Dhikr

For the Quranic software, see Zekr (software).

Dhikr (also Zikr, Zekr, and variants; (Arabic:ذِکْر‎ ḏikr; plural أذكار aḏkār, meaning "remembrance") is the name of devotional acts in Islam in which short phrases or prayers are repeatedly recited silently within the mind or aloud. Rarely, it is counted on a string of beads (سلسلة صلوات) or a set of prayer beads (Misbaha مِسْبَحَة), comparable to the rosary of Catholic tradition. A person who recites the rosary is called a ḏākir (ذاكر). Most Sufis follow this practice of Dhikr although the word being recited varies. Tasbih (تسبيح) is a form of dhikr that involves the repetitive utterances of short sentences glorifying God. The content of the prayers includes the names of God, or a duʿāʾ (prayer of supplication) taken from the hadith or the Quran.