Audible dhikr in the form of chanting various phrases is one of the trademarks of Sufi practices and lessons, and is firmly established in Hadith which encourage the repetition of various sayings as a means of remembrance.

Even Naqshbandi’s engage in audible dhikr, which one might find confusing in light of the fact that one of the emphasized qualities of the Naqshbandi Sufi Tariqa is silent dhikr.

From “Beads of Dew from the Source of Life” we see the answer that some of ancient Naqshbandi’s gave to this question. It may also be useful for those looking to understand audible dhikr and its place in Islam for the uninitated Muslim.

A series of questions was asked to Khwaja Azaizan Ali Ramitani:

The third question: We have heard that you engage in publicly audible remembrance [dhikr jahri], instead of silent remembrance [dhikr khafi]. How can this be?

Answer: We have also heard that you perform the remembrance in secret. Since we have come to hear of it, yours cannot be secret remembrance after all. Surely the purpose of secret remembrance is that nothing should be known about it! Whether you engage in secret remembrance or in publicly audible remembrance, the two are equal. It can even be said that being famous for secret remembrance is closer to a hypocritical ostentation.

On the subject of audible remembrance, he gave this reply to a prominent religious scholar: “There is a Prophetic tradition [hadith] accepted by all the religious scholars, commanding a man in the throes of death to pronounce the affirmation of Divine Oneness in a loud voice. Since every breath breathed by the dervish can be considered his last breath, it is necessary to seek this wisdom in our publicly audible remembrance.”

Another prominent religious scholar once asked him: “With what kind of remembrance are we commanded to remember Allah very frequently indeed? Is it verbal remembrance, or the remembrance of the heart?”

He replied: “It begins as remembrance from the tongue and ends as remembrance from the heart. In its initial form, it involves the expenditure of tiresome effort and fatigue. In its final form, however, due to the influence exerted by the remembrance on the heart, it affects all the organs and atoms of the body, so one reaches the reality of the ocean of being, and attains to the secret of frequent remembrance. A day’s work of this nature yields profit equal to that earned by a year’s work of any other kind.”