Remembrance as a Practice, Not an Event
There is a temptation to think of our Friday evening program as the remembrance — the event where remembrance happens — and of everything else as ordinary life where it does not. This division is understandable, but it is also a misreading of what the gatherings are for. The programs are not where remembrance lives. They are where the habit of remembrance is built. Imam Ali (عليه السلام) describes the remembrance of Allah as something that should accompany a person in every state — walking, sitting, lying down. The Quran uses similar language, describing those of deep understanding as people who remember Allah standing and sitting and on their sides. This is not a description of a weekly program. It is a description of an orientation — a way of moving through ordinary life with a part of one’s awareness permanently directed toward what matters most. ...