Even to utter the Name of God is a blessing that can fill the soul with light and joy and happiness as nothing else can do.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
In the East, religion is sown in the heart of the children from birth, no matter to what religion they may belong. The invocation of the Name of God becomes a daily custom, which they consciously or unconsciously repeat in sorrow as well as in joy. ‘bismillah’ — In the name of Allah, or ‘al-hamdulillah’ — Praise be to Allah, or ‘Allahu akbar’ — God is great, and ‘ya Allah’ — O God; such expressions as these are used at the beginning and the end, as well as in the midst of every ordinary conversation. This attunes the believer and even attracts the unbeliever to the thought of God, which in the end leads the seeker to self-realization and the Peace of God.
A thousand people may say the same prayer; but one person’s prayer said with such faith and belief is equal to the prayers of a thousand people, because that prayer is not mechanical. People are mechanical and we generally say our prayers mechanically too. If we are genuine and if we have faith and belief and devotion, all we say has an effect; and that effect will perform miracles. … When we invoke the Names of God we forget our limitations and impress our souls with the thought of the Unlimited, which brings us to the ideal of Limitlessness. This is the secret of Life’s attainment.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume IX – The Unity of Religious Ideals, Part I: Prayer )
The mystics on the spiritual path persevere in wiping out this false ego as much as they can, by meditation, by concentration, by prayer, by study, by everything that they do. Their one aim is to wipe out so much that one day Reality, which is always there buried under the false ego, may manifest.
By calling on the Name of God, in the form of prayer, or in zikr, or in any other form, what the mystic does is to awaken the spirit of the Real Ego, in order that it may manifest. It is just like a spring that rises up out of the rock and that, as soon as the water has gained power and strength, breaks even through stone and becomes a stream. So it is with the Divine Spark in us. Through concentration, through meditation, it breaks out and manifests; and where it manifests, it washes away the stains of the false ego and turns into a greater and greater stream. This in turn becomes the source of comfort, consolation, healing and happiness for all who come into contact with that spirit.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume X – Sufi Mysticism, Part I: Sufi Mysticism, Chapter I – Mysticism )
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
While this may be true, while there may be a great mantric value in repetition in thought and speech of any Name for God, the merit is nothing compared to the Reality one experiences as in Zikr when one completely dissolves in the remembrance of Unity. That is to say, this remembrance is not a karmic activity; it is not the piling up of some good for which one may receive a future reward, whether in or out of heaven. In Zikr this blessing is actually what happens; therefore it is not so important to discuss why it happens but to know that it happens. The great understanding comes from and through the living experience. Praising God is its own reward.