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Ruling on loud dhikr

Question:

What is the ruling on doing loud dhikr in groups, (mainly for the women).

Answer:

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There has been a difference of opinion amongst the jurists on performing loud (jahr) dhikr, but not inaudible Dhikr (sirr). The sound view is that loud is also permitted provided it does not become excessively loud as this is what is forbidden in the hadith. Excessively loud would be if one was straining oneself or what we would call shouting or screaming. Having said this, the preferred method of Dhikr for men is to do it inaudibly or silently which means to utter the words in a manner that the person doing the dhikr alone can hear himself (the definition of Imam Abu Jafar al-Hinduwani). Thus women should perform their Dhikr in this inaudible manner rather than aloud, as it is also in consonance with the order of Hijab they have been ordered to observe by the Shariah.

As for performing Dhikr in groups where there are only women, it is permitted and the hadith often quoted by people to forbid it, of Ibn Masud r.a. preventing people who were doing Dhikr in a group and expelling them from the Masjid, is as mentioned by Imam Suyuti, not soundly established and secondly it contradicts the many texts that prove its licitness. Some other scholars have pointed out that even if this hadith was accepted to be sound, in view of the many texts that permit it, it should be understood that there was something particular about the way they were doing Dhikr in a group which made it a Bidah. This may have been that the gathering was mixed or these people were doing it regularly with the belief that it was something necessary which indeed would render this allowed act impermissible.

The most lucid and thorough discussion on this subject is found in the book "Sibaahat al-Fikr fil-Jahr bil-Dhikr," Shaikh Abd al-Hayy al-Laknawi.


Mufti Mohammed Sajjad

Wallahu Aalam bis-sawab

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The answer to this question is the opinion of the scholar and does not reflect the opinion of other scholars of As-Suffa Institute and As-Suffa Institute as an organisation.