Zikir

DHIKR OUT LOUD

To answer the brother who asked why do we do dhikr (chanting and recitation of God's Names and Praise) out loud, and what is the legal ruling on this:

Allah has told us to make dhikr. He did not tell us how to do it. He did not specify, He did not limit it.
He told us to make much dhikr, to make it in abundance.
The purpose of dhikr - Allah has told us: the purpose is to attach our hearts to Him, to remind our hearts of Him - that is the literal meaning of 'dhikr' - 'to remember.'
Dhikr is a means to bring ourselves to the degree of consciousness at which we know and understand that only God is God! That we need to thank God, that we need to praise God.

Also, it is to silence the voice, the distraction, the whispering of shaytan that is trying to distract us and get us away from that consciousness.

Now, as to the question of whether loud or quiet, it is a matter of volume, like when you listen to music. Sometimes you need it loud, sometimes you need it playing softly.
We live in a time today, especially, when things are loud.
One of the shuyukh of Sudan, when they brought a sound system to him, he refused to use it. He said, "We don't need that, Allah subhanaHu wa taala has given me power in my voice." One day he went to the capital city and there was a young man with loud music coming from his car - VERY loud.
The shaykh said, "How could this music be so loud?"
Those with him explained, "This is the sound system, these are the speakers."
The shaykh said: "We have to use them now."

It was to balance, you understand? To not let the evil energy become more widespread and louder than the good. Because there is this reality in this universe:
if shaytan is using this technology, if shaytan is using this youtube, this facebook, this sound system technology - beating the human down with his amplified voice -  then we need also to raise our voices.  He raises his voice, we also need to raise our voice in dhikr.

Had I just told you after every Salah (meditational prayer) do 100 'la ilaha il Allah al Malik al Haqq al Mubeen,' let's be honest, you would probably do it looking at your phone. We do it out loud and together because we need dhikr to fulfil its role.

All we need is that the dhikr plays its role. We want the dhikr to be dhikr. That is all we are looking for.
We want this dhikr to remind us, to connect us to our consciousness, that is its purpose.
That is the power of doing it in unison together - what is called bringing our energies together.
Yes, you want to do dhikr silently sometimes - when you are alone and in a very deep state of concentration. At the end of the night, for example, you don't need to do it loudly.

The Companions of the Prophet peace be upon him, we know clearly from the Hadith (records of the Prophet's teachings and people's experiences with him) used to make dhikr out loud when they were on a journey. When they were going to Fatah Makkah (the Final Opening of Makkah), they came over the mountain and were making dhikr saying "Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar" in the way we do for Eid, very loudly.
The Prophet peace be upon him wanted them to not do it loudly so as to not alert the people of Makkah of their arrival. He knew the people of Makkah were fanatical and if given a chance, would opt to make war. He wanted to avoid conflict and avoid the Makkans spilling blood, by entering the city peacefully before they could arm themselves.
So he addressed the Companions by saying: 
"You can do it silently this time, Allah is not deaf and He is not blind." You can do it in your hearts this time.

Thus the matter of the volume of dhikr is based on context. If we have people doing a class next to us, we can do it silently.
It's all a matter of pedagogy - teaching the heart. The volume here is just a technique.

In the 5 daily meditational prayers (Salah), Allah has given us both the loud and the silent ways of speaking to Him; Allah is showing us the possibility of this and that - the voice of the human being is but a tool to reach an end.

Those who experience the effect of dhikr in a group and out loud know the effect of that on their hearts. Bring a child, bring someone who is drowning in sin, or lost in his oblivion of God, and with this type of dhikr done by a group and with an audible voice, he feels awakened, revived, and he feels something in his heart.

May Allah give us wisdom, liberate us and our brothers and sisters from the fanaticism of those who use a text not understanding the context, and merely as a pretext to attack others.
May Allah protect us and give us intentions of seeking knowledge and seeking what is right, and we ask Allah to show us a path to Truth.
Shaykh Hamdi Ben Aissa Al Fatiha