The Jumu’a Mosque of Cape Town is a place of living dhikr. Beyond the five daily prayers and the weekly Jumu’ah, the jama’a gathers regularly in the remembrance of Allah — in the certainty that hearts find their truest rest only in His mention, and that a community which remembers together is a community that endures.

What Is Dhikr?

Dhikr (ذِكْر) — literally remembrance — is the conscious, deliberate invocation of Allah Most High. It is among the most essential acts of worship in Islam, encompassing every form by which the heart and tongue are turned toward the Divine.

The forms of dhikr are many and varied:

• Recitation of the Qur’an — the most exalted form of dhikr, being the very speech of Allah. The scholars of Islam hold it above all other forms of verbal remembrance.
• Tasbīḫ — SubḥānAllāh (سُبْحانَ اللّهِ) — Glory be to Allah
• Taḥmīd — Alṁamdulillāh (الْحمْدُ لِلّهِ) — All praise is due to Allah
• Takbīr — Allāhu Akbar (اللّهُ أكْبَرُ) — Allah is the Greatest
• Tahlīl — Lā ilāha illā Allāh (لاَ إِلهَ إِلّاُ اللّهُ) — There is no god but Allah
• Ṣalawāt — Invoking blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ
• Istighfār — Astaghfirullāh (أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللّهَ) — Seeking forgiveness from Allah
• Du’ā — Sincere supplication and petition to Allah
• Awrād and adhēār — Structured daily dhikr transmitted through chains of spiritual teachers

These forms of dhikr may be practised individually, in silence, aloud, or in congregation — each carrying its own merit and purpose in the life of the believer.

The Virtue and Necessity of Dhikr

The remembrance of Allah is not a supplementary act of devotion. The Qur’an and Sunnah present it as a fundamental necessity of the heart — without it, the soul loses its orientation.

The Prophet ﷺ declared the pre-eminence of dhikr in the following hadith, as reported by Abū al-Dardā’, may Allah be pleased with him:

The Recitation of the Qur’an

The recitation of the Qur’an stands at the apex of all forms of dhikr. The Qur’an is the uncreated speech of Allah — revealed to the heart of the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ through the angel Jibrīl, preserved without alteration across fourteen centuries, and alive in the mouths of those who recite it today.

The scholars of Islam are unanimous: no act of verbal worship is higher in rank than the recitation of the Qur’an. It purifies the heart, illuminates the mind, and draws the reciter into intimate proximity with the Divine speech.

The Prophet ﷺ said, as reported by ʻUthmān ibn ʻAffān, may Allah be pleased with him:

At the Jumu’a Mosque, recitation of the Qur’an is the foundation upon which all other gatherings of dhikr rest. Every communal assembly opens with Qur’an, and the ongoing recitation of the Book of Allah is woven into the spiritual life of the mosque.

What Is a Wird?

A wird (وِرْد, plural: awrād) is a structured daily dhikr — a prescribed set of Qur’anic verses, invocations, and Ṣalawāt upon the Prophet ﷺ — that a believer recites at appointed times, typically after Fajr and after ʻAṣr.

The wird differs from spontaneous dhikr in that it is transmitted: it comes through an unbroken chain of teachers (silsilah) extending back to the Prophet ﷺ himself. Each spiritual path (ṭarīqa) has its particular wird, shaped by the wisdom of its founding Shaykh and refined across generations of living practice.

The word wird shares its root with warada — to arrive, to come upon water — evoking the image of water arriving to quench thirst. The wird is, in this sense, the daily drawing from the well of spiritual sustenance. Those who maintain their wird consistently find it becoming the axis around which the day turns: a constant return to the remembrance of Allah amid the demands of worldly life.

Shaykh Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥabīb

The jama’a of the Jumu’a Mosque recites the Wird of Shaykh Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥabīb ibn al-Ṣiddīq al-Amghārī al-Idrīsī al-Ḥasanī, may Allah have mercy on him and be pleased with him.

Shaykh Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥabīb was born in Fes, Morocco, in 1876 (1293 AH), into a family of distinguished lineage descending from the Prophet ﷺ. He received a thorough traditional education at the Qarawīyyīn — one of the oldest institutions of learning in the world — mastering the sciences of fiqh (according to the Mālikī madhhab), ʻaqīda (according to the Ashʻarī school), Qur’an, tafsīr, and hadith. He was Mālikī in jurisprudence, Ashʻarī in creed, and Shādhilī-Darqāwī in his spiritual path (ṭarīqa).

He became a Shaykh of the Darqāwī branch of the Shādhilī ṭarīqa and spent his life teaching, guiding, and establishing communities of remembrance across Morocco and Algeria. His influence extended to Great Britain, France, and North America. He died in 1972, while travelling to perform the Ḥajj, and is buried in his zawiya in Meknes, Morocco.

