friends of Allah (swt).

Types of Zikr & Sufi Orders

As one will have understood from the Sufism
Introduction the path towards reaching Allah (swt) comprises of the
following four elements:

1. Full adherence to Shariah: The Islamic Law
2. Observance of all Sunnah.
3. Remembrance of Allah (swt): Zikr
4. Code of Love & Discipline

It is because there are many types of Zikr, that there are many paths towards
Allah (swt). These paths, known as Sufi
Orders, vary primarily on the type of Zikr chosen to lead the mureed
to Allah (swt).

From the four famous sufi orders, Qadiri, Chisti & Soharwardi all start
the mureed off with verbal zikr later moving onto Qalbi Zikr. The Naqshbandi
order, however, begins by taking the mureed directly on Qalbi Zikr.

We at Zikr.co.uk follow the Naqshbandi Order. Khalifa
Saleem can also give permission to anyone wanting to perform Qalbi Zikr
and even initiate one into this order online. Why not get
started today?