Dhikr Is Vast and All-Encompassing
Addressed to: Khwājah Sharaf al-Dīn Ḥusayn (may Allah have mercy on him)
All praise is due to Allah, and peace be upon His chosen servants.
Your letter, sent through Mawlānā ʿAbd al-Rashīd and Mawlānā Jān Muḥammad, along with the accompanying gift, has been received. May Allah reward you with the best of recompense. Hearing news of your good health brought great joy.
O dear son! Leisure, free time, and good health — all are blessings from Allah Most High. Therefore, all your time should be devoted to the remembrance of Allah.
Any deed done in accordance with the sacred Sharīʿah is included in dhikr, even if it is an act like buying or selling. One must strive to ensure that all movements and actions are performed in compliance with the commandments of Sharīʿah, so that every act becomes an act of remembrance.
For the true purpose of dhikr is to eliminate heedlessness. When divine commands and prohibitions are observed in every action, one is saved from neglecting the One who gives those commands — and thus attains constant remembrance (dawām al-dhikr).
This type of perpetual remembrance is beyond the specific inner remembrance described by the Naqshbandī masters (may Allah sanctify their secrets), which is primarily internal and spiritual. This broader form of dawām al-dhikr also has outward implications and affects the body and actions as well.
Though this path is difficult, may Allah Most High grant both you and us complete adherence to the noble Prophet of Sharīʿah (peace and blessings be upon him). Āmīn.