Dhikr: The Contemplative Life in the Sufi Tradition

Sufis maintain an 'anthropocosmic' self-image—a fusion of cosmic and material being—through intense contemplative practices such as dhikr, or remembrance of God. Despite attacks from modern rationalists, religious extremists, and Salafi groups who dismiss Sufism as irrational or heretical, and amid a broader abandonment of cosmological views under modernity, Sufis persist. Dhikr involves invoking God's name as a technique to disclose a God-like ethos in one's being. The argument is that contemplation serves to merge the cosmic and material into a singular experience of being.

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Abstract

In recent years, modern rationalists and religious extremists have attacked Islam’s esoteric Sufism, dismissing it as irrational or heretical. While Salafi groups aim to impose a strict legalism on Islam’s inner dimensions, the influence of modernity has also led many to abandon a cosmological view of existence. Amid a turbulent environment, Sufis persist in fostering an “anthropocosmic” self-image through intense contemplative practices like dhikr. Commonly referred to as the “remembrance” of God, dhikr is performed in various ways, involving the invocation of God’s name as a technique of disclosing a God-like ethos in one’s being. I argue that Sufis employ contemplation as a means to fuse the cosmic and the material into a singular experience of being.