He left behind his Dīwān — known in Arabic as:

This collection of sacred verse, together with his noble Wird, has served for over a century as a guide for sincere seekers on the path to Allah. It is known among the Sufis for its balance between poems expressing direct spiritual experience and those giving precise instruction for the traveller on the path.

What Is a Qaṣīdah?

A qaṣīdah (قَصيدَة, plural: qaṣā’id) is a classical form of Arabic poetry composed in a single rhyme (monorhyme) that runs through the entire poem, with each half-verse conforming to one of the classical Arabic prosodic metres. The qaṣīdah is among the most ancient and honoured literary forms in the Arabic tradition, predating Islam and refined across fourteen centuries of Islamic civilisation.

In the Sufi tradition, the qaṣīdah became the primary vehicle for expressing the profoundest realities of the spiritual path: the love of Allah, longing for the Prophet ﷺ, the stations and states of the heart, and the truths of gnosis (maʻrifa). The qaṣā’id of the awliyā’ (friends of Allah) are not merely literary compositions — they are transmissions of living spiritual experience, carrying the baraka of their authors. To recite them is itself a form of dhikr.

The Dīwān of Shaykh Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥabīb is renowned for its balance: some of its qaṣā’id express direct spiritual experience in luminous verse; others offer precise instruction for the traveller on the path to Allah.

Our Gatherings

Weekly Wird

Every Thursday evening the jama’a gathers to recite the Wird of Shaykh Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥabīb together. This gathering is open to all — men and women — and provides a regular anchor of collective remembrance in the life of the community. Times are confirmed via the JMCT communications channels.

Monthly Communal Dhikr

Once a month, the jama’a gathers for an extended evening of communal dhikr. The gathering unfolds as follows:

• Recitation of the Qur’an — the foundation and opening of every assembly
• Recitation of the Wird of Shaykh Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥabīb
• Recitation of Qaṣā’id from the Dīwān of Shaykh Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥabīb (Bughyat al-Murīdīn as-Sā’irīn wa Tuḥfat al-Sālikīn al-ʻĀrifīn)
• The Ḥaḍrah — a traditional form of collective dhikr in which the jama’a engages in the standing, rhythmic invocation of Allah’s names and the testimony of His oneness, breathing and moving together as one body of remembrance
• A communal meal — prepared by the ladies of the community, in whose hands the nourishment of the gathering rests. After the dhikr, every person in attendance shares the meal together — a fitting close to an evening of unity in the remembrance of Allah

Monthly Ladies’ Dhikr

There is also a dedicated monthly dhikr gathering for women only — a space of spiritual depth and communal warmth specifically for the women of the jama’a.

The Duʻāʻ al-Nāṣirī

In addition to the weekly wird gathering and the monthly communal dhikr, the jama’a also gathers to recite the Duʻāʻ al-Nāṣirī (الدُّعَاءُ النَّاصِريُّ) — the Nāṣirī Supplication — known in Fes as The Sword of Ibn Nāṣir.

This supplication was composed by Shaykh Muḥammad – Fatḥa – ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Nāṣir ad-Darʻī al-Aghlābī (d. 1085 AH / c. 1674 CE), a Moroccan scholar of the Shādhilī path, famed for his mastery of fiqh, Arabic, kalām, tafsīr, and taṣawwuf. He is buried in his zawiya in Tamagurt.

The Duʻāʻ al-Nāṣirī was composed at a time of acute hardship, when the lands of the Muslims faced the pressure of foreign domination. It was recited in every mosque across the Maghrib and taught to children in the Qur’anic kuttabs. Its power became such that the French colonial authorities issued a formal decree banning its recitation. It is widely held, among those who know its history, that the baraka of this supplication played a role in Morocco’s eventual independence from France.

At its heart, the Duʻāʻ al-Nāṣirī is a plea to Allah: that our sins be overlooked, that divine mercy be extended to us despite our shortcomings, that justice be restored, that the oppressed be relieved, that the young be educated, that rain and provision be poured forth, and that the affairs of the Muslims be set right. It is a supplication of profound need and complete trust in Allah — tried, tested, and proven across the centuries.

All Are Welcome

The gatherings of dhikr at the Jumu’a Mosque of Cape Town are open to all. Men and women are equally welcome, and no prior experience of the spiritual path is necessary. These are gatherings of mercy, and the door is open.

One note for families: young children who have not yet reached the age of moral responsibility are kindly asked not to attend the monthly communal dhikr. In Islamic law, a person becomes a mukallaf (مُكَلَّف) — legally competent and religiously accountable — when three conditions are met: sanity (ʻaql), maturity (bulūgh, reached at puberty or by turning 15 lunar years old), and awareness (having received and understood the basic message of Islam). Children who have not yet reached this threshold are not yet mukallaf, and the nature of the monthly communal dhikr calls for a sustained presence and stillness that is not yet natural for young children. We ask for families’ understanding and kindness in this regard.