By the twenty-second day of Ramadan, the body has earned its exhaustion. The early enthusiasm of the first week has given way to the quiet discipline of the third. Iftar feels shorter, the nights feel longer, and the nafs begins negotiating for rest. This is precisely the moment the Prophet (peace be upon him) prescribed the lightest yet most powerful act of worship available to every believer in every condition: dhikr the remembrance of Allah.
He said: “Shall I not tell you of the best of your deeds, the purest in the sight of your Lord, the highest in raising your ranks, better for you than spending gold and silver, and better than meeting your enemy and striking their necks?” The companions said: “Yes, O Messenger of Allah.” He said: “The remembrance of Allah” (Sunan Tirmidhi, Hadith 3377). No physical strength required. No wealth needed. No special time or place demanded just a conscious, present tongue and heart.
The Quran elevates dhikr above almost every other act: “Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest” (Ar-Ra’d 13:28). In Ramadan’s final stretch, when the heart is stretched thin between worship, work, and family, dhikr is the act that restores without requiring recovery.
The most beloved phrases to Allah, as the Prophet taught, are four: SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, La ilaha illallah, and Allahu Akbar (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2137). They weigh nothing on the tongue. They weigh everything on the scale.
In Kashmir, where the noise of news, politics, and daily hardship fills every waking hour, dhikr is the believer’s quiet resistance. Fill the commute, the kitchen, the waiting room, and the walk to the mosque with remembrance. Ramadan’s final days are too precious to pass in silence.
