‘Wird’ impressions Part. 1
Since converting to Islam seven years ago, it has always been a striking fact to me that although Islam is a religion based heavily in spiritual and conscientiousness of God, many Muslims appear quite materialistic, unrefined regarding Islamic etiquette and in other cases — the worst ones — utterly opposed to any systematic self-reform and spiritual development.
I can only assume this due to a variety of factors, of course varying from person to person. But one reason I have singled out that is largely common to the Muslims as a whole is that we (myself) included don’t read, reflect, and immerse ourselves in the remembrance of God enough. Over the past year, after committing myself to increasing my daily acts of worship and Islamic study in general, I have found out that this issue is not unique to modern-day Muslims. In fact right after the death of our Prophet (pbuh) there was steady spiritual decline amid the collective body of Muslims — a continuum that we, modern-day Muslims, also are obviously a part of. And nowadays we find ourselves faced with more materialistic distractions that any other people had to deal throughout history.
In consequence of this we must take a more regimented and proactive approach in nurturing our taqwa (God-consciousnesses), i.e. spirituality firmly rooted in the Islamic sphere of reference.
Allah says in the Qur’an:
“Recite, [O Muhammad], what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish prayer. Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of Allah is greater. And Allah knows that which you do.” (29:45)
Also, as Allah revealed to the children of Israel: “Hold firmly to what We have given you and bring (ever) to remembrance what is therein: Perchance ye may fear Allah.” (2:63)
This establishes the principle that the prayer and recitation of the Qur’an are powerful weapons in the fight against our base desires, in all of our life struggles and in our endeavor in the way of self-fulfillment and improvement. And these are factors that will work together to lead to higher levels of taqwah.
In the past, our righteous scholars also recognized this trend of declining God-consciousness among Muslims. And in response to this they came up with structured approaches to making dhikr (remembrance of Allah), either through reading Qur’an, praying extra-obligatory prayers or praising Allah through by way of His remembrance. Many of them put together tracts of recommended things that one should say throughout the day — in addition and ONLY as a SUPPLEMENT to the five obligatory . They also recommended that one should persevere in performing/reading these tracts two times a day — one time in the morning and once in the evening. These regimented tracts, or ‘wirds,’ were a major part of the spiritual development of many scholars.
To mention my own experience: While reading “al-Maqasid,” book on fiqh (Islamic legal theory) by Imam Nawawi, I encountered a section dedicated to spiritual development. It contained advice, Qur’an one should read every day, and adhkar that one should say in the morning and evening. To summarize quickly, the book recommends those seeking to get closer to Allah to find the company of righteous people, to avoid sins, pray all the Sunnah prayers (those never left by the Prophet), and to read Surat Yasin once in the morning and once in the evening — among other things that I left out do to lack of ability to include them all here.
All in all, I have found the Imam’s advices and recommendations extremely fruitful. Keeping up with my morning and evening adhkar (devotional remembrances) have given me an extra spiritual boost and provided me with an added energy to engage in other activities beneficial to my life in general.
*** This is only Part. 1 of a series that I am writing to stress and remind myself and Muslims of the importance of the remembrance of Allah, the inevitability of death, and the after life.. Part 2 to come shortly hereafter. Thanks for reading, if you got this far! 
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