The discussion of the remembrance of Allah ﷻ continues through Ibn Qayyim Al Jawziyya’s text: Invocations of God. One of the primary benefits enumerated in this section is that the consistent remembrance of Allah ﷻ protects us from forgetting Allah ﷻ. Everyone experiences difficulties in life. Some of these difficulties can make an individual feel as if the entire world has abandoned them. In these moments the believer takes solace in that they can still turn to Allah ﷻ. The extremity of loneliness is manifest in the person, who in the midst of these challenges, forgets Allah ﷻ. Because they have not consistently remembered Allah ﷻ, they forget Him even when they need him the most.
In addition, Allah ﷻ mentions in the Quran, that those individuals who forget Allah ﷻ are caused to forget their own souls. When a person neglects their soul it withers and dies. When the soul is not fed through the remembrance of Allah ﷻ it can experience severe anxiety, depression, low self-esteem. The death of the soul is followed by misery in this life and misery in the hereafter.
Finally, we cannot directly control the circumstances which shape our life, but we can control how we sustain our soul. In the same way that we are concerned about nourishing and exercising our physical body we should be concerned about the wellbeing of our soul. The benefits of the healthy, well-nourished soul through the remembrance of Allah ﷻ is peace in this life and everlasting peace and happiness in the hereafter.
