36 / Demonstrating the Unsoundness of Remembrance Using an Isolated Name, Whether Explicitly or Pronominally

The preceding discussion explained the virtue of the declaration of monotheism, “There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah”: it is the finest remembrance by which those who remember may remember their Lord and the best words their tongues can repeat. Its wording is easy, but its meaning is immense. The servants’ need for it is the greatest of all needs, and their necessity for it is the greatest of all necessities. Indeed, their need and necessity for it are greater than their need for food, drink, clothing, and all their other affairs. Since people—indeed, the entire world—have a limitless and boundless need for “There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah,” it is among the most widespread forms of remembrance, the easiest to perform, the greatest in meaning, and the loftiest in status. Despite all this, some ordinary and ignorant people turn away from it toward innovated supplications and invented forms of remembrance that are found neither in the Quran nor in the sunnah and have not been transmitted from any of the early generations of the Muslim community1.

This includes what some adherents of Sufi orders do in their remembrances: they repeat only the isolated name in its explicit form, saying, “Allah, Allah,” over and over. Some instead repeatedly use the pronoun “He.” Some go so far as to designate the declaration of monotheism, “There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah,” for ordinary people; the isolated name for the elite; and the pronoun for the elite of the elite. Some may even say, “‘There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah’ is for the believers, ‘Allah’ for those who know Him, and ‘He’ for those who have attained realization.” They thereby prefer remembering the isolated name explicitly, or remembering it